Shrimp Meets The World

Story one of a new children's book

On Joe’s farm, there is a very large oak tree that must be hundreds of years old. It stands about thirty feet tall and has a large thick trunk. Inside the trunk is a hollow space where Shrimp and her brother Tiger were born. Shrimp is a small, but a healthy pale orange kitten. Her brother Tiger, who is three hours older, is darker orange and much bigger. Shrimp let out a loud cry letting her momma know that she is hungry. Tiger wiggled his body closer to Shrimp letting her know that everything will be alright.

When their momma returned to the tree five minutes later, she laid down to let her new kittens eat. She was a good momma and made sure that her babies were safe and taken care of. After Shrimp filled up her belly with her momma’s warm milk, she let out a big burp. Momma licked the top of Shrimp's head as if to say, good girl. When Tiger finished eating, he snuggled up next to Momma to keep warm. Shrimp was full, happy, and ready to explore. The only thing was, she was still weak and wobbly since she was only a few hours old.

As the days progressed and the two kittens got stronger, the want to explore grew also. One afternoon while Momma was gone and Tiger was sleeping, Shrimp got up and wobbled her way to the opening of the tree trunk. She peeked her head out and saw a whole new world. There was the bright sun in the sky, soft-looking green grass, and little critters flying all around. Shrimp wasn’t sure if she should leave the tree, but the beauty of what she saw intrigued her.

Shrimp took two steps out of the tree and felt the warmth of the sun shining down on her. She sniffed the air and it smelled like fresh clean laundry. As she took a couple more steps, she saw a blackbird fly over and land on one of the branches of the tree. Shrimp stood still and watched the blackbird. She wasn’t sure if the bird would harm her or not. As she watched the blackbird, he hopped down onto a branch closer to her.

“Well, hello there. You must be one of the kittens I’ve been hearing about,” the bird said.

Shrimp lowered her body to the ground and stared up at the bird.

“Oh, don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Billy and I live on the farm too,” he said.

Shrimp slowly stood back up but carefully watched Billy, “hi Billy, I’m Shrimp.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Shrimp. You have a brother too don’t you?” Billy asked.

“Yes, Tiger. He’s sleeping,” Shrimp said.

“Oh, well I will speak quieter then,” Billy whispered. “I saw you come out of the tree so I thought that I would introduce myself, and welcome you to the farm,” Billy cocked his head.

“Oh, well, that’s nice of you, and it’s nice to meet you too,” Shrimp sat down.

Shrimp went on to say how pretty the farm looks so far and that she can’t wait to explore more. Billy told her that when she is allowed to leave the tree, he would be happy to show her around. Billy did warn her though about farmer Joe’s dog Queenie. Billy pointed to the house with his wing and said that Queenie is usually in the house but sometimes sneaks out. He said that she’s a small dog but can be downright mean at times.

Just before Billy could say anymore about the farm, he saw Shrimps momma walking towards them, “Looks like your mom is on her way back so you might want to head inside.”

Shrimp turned and looked, “Okay, thank you, Billy. I’ll talk to you soon,” Shrimp hurried into the tree.

Billy sat on the branch preening his feathers when Momma walked up to the tree and stopped.

“It seems as though you met one of my kittens,” Momma looked up at Billy.

Billy looked down and cleared his throat, “uh yes, I did. Shrimp seems very sweet.”

“Yes she is, and I expect you to watch over her?” Momma said.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Billy said.

Momma walked into the opening of the tree trunk and saw Shrimp sitting there. She walked up to Shrimp and gave her a little love rub and then laid down. Shrimp was surprised that her Momma didn’t scold her for being outside of the tree. Shrimp then turned around, walked over to her Momma, and lay down next to her. That was a nice first time out in this new world, Shrimp thought.

Please Join me again when Shrimp and Tiger venture out.

And when you subscribe to Pennie’s Writing’s it helps me to understand what you readers like and want. Thank you.