Yellowstone National Park - Part 4

Click to read part 1, part 2, or part 3.

Kootie and Koobert’s adventures in Yellowstone National Park had become somewhat less eventful since they encountered a friendly skunk. Sure, the scenery was breathtaking, but so was the odor that seemed to stick to the intrepid pair like glue. They encountered no more friendly animals, the pleasant chirping of tiny birds was vague and far away, and even the cool ferns and ivy undergrowth seemed to withdraw in front of them, clearing their path to speed them on their way. You could almost sense the sigh of satisfaction from the forest as Koobert and Kootie passed, or maybe it was relief.

Still, Kootie and Koobert had fun chasing each other through the beautiful forest landscape, playing tag and singing songs. In their peaceful journey, they barely noticed when they wandered into a public camping area. The stately pines and undergrowth abruptly gave way to manicured lawns, sidewalks, camper hookups, and firepits. Funny that this area seemed to be as deserted as the forest they left behind.

“Where is everybody?” Koobert wondered aloud.

“I’ll bet there’s gonna be a surprise party for someone”, mused Kootie.

“That sounds like fun! Let’s hide too”.

So Kootie and Koobert started searching for a great place to hide.

Koobert tried jumping into a firepit, now full of cold black ashes from the previous nights’ campfire. Around and around he rolled, until he was covered in soot from his toes to the ends of his floppy ears. Then he crouched down next to the ring of stones that lined the pit, and held still.

“That’s a good hiding place, Koobie!,” gushed Kootie. “I can barely see you!” Koobert giggled and crouched even lower.

Kootie hurried over to a camping trailer and crawled under the front steps. She was pretty sure she was out of sight, and when she held really still, she could hear some whispering from inside the trailer. Now normally, Kootie was polite, and would never dream of eavesdropping, but she did so want to find out about the surprise party, after all. So, she listened as hard as she could…

“What do you mean, ‘the door doesn’t have a lock on it?. I suppose you want those skunks outside to just come waltzing in here like they own the place”.

“The way things smell right now, we may as well invite them in. Peeeeuwie.”

Well, Kootie really didn’t need much more of an invitation than that. If these nice people would allow skunks in their trailer, then certainly she and Koobie would be OK. She raced back to the firepit with the good news, but accidently caught her foot on a twig and tumbled in, right on top of Koobert.

“Koobie, Koobie, Koobie. I gots a great place for us to hide”, and she briefly described the nice people in the trailer.

“Yipee,” yelled Koobert, “I’ll race you there”.

The two adventurers dashed over to the trailer, and this time, Koobert won the race owing partly to a sizable head start, and partly because he didn’t even try to stop until he crashed into a pile of stones under the trailer hitch, knocking it over.

“You OK, Koobie?” asked Kootie, hopping up to her brother.

Koobert was fine, of course, but the trailer was another matter. It had been jolted forward pretty hard as the tongue fell to the ground, and swiveled sideways as the weight inside shifted. The trailer tongue scraped noisily across the toppled rocks as it rolled backward down the campsite driveway. From inside the slowly accelerating trailer, there was a surprised yell.

Kootie said, “Hurry Koobie, we must be missing the party.”

Kootie and Koobert hopped with all of their might, but just couldn’t quite catch up with the front door of the trailer as it careened wildly down the steep hill. From inside the trailer, the shouting only got louder as it opened up a sizeable lead in the race for the bottom of the slope.

Exhausted, Koobert puffed, “I think we’re too late for the party”.

Kootie agreed, then added, “Oh well, at least somebody got to enjoy a surprise!”