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AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

The original Wodlen story; sadly I'm having trouble cutting and pasting it from my own board because I put all kind of > < < type of symbols in it to
show different languages and they screwed up the HTML here! So for now
a link to the orig story and I hope to cut and paste the entire story here too

http://tinyurl.com/7bwdyg

AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

trying to copy it here and taking out the > > < symbols so it shows up!

1
Alec started to regain consciousness; he felt shaken up and couldn't remember what had happened. He wasn't in bed--no, he was fully
clothed in some kind of space suit and whatever he was lying on was no bed but some kind of weird apparatus that was tilting slightly. He had been lying on his right side but he felt himself turn over so he was lying on his back. Alec started to open up his eyes and focus them,
and what he saw just above him made him scream.

There were two gigantic eyes, surrounded by black fur; a long nose,
and two pointed ears above. The titanic face was mostly a blend of
grey, black, white, and brown fur. He heard this giant creature
say something in an odd language, then a noise akin to laughter.
It may have been a giant, but the timbre of the voice was more
like a young boy of 9 or 10.

He realized that he was being held in the paw/hand of a giant creature, with another paw nearby in case he started to fall off.
He tried to get up to flee but the other paw's fingers stopped him
short and pushed him down, gently but firmly. He felt the paw then move downward and he got a better look at what was holding him: a giant boyish raccoon, clad in a red T-shirt. Where's the spaceship?,
he suddenly thought. This was no dream or nightmare--he recalled that his spaceship was in trouble and in danger of crashing and that was the last thing he'd remembered.

Other voices were heard, similarly pre-pubescent but loud and in a foreign tongue. He looked around and saw two other giant raccoons, both of them a bit bigger than the one holding him.
One had a grey hooded sweatshirt, and the other a plaid
shirt of some kind, with a vest as well.

He knew not of their language, but had he known, he would have found that the biggest of them was demanding to see the little
creature his youngest brother had just found. The youngest
raccoon was refusing to turn over Alec, but the oldest was
more insistent.

One of these giants was bad enough, but three? Alec felt like
he was going to faint.
The youngest reluctantly turned over Alec. He cupped his paws
together and brought them over to the oldest boy's cupped paws,
and the youngest gently pushed at Alec's back. He found himself
tumbling into the paws of the oldest one.

A slightly deeper voice. Maybe 11, soon to be 12? He seemed
a bit more mature, too. In their own language, the youngest raccoon explained he'd seen this spaceship toy, and a small
creature nearby. He didn't know that Alec had piloted that ship
and crawled or tumbled out after a crash. He'd gently picked up
Alec in one paw and that's when the tiny being had woken up.

The three giant raccoon boys were all sitting down at the moment, in some kind of forest. Alec noticed they had short pants and were barepawed. They almost resembled grade school children who happened to be anthro raccoons. He estimated that each of them was at least 50 feet tall. They talked in their own language.

I've never seen a creature like this, said the oldest.

He's wearing clothes, too, said the one who was slightly
younger than the oldest.

He'll be my pet, chimed in the youngest--

then suddenly the oldest interjected:

OUR pet! We share. And we don't tell anyone not even mom and dad.

Alec found the oldest one was reaching for his helmet; rather than
having his neck broken, Alec took off the helmet and placed it down
on the raccoon's paw which was holding him, faced upward.
They observed that this strange creature was something called
a human; they didn't know he was from the planet Earth.
Alec was a man in his late twenties.

Now he was the pet of three giant raccoon children, on a distant planet, and neither knew the other's language.

Alec rolled his eyes at the thought, then found himself laying down
on the oldest raccoon's paw. A giant furry finger of the paw
tapped gently on Alec's chest. He sat up.

Procione, said the oldest raccoon, pointing to himself.

Lotor, said the next-youngest raccoon, pointing to himself.

Cadirek, chimed in the youngest, doing the same.

Alec stood up. "I am Alec DiCarlo. Please don't hurt me."

They looked puzzled at each other. The tiny being could speak!

Iamalec?, asked Procione pointing to him.

Oops, the oldest raccoon had misunderstood.

"Alec," said the Earthling.

You are Boppo. That's a good name!, said Procione.

"Boppo" meant "tiny doll" in their native language.

He's not a doll, you dummy, replied Lotor. He's alive.

Cadirek leaned over and gently blew some air with his
mouth towards Alec. It was a small gust of wind that ruffled
his hair and surprised him. The raccoons laughed. Cadirek
then leaned over again and touched the Earthling's face with
the tip of his nose. It was cold. Alec felt the raccoon's
whiskers touch his face and shoulders.

Alec thought about trying to jump off the raccoon's paw
down to the ground and run away. It was only about 30 feet or so
down. But even if he did, where would he go? The space
ship was probably beyond repair, and if he did run, the giant
masked bandits would soon catch him.

So would he be a toy, a doll...a pet? Would he live the rest of
his life there? Would he be in danger?

It was a very uncertain future for him
2
From what Alec could see, he was being taken into the boys' home, which was a hole in a huge tree. Actually it was a clump of trees
together, and various rooms were carved out of them; kitchen
and living room on one level, parent's bedroom on the second,
and boys' bedroom on the top. He would find later that each level had its own bathroom. The boys' room featured one bed on one side for
the oldest, Procione, and a bunk bed for the other two opposite it.

They set Alec on top of a dresser; he took off his space suit which
revealed pants and a shirt. The boys would have no idea where he'd
come from (namely, a distant planet) and he wasn't so sure that
they'd associate his arrival with the odd little toy that was near
where he was found. It would be his way to get home, IF he could
get home, but what condition would it be in? Could it be fixed--
or would one of these creatures throw it away or something?

Lotor took the space suit and threw it into a drawer.

Where will he sleep?, Lotor asked the other two.

We could keep him here but maybe we should put him in a cage so he can't get out. I don't think we have one, though, said Procione.

Or put him in a small tree somewhere, one where only we
know of, said Cadirek.

They looked down at the pitiful, furless creature. Where was its tail?

Poor lil' guy. Hey, we should feed him something. He could be hungry said Lotor.Mouse food maybe?

I don't know what he eats, said Cadirek. He can have our
leftovers.

Alec looked up at them and had absolutely no idea what they were
saying, but he guessed correctly. He jumped up a couple times to grab their attention
then rubbed his stomach with his hand; then he looked down with
a sad expression.

Get some sweets or something, said Procione.Maybe
something to drink. Hey, he's a grown up, maybe he'd like some
beer.

I can't get him beer, I'm not old enough, said Lotor.

It's for him, not you, replied the oldest boy.

Let him tell us what he'd like-- said Lotor.

He can speak, yeah, but not our language. He should just take
what we give him, and like it.

What the heck is he? I don't know what kind of animal he
is. I don't know what his kind of animal eats, said Cadirek.

Alec thought it was time to try and learn each other's language.
He pointed at himself with the index fingers of both hands and
said, "Human. Earth." Then he pointed at the three of them and
said, "Raccoon. Raccoons."

Hirrrrakkkooons, repeated Procione. What's that mean?

Maybe it's what we are. Hirrrrakkkoooons, said Lotor.

Lotor pointed to Alec.
Hirrrrakkkoooon?

Alec nodded no and looked down. He made a motion similar
to what American football referees do when a field goal is "no good".

I guess we are, and he isn't... Hey, hirrrrakkkoooon, get him some food, said Procione, turning to Lotor.

Suddenly Alec felt himself being lifted by the scruff of his shirt,
as a boy would do with the scruff of a kitten's neck.

Procione:
You're taking him down there?

Lotor:
Why not? Show him our food--oops!

Alec suddenly realized that the raccoon had accidentally loosened
his grip on his shirt and he was falling, down some forty feet
or so. It was a softer landing than expected, though, as he landed in a mass of clothing that the boys had on the floor. Alec
tumbled out of the clothing and made his way toward the floor.
Next to his were the titanic grey paws of the oldest raccoon,
a good nine or ten feet long. He looked up and saw the three
of them looming above him--52, 54, and 58 feet tall. A giant
paw reached down to pick him up.

Is he alright?, asked Lotor.

A little dude like that can't really get hurt too bad, replied
Procione. 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall'--and he's
kinda small.

Procione was the one who had picked him up. He heard Lotor
say, in his native tongue, that he was sorry he dropped him. But again, Alec had no idea what the boy was saying, though he assumed it was an apology.

Don't be such a clumsy hirrrrrakkkoooon, kiddo, said Procione.
You could still hurt him.

I thought you just said he's too small to be hurt,said Cadirek.

Well, in some ways. Look, we gotta be careful with this little guy. He's probably scared poopless of us 'cause we're so huge. Lil'
dude'll get a heart attack.

Procione, who had just turned 12, seemed to be the most mature
of the three, at least in most cases.

None of the boys, however, knew that their new little pet was
an intelligent man who could pilot a space ship--and it was just his rotten luck that he'd landed on this planet.

Raccoons, thought Alec. The little creatures who raided garbage barrels, or wound up as roadkill up in the north country. They were cute, other than the ones who carried rabies. But on Earth,
they were just a couple feet tall. Not here. On this planet,
whatever the heck it was called, young boy raccoons towered over him and had control over him.

And here he was, stuck for awhile or perhaps forever. And nobody on Earth would know what became of him. He wished he could
send a message--oh, hi, it's Alec--I'm OK, I made it out of the crash fine, but now I'm a pet for fifty-five foot tall raccoons.

Look, you keep and eye on him, Lotor,said Procione.
Me an' Caddy will grab some food for him and bring it up here.
If Mom and Dad get home, we'll have to find a place to hide him.

Why?, asked Lotor.

They'll just take him away from us. He's too weird--maybe they'll
send him to a science lab...or maybe they just won't let us have him.

We're good cubs.

Tell THEM that!

more coming or go to link above to read whole story
[/i]

AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

3
They brought him up a little food--and actually, it was far too much for him. Even the smallest portions of food would have been more than enough. The first thing they gave him looked like giant coffee beans
and tasted horrible; he assumed it was mouse food. But then there were pastries covered with sugar- and cheese-like substances and
a drink which he assumed was raccoon beer. They'd put it in the
smallest container they could find, and he drank the equivalent of
3 pints or so. It tasted good and gave him more than a bit of a "buzz".

So much so that he was staggering around a little bit, which they found funny.

>< Dad'll kill us if he finds we got into his beer, said one.

>< We're not drinking it, 'Alec' is, said another. He's old enough,
I think?

>< Where are we gonna keep him tonight? Would he be safe in
the dresser drawer?

Procione:
>< What if mom finds him there? If she puts our clothes there? We
should get a cage.

Cadirek:
>< We can look around. Maybe someone threw it away.

Ha!, said Alec to himself. Raccoons raiding someone's garbage.
That's rich!

>< He doesn't look right, said Lotor. Maybe we shouldn't have
given him that beer. It could be poison to him--could kill him!

>< He'll be OK, replied Procione.

Alec hoped that they'd give him more beer later, though he'd
clearly had enough for that day.

Just after their own supper, one of the raccoon boys did find a cage someone had thrown away, a few treehouses away.

>< We'll put it up on the closet shelf, said Procione.

The closet shelf was a good 70 feet off the ground. The 12 year old had to stand on a chair to reach it. In went Alec, who had a plastic
floor to sleep on, an exercise wheel (this had to be for gerbils or
something), and a container where food could be put in.

They all said goodnight to him and went to bed (fairly early;
they were kids, after all).

He drifted off to sleep himself--the sugary pastry and the beer
helped there--and had two dreams.

In the first one, he imagined Procione getting up on top of the
chair, its 16 foot high seat helping him to reach a high place,
and he found the boy reaching in for him. It was fairly dark and
the other 2 boys were asleep. Procione took him back to his bed.
"You must be cold. This is warmer."

The raccoon got into bed, his new "pet" by his side. The bed was
against a wall (the wall was to Procione's right). Alec was placed
near Procione's shoulders, on his right, under some blankets. It was more than warm, it was hot, between the blankets (one may have been an
electric blanket) and the heat radiating from the raccoon's nearby body. Do they even need blankets?, Alec asked himself in the dream.
They do have fur.
Then Alec imagined, in the dream, that he was still awake but Procione had fallen asleep--and to his horror he noticed that
the raccoon was moving around a bit--and turning over on his
right side! His shoulders were still a good 4 to 5 feet away but that was still close for comfort. What if he turned over completely? He'd be crushed. And he had no escape. He had been pinned under
Procy's wrist. Snug as a bug in a rug, one might say, but he felt
more than a bit claustrophobic.

That suddenly shifted to the second dream, where he found himself sitting on a kitchen table talking to the boys' father. He thought the kids were huge. Much bigger still were the adults on this world.
The father was probably at least 70 feet tall, and countless tons.
He had held Alec in his hand and brought it up to his face; there
were the humongous eyes, ultra-long nose, and a thick bit of
fur under his chin. Almost like a raccoon beard. But now he was indeed on the table, seated and drinking a small container of a coffee-like substance while the giant raccoon had a much bigger cup himself.

The odd part was that either the raccoon knew perfect English, or
he now was fluent in their language.

"My sons are taking good care of you, 'Alec'?"

"Yes they are, sir, though to be honest sometimes they...scare me--
I mean, I mean, think of how big they are to me and I hope I don't get hurt..."

"My boys aren't mean. Are you saying they're torturing you or--"

"Well, boys will be boys and sometimes I think I'm their little pet, and..."

"Well you are, aren't you?"

Alec let out a sigh. "Sir, I am a human being from planet Earth and I'm as intelligent--er, almost as intelligent--as you. I don't think I'm
a pet; I mean, they're very nice to keep me here but I hope to get back someday."

The father grunted and drank some more of the substance.

"Hmm. Well I'm glad you appreciate how they're treating you. What's this about 'Earth', though?"

"Well, that's just it...Rekko." He finally found himself comfortable enough to say Dad Raccoon's name. "I'm not FROM here, I'm
from a planet called Earth. There are billions of 'people' like me
there."

"Are there any...hiirrrrrakkkoooons? Like us?" The boys had
apparently taught him that word.

"Well, yes, but they're little creatures who don't talk or dress.
About one third my height. They live in forests and sometimes..."
He was about to say they raided barrels. "Uh, sometimes they
try to cross roads and...get run over."

"Run over? You kill hirrrrakkkoooons?"

"Well, not on purpose, sir. But they're just so small and...no matter how fast they try to run."

The raccoon pounded his fist on the table. It sent Alec about a foot or so up into the air, then he landed back down with a tumble.

"Oh, sorry," said Rekko. "But...Well, I'm just trying to take this all in."

Alec, again still in a dream, stood up and walked over to Rekko
and looked up at him.

"Sir, I can't alter who I am, where I'm from, what happens--"

"Would you take care of little hrrrrrakkkoooons if you got back to
Earth?"

"Oh, why, sure I would."

"Hmm. They don't talk, on Earth. Odd. Well, if all this is true, you really are from another planet, well,
I do hope you get back, lil' fella. Though my kids have taken a liking to you."

Then Alec found himself starting to wake up. He rubbed his head and
told himself it was an odd dream. Then he shivered. It was cold
up there in a cage up on a high closet shelf. He groaned and walked over to the front of the cage, where there was a latch
he couldn't possibly open. He looked across the room and saw
Procione in his nice warm bed, still asleep.

He shivered.

Fine way to treat your pet, boys.
4
The boys roused out of their sleep and got ready to go to
school. One of them said he'd bring some food up for Alec.

Alec thought, I have two things that need to be done: solve
the language problem by learning their language or have them
learn English; AND try to get the spaceship back in case it could
be repaired so he could get back to Earth. Of course, he didn't
really know how to fix it--and what was he going to do, get an
adult raccoon to work on such a tiny ship and get it going? He
wasn't even sure if the residents of this planet were advanced
enough to have space technology.

He was liberated from his cage and placed on top of the small
sink adjacent to the boys' room. He knew they wanted to give him a shower or a bath. Quickly, he took off all of his clothes except
for the boxer shorts. He was gently placed into the sink, and the faucet above him--tested for temperature--served as a shower.
Alec was given a tiny piece of soap they'd chopped off a bigger bar; he lathered up, rinsed, and even took a bit of a swim when the
level of the water hit about four feet.

After a couple minutes, he saw one raccoon push down the lever
for the drain and the water quickly started to empty out. He was fished out of the sink and given a facecloth to dry himself with.

>< Are we taking him to school or something?, asked Cadirek.

>< Heck no, replied Procione. The teacher would take him away.
We'll have to hide him here.

Procione looked up at the cage on the shelf. Oh no you don't,
though Alec. Not all day long.

>< Where will you keep him here?, asked Lotor. Not in the cage...

Bravo Lotor!, thought Alec. Sticking up for little old me.

Procione:
>< Should we let him roam free in here? Close the door, though...
Mom and Dad'll be at work all day. But we definitely don't want him to escape.

>< He's too small to do that, replied Lotor. Though you wonder,
maybe he can squeeze under the door.

Procione:
>< Poor little guy has no fur. I hope he wasn't cold last night.

Cadirek:
>< We gave him a cloth for a blanket.

Lotor had run downstairs to fetch some food. Procione found a dosage cup for a medicine bottle and placed it on top of the dresser.

>< He can use this for a toilet. We'll just empty it or throw it away,
said Procione.

>< You sure we shouldn't bring him to school?, asked Cadirek.

>< Yeah, no way.

He brought Alec over to the top of the dresser; Alec noted a power
cord led down to the floor.

Procione put a paw down near Alec; he grabbed a couple fingers
and hugged them then looked up at the raccoon, smiling.
"Thank you, Procy,"he said.

Procione made a note: in the little's one's language, those were
the words used for appreciation of a deed.

---
Somewhere across town, a fox was playing back a recording he'd
made of an odd radio broadcast he'd picked up.

"Spacecraft emergency. This is Alec DiCarlo, from planet Earth.
Please respond, help if you can." It was preceded by three
short beeps, three long beeps, then three short beeps.

It was not in any language that the fox, Ungorp, had heard
before. Was it from an alien being? He wondered if it was a cry
for help. Maybe this alien had a spacecraft crash, and it was
sending out the message automatically. It kept repeating.

He had no idea what was being said, none at all. But he pulled
out key words and spoke them aloud. Alec DiCarlo. Earth. Maybe
that was the alien's name?

Or, it could be a hoax. Someone with a radio transmitter and
some kind of recorder. Ungorp hoped it wasn't. He would love to
find out if alien beings existed, and meet one. And if he could
do something to help him, so much the better.

He was like most foxes, tall and thin; about 73 feet tall with
red and white fur; and he was in his late twenties. Ungorp
worked for a university and did research on aliens in his spare time.

He used a portable receiver and went for a walk. He found the spot
where he'd picked up the signal and walked toward a house.
It was getting louder and clearer. He noticed a rabbit starting to unload groceries from her car.

>< Excuse me, ma'am, but I was wondering if I could ask a favor
of you--I do research about alien beings and I think a spaceship
may be around here somewhere. I'll help you bring those in,
he hastily added.

>< Oh. Well, sure...

They carried the groceries in and he thanked her for her trouble.
He mentioned he was getting a strong signal and he asked if
she had seen anything.

>< Well, the boys--my two sons--found some kind of toy out in
the woods. I feel ridiculous saying this--but it looked like a spaceship.

>< Oh, no, let me see it, please.

She took him to her back yard and that's where he saw it.

>< They're in school right now, she explained.

>< Maybe when they get back I'd like to ask them exactly where
they found it. This could be real...

>< Oh, sir, that thing is so tiny. (She laughed) How big would
these space beings be?

>< Who knows. Why...

Suddenly he reached in and found a black bag; it contained clothes
that would fit a very tiny being. He looked in the ship again and
saw a realistic looking control panel.

>< It looks like it did crash--not sure if we could get it going again...
but now I just need to find out where the alien is, said Ungorp.

A short time later, the boys returned from school and he asked
where they'd found the ship.

>< You mean that toy?

They took him to that stretch of the woods where Alec had
crashed.

>< Maybe he's somewhere around here. Maybe in one of the
houses, said Ungorp.

He asked them if he could borrow or take the spaceship.

>< It's just a toy, said one rabbit. I don't see what you're
calling it that, mister.

But they agreed and he gave them ice cream gift certificates for
their trouble (his brother had an ice cream shoppe).

That night, Ungorp the fox had a dream. He was looking down at one of his paws, and found a strange alien being was in it. He had
no fur, and ears on the side of his head rather than up top. And they could pretty much understand each other.

"Mr Fox--uh, Ungorp, you can help me get back home..."

"Why yes, 'Alec'...I'll try. I'm just so excited to meet you! I want to
find out all about your planet. I've never met an alien before.
And...I'm sure you do want to get back there--this place is a bit
big for you, eh..."

"I wanted to explore other worlds, maybe even settle down on
one. But this is indeed a bit much...though, still..."

5

Alec's mission was partly privately funded, partly public. He volunteered because he wanted to explore other worlds and report
the findings; to be honest, he didn't have too many friends and
relatives back on Earth and in some ways he was looking for
something new and different--plus the way the world was going,
perhaps finding a new world would be worth the trouble.

Well, he certainly found friends here, and big ones--though they
considered him a pet. Or who knows, maybe not. Now the raccoon
boys were off at school and he was left alone in their room. He wandered around for awhile when suddenly he heard beeping coming from what he assumed was his spacesuit. As it turned out,
one of them had placed it on the floor, about forty feet away. He was also on the floor, so he ran over to it and pushed a button.

>< Alec DiCarlo Earth? Alec DiCarlo Earth? Are you receiving this?,
came the voice--in the foreign language, but he recognized his
own name and that of his planet.

The foreign language--which sounded like that of the raccoons--
made it clear that it wasn't someone on Earth contacting him,
it must have been another giant raccoon here--someone had
found his spaceship.

"This is Alec DiCarlo--do you have my spacecraft?," he asked in English.

>< Alec DiCarlo Earth-- I am Ungorp and I will try to find you.

He didn't know what to say, but replied: "This is Alec--I am being
held in a treehouse by three raccoon boys, Procione, Lotor,
and Cadirek." Actually he used the raccoon word for boys,
which they had taught him.

>< Young boys? I will check the school and get back to you!

He didn't know what 'Ungorp' had said but hoped for the best.
The fox had noticed a button on the console in the tiny spaceship
and pressed it, hoping it sent a radio signal to the alien. That it did.
And now that he knew the names of the three boys, he would
try to find Alec.

He knew the elementary school where the rabbit boys, Bidefo and
Pollin, went (he'd been a student there years ago) so he went
there and asked to see the principal--figuring the boys whose names were mentioned were students there, too. After identifying himself he
said >< I have reason to believe they have found an alien being
and are holding him--he's very tiny...

The principal looked skeptical but ordered all three brothers out of
their classrooms.

Ungorp introduced himself and talked to them in a small room.

"Boys, we think you may have found a little alien being. Two
rabbits you know found a spaceship and I used it to contact him!
You can help me greatly!"

They looked at each other and wondered what to do. He leveled with them.

"If you have him, don't worry; I won't take him away. But it's
important I talk to him--to find out about his world...prove that
there's life out there somewhere besides us."

Lotor said, "You won't hurt him?" The other two shot him
a dark glance, as if to say, You idiot! Now he knows!

Ungorp said, "You mean, if you should have him, would I hurt him?"

Procione sighed. "He can fit in the palm of my paw. He's got no fur,
no tail...and doesn't speak our language. But we like him."

"You like Alec DiCarlo Earth...?"

Lotor smiled. "He calls us hirrrakkkooooons, whatever that is."

Cadirek chimed in, "His name is Alec DiCarlo but Earth is where
he's from, I think."

Ungorp smiled. "He's sure not from around here. May I see him,
right after school? I may have to ask your parents permission."

Procione sighed. "They don't know about him. We don't want them to know."

Just young kids, smiled Ungorp. I was a cub once, he thought,
and I'd to the same thing.

"We can keep it a secret."

A couple hours later they all met at their family treehouse.

Back there, Alec waited patiently--then was startled to hear
the sound of a door opening and then being slammed two levels
below. Pawsteps on the staircase. The door was cautiously opened
and Procione peered around, looking for him. He spotted him
back on top of the dresser.

Alec noticed all three raccoons but spotted a fourth creature behind them, considerably taller. A fox, for heaven's sake!

Procione started to speak but Alec suddenly said, "Ungorp?"

The raccoon boys looked at each other and then looked up at Ungorp, who was a good 15 to 20 feet taller. Ungorp started to
slowly extend his right paw toward the alien.

>< He won't bite, said Lotor.

>< Alec...I am so thrilled
to meet you. An alien being, here, and...I just want to talk to you.

The only bit Alec caught besides his name was "talk to you";
gokk pi dred in their tongue. He'd picked that up.

Alec pointed to himself and said, "Human." He pointed to the boys and said, "Raccoons."

>< Yes, hirrrakkkkoooons, said Ungorp. He then pointed to himself.

Alec pointed to Ungorp and said, "Fox."

So. Ungorp was a "fox" in English. He nodded and repeated it.
"Fox."

Alec pointed up, as if to the stars. "Earth."

Ungorp nodded. He pointed down, as if to mean the planet they
were all on. "Wodlen."

Ungorp motioned to Alec as if to ask if he could pick him up and
Alec nodded.

Ungorp sat on Procione's bed, holding the Earthling in his right paw.
He looked at the strange being.

>< He looks weird doesn't he?, asked Cadirek.

>< Not weird. He's different, replied the fox. And boys, he continued, just because he's little doesn't mean you should
forget he's as smart as we are, maybe even smarter, and
deserves respect. He's...just from another part of the universe.

Cadirek nodded and pointed to the Earthling, then said--
in English-- "leeetle hirrrakkkoooon." They all laughed.

>< No, a "human", said Ungorp.

>< He's almost like a raccoon to us, said Procione. We could
use a magic marker and draw a ring around his eyes...I could
take some of my fur and attach it to his butt.

There was so much Ungorp wanted to ask Alec. He set him back
on top of the dresser and said to him, >< Fox...Earth?

In other words, what were the foxes like on Earth? Alec
put a hand over his mouth as if to indicate, "they don't speak".
Then he got down on all fours to indicate they didn't walk upright.

Ungorp looked disappointed. >< Hirrrakkkoooon...Earth?

Alec did the same.

>< Is he saying raccoons on Earth can't talk...can't walk up right?

Ungorp sighed and nodded.

>< That's the way it is, I guess.

Then Ungorp remembered he had brought something. He ran
downstairs and back out to his car, and emerged with the spaceship. He carried it upstairs (with some help from Procione)
and set it down on Procy's bed. Then Ungorp reached inside
and found a black duffel bag, about four feet tall, and he emptied
the contents. It was additional clothing for Alec; shirts, pants,
sneakers, underwear.

Alec DiCarlo looked up at them all and said, "Thank you."

>< That means he appreciates what you've done, explained Lotor.

The giant fox nodded and smiled. Alec walked over to the spaceship and took a look at the damage. He looked up at Ungorp and
made a motion as if to pantomime a rocket taking off.

Ungorp replied, >< We can try to fix it and get you home. I may know some animals who could fix it.

Alec didn't know what he had said, so Ungorp just shrugged and made a facial expression of "I don't know."

>< Boys, I will reward you for this--and I'll try to make sure
your parents don't find out...for now. They may have to find
out eventually, said Ungorp.

>< We wanna keep him, said Cadirek. We like him--can take
care of him.

Alec looked up at the giants and said, in English, "Thank you
Ungorp Fox. Thank you Procione, Lotor, Cadirek Raccoons."

The fox smiled and said, again in English, "Thank you Alec
DiCarlo Human."
6
Alec was the furless one, in a world populated by furry creatures. It certainly hadn't helped him the night before, where he slept in
a chilly cage. Alec thought of how on Earth, furs from animals
like raccoons and foxes were prized possessions, for glamour
and fashion and certainly to keep warm. He made a mental
note not to tell them this, and he chuckled to himself at the idea
of just how many raccoon or fox furs a furrier on Earth could get from
just one of these giant creatures.

They'd be sure to put up a heck of a fight, though.

After dinner (the boys took a little of it upstairs to give to Alec),
he found himself on the floor in their bedroom with the three of
them when suddenly he heard pawsteps on the stairs below.
He dashed under Procione's bed (and they took note that he did)
and noticed the door opening. In walked a 70 foot tall raccoon--
the boy's father.

From under the bed, Alec could see the huge paws of their father
walk in and then stop. Just as with Ungorp, it was still shocking to see just how huge an adult from this planet seemed. He looked
up to see the father's kneecaps some 20 or 21 feet up; above that were short pants and a T-shirt, and the masked bandit face
still higher up. His tail was enormous!

Alec had no desire whatsoever to run out and greet the raccoon.
If he did, the giant could have suddenly moved his paws in his
direction and the result could have been a huge stain of blood on the floor and the end of it all for Alec. The kids' huge paws were bad
enough, but Raccoon Dad's were even worse.

He heard the father talk to his sons, and he was holding something in his right paw far above. Alec actually felt a little less tense when
he heard the voice--it was baritone, folksy, friendly. Yes, it was a mega giant 'coon, but he seemed nice. Hey, sir, some day we'll
meet and maybe shoot the breeze over some delicious raccoon beer, he thought to himself.

For one second, he thought he saw the giant look down to see him,
but apparently he didn't notice. He then left the room, closing the door but not getting his tail caught at all. It was something common
for these raccoons and foxes--the ability to swish their tail so
that it didn't get caught when leaving and shutting a door!

Procione bent down and showed the object to Alec, then he pointed to his bed. It was obvious: the object was an Earthling-sized bed.

>< Ungorp stopped by and gave this to our Dad. It's for you. He
told Dad that he works with us at school and this is for a project
we're doing.

Procione set it down--it was a block of wood, 2 feet high by six and a half feet long by 3 and a half feet wide; basically, a twin sized bed on Earth. It also had a headboard, and a makeshift mattress on
top with a tiny "pillow", and some cloths for sheets.

>< You'll be warm in this! New bed!

"Thank you! Thank Ungorp, too."

The fox was thinking of him. He could tell that Ungorp was
thrilled to meet him and wanted to find out as much about
Earth and Earthlings as possible. The fox also could help
Alec get his ship repaired. He seemed like a very nice guy
who cared about him and his plight. It dawned on Alec that
Ungorp was the first adult he'd met on this planet (also
the first non-raccoon). It was nice to be able to relate to
a fellow grownup.

He looked up at the raccoon boys. They all had their own
personalities, or raccoonalities if you will. Procione, the oldest,
seemed the most mature but he could be silly at times, too.
He took charge when decisions had to be made. Lotor, the
middle one, was more quiet but seemed loving and considerate.
He still had to smile at how Lotor convinced Procione to let him
out on his own; if not for that, how could he have answered
Ungorp's radio call? That turned out for the best.

And Cadirek, the youngest, was enthusiastic and well-meaning,
if not always correct. God, he was bonding with them and vice
versa; he hoped they'd do right by him but he still remembered
they were kids and he wondered if they'd do something stupid
and irresponsible. (That was why he felt a bit more at ease
with Ungorp, since he was a fellow adult.)

The boys still felt he was their pet. They would pick him up and
gently pet or stroke him as if he were a small animal (well...
he was!) They'd gently touch his nose or mess up his hair.
Cadirek put him in a remote controlled car and drove him
around.

That night, Alec performed for them. They asked him to sing--
Procione sang a song, then pointed at him as if to say, "Now, you."
He took an old Bob Seger song and slightly changed it. Alec
stood on top of the bedpost of Alec's bed and sang:

Just take those old records off the shelf
I'd rather sit and listen by myself
Today's music ain't got the same soul
I like that old time raccoon roll!

They laughed and clapped. He smiled and bowed. 7
School Daze

There were cell phones on this planet and of the raccoon boys,
only Procy was allowed to have one, the other being too young.
The phone rang and he answered it, talked for a couple moments,
then hung up.

>< That was Ungorp. He needs to 'borrow' Alec tomorrow--first he's
taking him to our school, and then to his college, and then we get
him back, said Procy.

Procy didn't ask Alec if it was OK with him, but Alec knew the boys
had control. He probably should have, though. Alec picked up
a few words here and there and when he heard 'Ungorp' he figured
whatever it was would turn out well.

Procy walked over to the bunk bed; Lotor had the bottom bunk.
He was lying on his stomach, reading a book.

>< Lotor, I think Alec needs to thank you. Ungorp said he contacted
Alec and he guesses Alec picked it up on something on his space
suit. I remember you saying we ought to let Alec run free here.
So if we had him in the cage, he might not have gotten the call.

>< Really?

Procione picked up Alec gently and placed him on the edge of
Lotor's mattress. Alec looked up at the ten year old with a grateful expression, and he said, "Thank you. It was very, very important to me..."
Alec walked up to Lotor's face and tried his best to hug the raccoon's snout. He playfully brushed against the boy's whiskers
with his hand. Alec could swear that the boy's gigantic green eyes
were filling with water. Lotor had to blink a couple times.

"No problem, little pal," said Lotor in English. He continued in
his own language, "Didn't want you to be stuck in that cage."

It was one of those moments when Alec realized that even though
he sometimes was being treated like a pet, they knew he was no
wild animal...that he was smart and loving; just a bit small, that's all.

The next morning, the plan was for Procy to run back into his room
before leaving for school and to take Alec and put him in the top
section of his backpack, with the zipper open enough for air. He
headed back downstairs and the boys walked to school. They
met Ungorp in the parking lot and gave the human to him.

When the time came, Ungorp walked into the classroom with
kids 9 to 12 years old. The raccoon boys were all in that class
along with about a dozen other kids. They all sat around a round table and the teacher let Ungorp do the introduction.

>>Kids, you're about to meet an alien being who was discovered here a few days ago. I'm gonna ask you to be polite--he's small enough to fit into your paws, but if you're gonna pick him up please ask him first. Motion with your paws or say Ghuno jez (May I?)
He's kind of fragile. He's also very smart and is no wild animal.

Ungorp set Alec down on the table top.

>>His name is Alec and he comes from the planet Earth. Yes, he has
no fur, no tail, and his ears are on the side of his head, but that doesn't make him inferior. Just different. He came here on a space
ship that crashed and now he has to deal with big animals like us.
But he's very nice and you should be honored to be among the first to see him. He told me that animals of our species exist on Earth
and he'd like to tell you the Earth names for those species. Now,
when he comes up to you, say your name and he'll point to you and
say that Earth name.

Alec looked up at the various animals. They seemed no different than Earth kids of that age--energetic, goofy, fun-loving. Many of them were what he called "long-furred"--they had an overabundance of fur on the top and back of their heads.
Alec walked over to an ursine boy who introduced himself and
gave a gentle wave.

"Hi, Akliyo. You are a bear!"

It continued with other boys and girls; there were four raccoons,
three of whom he knew already; a couple foxes, two wolves,
two rabbits, and two bears.

Ungorp pointed out to the class that one boy, a rather short fox,
happened to be his nephew. >< So you don't feel so short now, eh?

Everyone laughed.

>< On his planet, Ungorp explained, 'humans' are all his size. There are animals like us there, too, but...they don't talk, dress, or walk
like we do...and they're smaller than the humans.

Several animals gasped.

>< Well, that's how it is, continued Ungorp. But the humans are
smart--they can design rockets and such. They're little but we
can't forget they're equal to us other than in size!

Ungorp walked over to the two rabbits.
>< Bidefo and Pollin here found his space ship and through that,
I found him. (He neglected to say where Alec was staying.) On
Earth, we show gratitude by saying 'Thank you', and Alec and
I need to do that.

Alec walked over to the two rabbits. What do you say to two
bunnies over 50 feet tall, he wondered...'What's Up, Doc?' Instead
he put his tiny hand on their wrists, looked up and said in English,
"Thank you...thank you very much, rabbits."

All the children clapped their paws. The bunnies blushed.

>< Kids, we can learn from Alec. He can teach us about the
Earth's 'people', culture, music, history and we can
teach him about ours.

Ungorp taught them a few simple English phrases and asked
them to remember the Earth words for each of their species.
At the end, the children formed a line; Ungorp cupped his paws
and placed Alec in them. He sat cross legged and waved up to
them. They all bid him farewell, in English.

"Goodbye, Alec!"
"Thank you Alec! We love Earthlings!"
"Goodbye! See ya later tonight!" (that was Cadirek, who got
a quick elbow in the ribs from Lotor and a "Ssssh!" from Procy)
-------------------------------------------------------

I've Been To College, I've Been To School (--from Uh Oh Love Comes To Town/Talking Heads)

Next up was a visit to the university and a different setting. It was a classroom, all right, and the students sat on a circular table but here
they were more mature and less goofy; they exuded an air of
coolness and hipness. Alec wondered if these were the older
brothers and sisters of the kids he'd met earlier in the day.

Ungorp gave a talk about just who Alec was, though it was bit
more serious and scientific in nature. He talked about the need
to know Earthlings better, and for Earthlings to get to know
Wodlenians better. As before, Alec walked around the table
and greeted each one. The first turned out to be a tall thin
raccoon.

"You're a raccoon," Alec informed him.

>< Sweet. Hirrrrakkkoooon. That's cool, dude.

The raccoon gently took Alec's hand and wrist between the thumb
and forefingers of his paw and moved it up and down very slightly.

Alec tried to understand their language, and Ungorp did again
teach these students some basics of English (Alec tried to
point out it was just one of many languages on his planet.)

Ungorp again pointed out that on Earth, animals like them existed but didn't speak--at least in a language Earth humans could understand--and that humans were the dominant species.

>< Dude you must get pretty chilly with no fur, said one wolf.

>< Trying to keep warm..., replied Alec in their language.

Earlier Ungorp had asked Alec if he had slept well the night before;
was he warm. He replied, yes. As it turned out, the bed also
included a basic electric blanket of sorts--powered by a small
battery.

>< Is he gonna stay here or go back to Earth?, asked one fox.

Ungorp replied, >< The only one...
Wow, Mr. Alec, you must be lonely--the only Earthling, the only
human, here...

Alec replied, >< I have friends here and I'm not so lonely.

Alec thought of the intro to a Canadian cartoon TV series back
on Earth, and one key line.

This is the Evergreen Forest. Quiet, peaceful, serene...That is,
until Bert Raccoon wakes up...Luckily he has some good friends to help him out...

Indeed I do, he smiled to himself.
8
Alec had noticed in some ways that Wodlen was like Earth but in others it was different. The most obvious being that animals like
raccoons and foxes were intelligent and humans...didn't exist.
From what he saw they lived in treehouses (carved out of clumps
of trees) or some stand-alone houses and such. Some of
the innovations were very similar to what he saw on Earth--
cars (though they looked a bit different here), cell phones,
and so on.

He noticed that kids like his raccoon pals liked to swing from
vines in the forest, almost like in Tarzan. They would move their
athletic arms and legs to go from vine to vine, and branches and
limbs. He asked them to not take him along when they did this,
for fear of being dropped or falling.

He didn't know if the technology was advanced enough to put
an animal in space or, indeed, if scientist could find a way to
fix his spaceship. He had gone aboard (it was put in the boys'
closet) and checked it out and the control board was not
co-operating at all. He tried to work the radio to contact Earth
somehow but that wasn't working either. Fuel cells seemed in
order, but that was about it. Could they fix it?

He wasn't sure otherwise about how things went on Wodlen;
were there widespread wars, poverty, disease? How did the
animals get along? If anything, the ones he'd met so far
seemed friendly and warm hearted which was a nice sign. If
he couldn't get back home, he might have to get used to them.
(Though he figured if he got the radio going he could contact
someone on Earth and tell them where he was and maybe some
kind of rescue mission could be formed. Not that it was guaranteed.
The U.S. government and its allies were all suffering economic
hardships and both public and private space efforts were on the
back burner.

He was hoping this trip would have provided useful info for all
on Earth. Maybe a trade mission of sorts, or forming an alliance
with the Wodlenians.

Ungorp met briefly with some others at the university who said they could come over and try to work on the spaceship.

>< All this means that you need to introduce Alec to your parents,
guys, said Ungorp to the raccoons. They need to know what's
going on.

>< But they may take him away from us, said Lotor. They'll
just donate him to your college or something.

>< We all need to work with him, but he can still stay with you guys--as long as your parents say it's OK. Look, I know you'd
love to keep it a secret but the time has come to level with them.

That time would be that night, just after dinner. Procy told
his mother and father that all three of them had something, or
rather, someone to show them.

Pastry and a coffee like substance was put on the table
and Procy went upstairs to get Alec.

When he got back to the kitchen, he held Alec up against his
chest, shielding him from view. Procione sat down and looked
up at his father, Rekko, and mother, Hila.

>< Mom, Dad, a few days ago we found this toy--we thought it was a toy--in the woods. Caddy saw a tiny guy next to it and picked him up. He's an alien being from a planet called Earth and his name
is Alec DiCarlo. We've been taking care of him...here...

With that, he gently set Alec down on the kitchen table. The man
was wearing a T-shirt, sweat pants, socks, and sneakers. He walked over to Rekko and looked up at him.

>< He's not a toy or doll...there's no battery in him or anything,
said Lotor.

Rekko noticed the furless man who also lacked a tail and pointy
ears on top of his head. So tiny, he thought.

Alec extended his hand up high and Rekko touched it with
the tip of an index finger; then Alec spoke in the best Wodlenian
he could.

>< Sir, I am Alec from the planet Earth...I am a human and there
are billions of 'people' like me on my planet. I know I may look odd
but I'm just different.

Rekko was speechless for a moment but then replied in a very
warm and homespun voice. (Alec thought it sounded like Jean
Shepherd, the narrator of the film 'A Christmas Story')

>< Hello Alec and welcome to...our family. I'm sure this world
may seem huge and scary to you, but we're kind here. I'm sure
my sons have been nice to you.

>< And he's been nice to us, chimed in Procy.

>< You have some very good children, sir. They have really helped
me and I love them as if they were my own.

>< He's cute, isn't he dear?, asked their mom, Hila.
Alec went over to her and touched one of her hands and they
smiled at each other.

Alec said to the both of them, >< You're part of our family and can stay here as long as you wish. You seem like a small being but with a big heart.

Alec replied, >< If only the people on my planet were as kind as you.

Rekko turned to his cubs and said, >< You took a few days to tell me about him...

Procione said, >< We were hoping you wouldn't take him away
from us...

Rekko laughed. >< Well, it would have been nice if you showed
him to us--but no, we wouldn't do that.

Lotor said, >< It gave us time to get to know each other and he's
learning how to speak our language.

Rekko put his paw around Alec and he felt the warmness of
the fur heat him right up.
>< You must be cold with no fur, heavens.

>< They're helping to keep me warm, replied Alec. And they've fed
me. Even took me to school with them today.

>< That explains the fox we met last night, said their mother.
He said he was with the school.

Procione: >< Kinda.

Lotor: ><He taught us the Earth word for what we are:
Hirrrakkkoooons.

Rekko: >< Ah, so there are hirrrakkkooooons on Earth, eh!

While this was going on, Procione was setting up Alec with a small
plate of pastry and putting the coffee-like substance in a very
small container.
They seem like such nice raccoons, thought Alec. They know their sons were in good paws with him as a kind of intergalactic
mentor and friend.

Alec: >< Yes but the raccoons we have are not nearly as huge as you!

Rekko: >< Well, I'm kind of used to it now.

It still was a little jarring. Standing close to Rekko now, he noticed
the thickness of his fur, especially on his arms. It might have been
a good one feet thick, at least!

Rekko: >< Listen, good friend. My wife and I would like to
spend a little time with you tonight, and find out more about
you and your planet. We'll talk in the living room--hey, I think
you'd really like some o' this nice beer I have in the fridge.

Alec: >< Why that would be great!

Procione: >< Don't have too much--you're so little...

They all laughed.

The boys looked at each other. Why in the world were they
even worried about what their parents would do with Alec?[/i]

AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

9

I like beer, it makes me a jolly good fellow, I like beer
It helps me unwind and sometimes it makes me feel mellow
--Tom T. Hall (country singer, "I Like Beer")

There were three interesting things about watching a giant raccoon drink beer. One was the creature's size, of course; 70 feet tall and
mega tons of weight. Second, the fact that he was taking in countless gallons with even the smallest sip. And third, just how he drinks it:
a mixture of gulping it down and lapping it with his tongue, in an
up and down motion. I'll have to try that sometime, thought Alec.

He was sitting on the kitchen table of one Rekko Irnsbo, father of
the three raccoon boys. He sat on a book that was a foot and a half thick, serving as a chair. In front of him was Raccoon-Mountain
Rekko, ready for a refreshing raccoon beer with his new friend.

>< Careful, Alec, he'll cook and eat you, said the departing Lotor
with a laugh as he headed upstairs.

>< I'll have to do that to you first, joked his father. Hmm! Kids!
You have any, Alec?

>< No sir, I'm not even married.

>< Love 'em all, I do, and I can see you've become a great pal to
them as well. Now tell me, what are the raccoons like on Earth?
And be honest.

>< Well, said Alec--trying his best to speak only in Wodlenian--
be aware that we humans are the dominant animal there, and
animals like raccoons, as I said, don't talk, dress, or stand like you.
But they're very smart, very clever. Cute, too.

>< You think they're cute?

>< Why, yes...

>< They must be; we're cute too!, laughed the macro raccoon.

>< Very handsome animals. Of course...they do have a reputation
for stealing things--in fact they're called 'masked bandits' because
the mask on their face makes them look like a robber!

>< Really! (Rekko gave forth a huge laugh) And, and, if I went
to Earth I could go around picking up human's cars, right, and
everyone would be like--oh no! That masked bandit took my car!

They both laughed heartily.

>< Your size advantage would sure work, Rekko! And...well, I hate to say it but some of our foxes and raccoons and minks are valued for their furs. Humans spend lots of money for them.

He dreaded what Rekko would say, but he took it well.

>< That's too bad-- o' course, if I went to Earth they could take a lil' bit of mine, I wouldn't miss it. There's a lot of me to go around!
(Laughs) Do you like this beer?

>< Oh, it's delicious! Thank you! I'll try not to drink too much though.

>< Yeah; hey by the way we oughta help you out up in the boys'
room. I saw the bed they got for you. We could build a ramp or
stairway up to it, put it up a bit high--and then another ramp
or stairs up to the window so you could get a nice view!

>< Neat!

>< Yeah, I'd have my brother Meeko do it. He's the one with
carpentry skills.

>< Meeko!, laughed Alec.

>< Yeah? That's his name.

>< Ah! Sorry--it's just, we have a motion picture on Earth, a cartoon,
about this native girl of the woods, Pocohantas, and she has a sidekick named Meeko. A cute little raccoon!

>< Mmm! Say, Alec, I know it must be so weird for you being here on a planet of giant animals.

>< Yes, but I'm starting to like it. See...I wanted to try to find
another world that had life, maybe civilization. I tried to guide
my ship for a landing but something went wrong and I blacked
out. Next thing I knew, I was in Cadirek's paw. And...well, your cubs have been so nice to me, and today I got to meet so many of
the other animals. Animals like what we have on Earth only they're
huge, and intelligent.

>< And...sadly, no other humans here. You are the first and only
one I've ever met. I hope you're not lonely.

>< No, actually, I've found some good friends here and who knows, I just may stay. Though I'll try to contact Earth and let them know
what's here and maybe our planets can work together.

It was true. Alec was finding a lot of love here (at least so far) and
he knew Earth could perhaps trade various materials and goods
with Wodlen. Maybe have some Earthlings move here and
breed.

>< It'd be funny if I went to Earth, Alec, being so huge!

>< Yeah!, he laughed. But we'd host your visit, sure. Oh and
we could exchange each other's culture, music, whatever. I have a feeling you'd like country music. Brought some along on my portable
player--if I could find a way to amplify it...

Soon afterwards, once they finished their beer, Rekko took Alec
into the living room where the raccoon reclined on a sofa, a pillow
supporting his head. Alec sat on Rekko's chest and they talked
some more. The human could feel the raccoon's chest move
up and down with each breath he took. Rekko at times put his
paw near Alec in case he started to fall down.

Awhile later, Procione came downstairs to get Alec. He saw his father
had dozed off, as did Alec. His dad was lying on his back on the sofa, his paw protectively holding the sleeping Alec down on his chest (Alec had turned over on his side).

>< Dad! Dad! I need to get Alec.

Rekko was still asleep. But Alec awoke and looked up to see Procy.

>< Oh, Alec; I need to get you but you're stuck under his paw!

>< Hmph?, said Rekko, awakening.

>< Dad, I gotta take Alec upstairs.

>< Oh... (he loosened his grip and Procy took the human away).
Funny dream I had; I dreamed a real little guy was living here with us...no fur or nothin', he joked.

Procy laughed. >< Oh, Dad!

Across town, Ungorp was going to sleep. Awhile later, he had
a dream; in it, the Wodlenian fox imagined himself out for a walk
when he saw a man --actually a 14 year old boy--out for a walk;
it was a human just a few feet shorter than him; maybe only 69
feet tall.

They could understand each other's language.

"Oh, hi--wow, you're a fox! I just landed here. My name is Lenbo
and I'm a human from the planet Ghoyi."

They shook hands/paws. "Ungorp here--another planet?"

"Yes, I found a way to get here from a space warp."

"Funny, but we have a human here from ...'Earth' and he's
small enough to sit in my paw."

"Ah, Earth! I have met some people from there, and been there too!"

"I didn't know 'humans' could be our size," said Ungorp.

"And you're the first fox I've ever met."

"We have other animals here too like raccoons, bears, wolves--
wow, I've managed to meet another alien! I'd love to talk, find
out more about your planet."

"How did the other human, the small one, get here?"

"A space ship but it crashed--hey, maybe you can find a way to
send him back home in this..space warp, if you can control it.
Of course I don't know if he wants to go back now--oh look!
There's Procione!"

They noticed a 12 year old raccoon who was about 11 feet shorter than Lenbo; and he was cradling a six foot human in his paws.
Procione was surprised to see a human even bigger than him!

At about that time, the dream ended...

Next: Alec is kidnapped by rabbits

10

One other thing: never get between a raccoon and lunch.
--Stephen Boyett, The Architect of Sleep (fantasy novel
about a man who goes into a parallel world ruled by raccoons)

The next morning, Alec got to eat with the family for the first time rather than having food brought up to him. As it turned out, they were going out to a local breakfast restaurant and took him along. Since he had already been exposed to 'the outside world' of other animals
the day before, they figured it would be okay.

They sat at a long table, both parents with all three boys--and along
as well was Meeko, Rekko's brother, who was introduced to the
tiny alien.

>< Meeko does well at carpentry, explained Rekko. His husband--
who's working today--appreciates what he does.

Yes, Meeko was of a different sexual identity and on this planet,
gay marriage was not frowned upon by some. Meeko was a bit
younger than Rekko and quite a bit thinner. Alec had seen pictures of some rather thin raccoons on Earth, and that's how Meeko looked.
He didn't quite look like the Disney character of the same name.

Alec was amazed to see the similarities between Earth and Wodlen;
the food was pretty similar at times, and this place had dishes like
pancakes and sausage. The sausage links were about three feet long. Alec found that the cups were about up to his armpits, as was
a syrup container.

>< Alec, could you pass the syrup along to me?, asked Meeko.

There was no way Alec could pick it up, but he got the handle and
dragged it about six or eight feet. For the heck of it, Alec tried to
pick up the cup (which was one-third full of the coffee-like
substance). He grabbed the handle and the best he could do
was lift it up almost a foot and a half up.

He looked up to see Rekko chowing down on pancakes and sausage. Amazing quantities of food were consumed and
gulped down. Alec got his own little plate of food.

>< It's amazing that someone so small could be smart like us,
said Meeko. But I guess your planet has 'people' like you all
around. You must be cold in the winter, though.

>< Yes, I didn't bring a winter coat with me!

>< Sometimes they use raccoon fur to keep warm, said Rekko.

>< Trim off some of your beard--that would make him a nice
coat!, laughed Hila, Rekko's wife.

At the next table, a family of rabbits dined. Two of their kits took
notice of the little man on the table.

A few hours later, the raccoon boys were out in the park with Alec.
They didn't notice Bidefo and Pollin hiding behind some trees.
When the raccoons weren't looking, Pollin dashed out and grabbed
Alec in his paws and stuffed him into a pouch he carried around
his belly. He left the zipper in a position to give his prisoner some
air, though.

One rabbit didn't need to tell the other, >Run!< They both did
and were gone before Cadirek noted that Alec was missing.

They looked over the area but found nothing. Dejected, the boys headed back to their treehouse and their room, where they saw
Uncle Meeko and their father were doing modifications to make
Alec more comfortable.

>< He's gone! Disappeared!, sobbed Lotor. We were in the park
and suddenly couldn't find him...

>< He was down near a tree but when I looked over a minute later he was gone, added Procy. We searched but...

Rekko hugged his cubs and dried their tears. >< We'll help look.
Don't worry.

Back at their home, the two rabbits quickly took Alec back to
their room. One of them told the other to get a cage.

>< Got you now, you little freako! Ha ha!, said Pollin, as he
dashed off to get the cage.

Bidefo:
>< We woulda had you earlier if you'd stuck around in
that spaceship but the raccoons found you first. Now you're ours.

>< I'm your WHAT? Put me down!, said Alec.

Bidefo:
>< We'll treat you well, don't worry. We won't starve you or
anything. You'll get a nice cage. Hope you like grains and
veggies. That's all we eat. I saw you eating some sausage--
blecch!

So...These kits were at the breakfast place.

>< Wanna fight?

>< Got the cage!, shouted Pollin.

With that, the rabbit shoved Alec into a cage similar to what the
raccoon brothers had used.

>< Just because you're so big...Alec started to say.

He was about to finish with, "you can't push me around" but
Bidefo said:

>< ...we can do what we want!

Alec went over to the bars of the cage and put his tiny hands around
the bars. He looked through them up at the bunnies, cute-looking
kits with brown and white fur and buck teeth. Bunnies who were
over 54 feet tall had kidnapped him! And Alec knew it would be
tough to escape (once they'd let him out of the cage). Even if he
did, would he know how to get back to the Irnsbo family? His
only hope was that someone noticed the rabbits in the park,
or...

----
>< You didn't see anyone else around?, asked Rekko.

>< Not really...I heard some pawsteps running off but didn't
see who it was, said Procy.

>< Maybe someone spotted him at the breakfast place today,
said Meeko. Did you remember who was sitting near us?

Cadirek:
>< Why--that makes sense! They were the ones who found
his ship, and they saw him yesterday at school--

Cadirek:
>< And if they saw him with us, and wanted to get him...

Thud! Thud! Thud!
The boys looked up to see what was making the noise. It was
their father, pounding one fisted paw into his other paw in a threatening manner.

Back at the rabbit's home, the two brothers had Alec out of his
cage.

Bidefo was juggling him. He put Alec down on one paw and
thrusted him up in air four or five feet, then caught him with
the other paw and did the same. Pollin grabbed him and stuffed
him inside his shirt; Alec climbed up and reached his arms over the
edge of the shirt's top and tried to escape. His puny arms and
hands dangled over the edge.

They heard a loud knock from downstairs.

>< Yes?, said their mother, opening the door. She saw the bulky
Rekko, his brother Meeko, and the three cubs outside. Rekko
took off his cap and held it in his paws, and tried to talk nicely
to the doe rabbit, despite his anger.

>< Ma'am, I'm Rekko Irnsbo and I think your sons may have
a pet of ours--I mean, a little friend who...an alien who...

>< He STOLE him!, shouted Lotor.

Procione looked up to the third floor window. He saw Bidefo
peering out, with sheer terror on his little bunny face.

>< Mr. Irnsbo, calm down--your face is all red..., said the mother.

Rekko wanted to explode. You BET it's red, lady, because I'm mad!
I'm mad that your sons kidnapped--

But instead he said, >< Could we see them for a moment to ask
about...

But Lotor took the opportunity to run past the mother into
the house; he bounded up the stairs and pounded on their door.

>< Don't open it!, came a voice from inside.

>< Give him BACK! yelled Lotor. Or I'll sic my Dad on you.

Pollin gulped. He wondered if he'd be able to celebrate his
tenth birthday. But if big Rekko got to him...

Pollin cautiously opened the door and Lotor got a glimpse. He
saw Bidefo with the tiny human in his paws. Lotor pushed
the door aside and ran toward Bidefo and pulled back his
right arm, ready to punch him.

>< Here he is! Don't hurt me!, said Bidefo. Lotor quickly put his hands together and Alec was dropped into them.

Lotor glared at the two of them and ran downstairs.

>< Sorry Mrs. Lappin, he said to the rabbit mother as he
dashed outside.

Lotor held Alec up against his chest and noticed he had gone limp.
Alec had fainted.

11
(From this point forward, regular quotes will be used around
quotations from characters. Dialogue is originally in Wodlenian except when noted.)

Forgiveness/ Message to Earth/ Lullaby

Alec was unconscious for maybe four or five minutes. When he came
to, he could sense he was on something soft. It turned out to be
Procy's T-shirt, which was folded and placed on a picnic table and he
lay on his back on top of that.

"I think he's coming to," said one voice, which sounded like Lotor. Alec gradually opened his eyes, suddenly shouted 'No!' in English
and tried to sit up with a start. "Don't--"

"Be calm...relax..." It was Lotor who gently stroked his chest with
one finger. "You're all right."

"Just fainted," said Procy. "Give him awhile to relax..."

In the background he heard Rekko's baritone voice talking to
the rabbit brothers' mother.

"...So I'm afraid your boys took off with our little friend and I don't
know how they treated him, but it isn't right, ma'am. Just taking him that way, that alone isn't right."

"Yes..."

"And sorry that my son ran into your house but, ma'am, we all
have come to love that little fella and we're concerned."

"I understand," said the mother rabbit. "Bidee? Po? You need
to come over here now and say something to the little human. And
you know what I mean."

"They tossed me up in the air--put me in a cage--grabbed me and..."
said Alec to Procy and Lotor.

"You can tell them how you feel in a moment," said Meeko. "They're
coming over here, and..."

The animals all gathered around the picnic table in the Lappins' back
yard. He looked up to see Bidefo and Pollin tower over him, with
sad and fearful expressions.

Rekko said to the rabbits, "I won't hurt you. But you need to say
something to Alec."

Alec sat up and looked up at them.

Bidefo and Pollin glanced at each other for a second and then said
to Alec, "We're sorry. We shouldn't have taken you...and did that stuff."

Alec nodded and took a deep breath. "You really scared me, guys.
And you didn't treat me right--the way THESE guys did." He waved
his hand around, referring to the raccoons.

Alec stood up and looked them in the eye. "Boys, on my planet we have rabbits, too, and they're gentle, lovable creatures. And once a year the human children look forward to getting candy from someone called the Easter Bunny. If they're good. Now, how would
the Easter Bunny feel about you? Would he be proud of fellow
rabbits like you?"

The rabbits looked down, in shame.
"Look," Alec continued. "Kids make mistakes and adults do, too.
When we do, we admit to them and apologize, then we move on.
Nobody is perfect. Those we've hurt, hopefully, accept the apology
and forgive. And I do forgive you."

Both of the rabbits started to tear up.

"If you were my size and I were yours, I wouldn't do that to you."

Bidefo tried his best to speak without crying. "Yeah. We are sorry."

Alec motioned them with his hands to sit down and move their
faces closer to his body.

"Guys, if you wanted to play with me--to hang around--you could have just asked. Of course, realize I'm no doll or toy or pet...well,
maybe a bit of a pet, but I have intelligence and feelings. And by the way, I know of one way you can make it up to me..."

He told them what he wanted them to do. The next school day,
they showed up in school with a basket of chocolates and
handed some out to each of their fellow students and the teacher.

"What's all this about?," asked one student.

"I'm the Easter Bunny!"
"We both are."
"It's an Earth tradition..."
---------------------------------------------------------------
On the day of the rabbit incidenct, Alec returned to the raccoons'
home and Meeko and Rekko proceeded to make his little
sub-apartment as part of the boys' room.

"Tell me, would you have punched out those kids?," asked Alec.

"Well...probably not. I woulda yelled at them, at least. They did wrong."

Alec went over to his spaceship and tried to get the radio working.
It did seem to respond so he sat down at the controls and
started talking.

"This is Alec DiCarlo. I hope you can read me. I am safe; my ship
crashed on a planet called Wodlen and I was rescued by the
natives. This may seem weird, but they're much like animals on
Earth--foxes, raccoons, wolves, bears--but they're huge. Maybe a good 70 feet tall at adulthood. And they talk dress and act like
humans.

"It may also surprise you to find out that a family of these Wodlenians, who are raccoons, kind of adopted me and I'm now
living with them. Who knows, I may stay here! It resembles Earth
in many ways with regards to soil, climate, temperature, air, and so on. I will now send the space co-ordinates out so anyone can
try to find me here and maybe meet up so we can work with the
natives. Maybe I'll head home, maybe not..."

-----
Back on Earth, the message was received with some skepticism.
Alec had promised he'd try to transmit some pictures with proof.

Later that night Alec was in his new sub-apartment; the bed was
moved to a small platform with a ramp leading down to the floor
and up to the window. A miniature bathtub in a private space
was furnished (the boys could fill it up with warm water
and place it there for Alec to use).

Alec was sitting on his bed listening to an mp3 player he'd brought.
The current song was by the Australian rock band Midnight Oil.

How can we dance when our Earth is turning
How do we sleep when our beds are burning?
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent now, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back

He turned it off and walked down the ramp to the floor. He noticed
the boys had gone to bed but Lotor seemed to have trouble
going to sleep. He climbed up to his bed and stood on the mattress.

"I can sing a lullaby--you're not too old for that are you?"

"Well...you do sing well. Maybe..."

And he sang a Beatles song which, sure enough, helped Lotor
to fall asleep. Who would have thought a human would be
singing a lullaby to a 54 foot tall raccoon boy on a distant planet?

Now the sun turns out his light
Goodnight, sleep tight
Dream sweet dreams for me
Dream sweet dreams for you

12

Envy/ More Earthlings/ Crazy Like A Fox

"So you envy us, eh?," Ungorp asked Alec. "You'd love to be our size..."

"And be a raccoon, or maybe a fox, yes! I don't know, maybe the air around here is putting some thoughts in my head or maybe I was
just born on the wrong planet."

"The...air?"

"Well, sometimes it seems like the air here on Wodlen is more invigorating and energetic--and who knows, it could be brainwashing
me," he laughed. "But yes, since I've been here I've almost wished
I could be a raccoon, especially."

"Nothing wrong with being a fox, of course!"

"True, but being with the Irnsbos has made me appreciate raccoons, I guess. I actually was thinking of that just before I went to sleep the other night. The fact that maybe I was supposed to be a raccoon on this planet but somehow got born into an Earthling
human body."

He actually kind of fantasized about it; what if, through magic
or science, he could become one of them? He imagined himself
70 feet tall, with grey/black/brown and white fur; paws, a ringed
tail, mask around his eyes, pointy ears on top of his head. He could be an uncle to the raccoon cubs and a kind of half-brother to
Rekko.

"Your planet sounds fascinating," said Ungorp, "from what you've been telling me. Yet I, well, get the idea that you'd like to stay here and not go back."

"Yeah--odd, isn't it? I've grown fond of this place."

"What were you telling me about some of the Earthlings who
contacted you? The ones who'd like to come here?"

"Oh--well, I was in the space ship yesterday--and I don't know if it will ever be fixed, but the radio works. And I heard from some
Earthlings who would like to journey here and perhaps stay."

-------------------------------
In suburban Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the planet Earth,
three humans had contacted him with just that intention. Later
they talked about it amongst themselves.

"This is pretty serious stuff--the idea of moving to some other planet," said Eleanor Bradford, "but it does sound tempting."

"From what he was telling us, it sounds neat though it won't
always be easy, since they're so big and bad things could happen,"
replied Bob Benning. "But he's enjoying it..."

Eleanor and Bob and their friend Jeff Hampton were all furries. Humans who enjoyed the idea of anthro animals. They all went to
a "furry" convention every year where hundreds of people would
dress up as foxes, raccoons, mice, bears, and the like. Bob's favorite was raccoons; Eleanor was a fox, and so on. They had talked to
Alec and were fascinated.

"He got to go because of a public-private partnership," said Jeff.
"We're trying the same thing; working with NASA and the U.S.
government and getting some rich folks to help make up some
of the costs. It's a good idea--we can help share our world
with theirs and set up a kind of trade mission."

"From what he was saying," said Eleanor, "he likes it so much he wants to stay. Almost sounded like he wanted to renounce his
citizenship as an Earthling! Though the funny thing is he liked
Wodlen in some ways because it was like Earth."

"The GOOD things about Earth, that is," replied Jeff.

-----------------------------------------------------
Back on Wodlen, Ungorp was asking Alec about the "furries".

"You almost sound like you could be one of them."

"Well, I did go to a couple of their conventions, true. So I know
how they feel. See, on Earth, some of us really like animals. Some
of them dress in costume as foxes, raccoons, whatever--not so much in everyday life, but maybe at these conventions."

"So I'm picturing a human in my paw, dressed as a fox..."

"Exactly! You know, on Earth, we have cartoon characters who
are intelligent animals...some sports mascots--they also
dress as animals. I remember a football team, the Tennessee
Titans, have a raccoon for a mascot."

"So why do Earthling humans have the kind of envy of animals?"

Alec sighed. "It's tough to say. Sometimes we wish we weren't
human, that we could be like animals for their instincts, their
attributes, and so on. We could be fast like a cheetah or
clever like a fox..."

"Why, thank you..."

Alec laughed. "Yes, actually, we do see foxes as clever, cunning.
There's actually an expression. 'That guy must be crazy,' one
person will say. And the other will reply, 'Yeah, crazy--like a fox!'
Meaning he's really clever, smart."

"I like that! So, tell me, why don't the Earth animals talk, dress,
or act like humans?"

"Well, I don't know if I can explain why. I know one Earth religion
feels that one animal, a snake, tempted the first two humans
to eat from the tree of evil, and God punished him and all
animals to be subservient to man, and I think that also meant
they couldn't talk anymore...well, some animals like parrots can
talk a little bit but...anyway, it's just how it is. Just like the fact
that there are no humans here, other than me, and I _came_ to
this planet."

"So, do you think there will be more?," asked the fox. "You said
some humans wanted to come here, too."

Alec chuckled. "Yes, and I'll bet some Earthlings will think they're
crazy for even thinking about it. I think they're crazy--like a fox!"

They both laughed.

to be continued

(A picture of Yappy Slyfox at the Anthrocon furry convention,
taking part in the "fursuit parade". He leads the parade and
bangs cymbals and tympani bang-bang-ba bang! bang bang ba bang!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchall/1091760871/

« Last Edit: Jan 4, 2009, 8:24am by shrinkingman » Link to Post - Back to Top Logged
Amayasama
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13

Raccoon's Cold/ Foxes and Raccoons from Earth

Lotor had a cold. He was staying home sick. His mom offered to
stay home with him but he said he'd be OK. Besides, Alec would
be there if he needed some help.

"Alec," she told him, "is too tiny to help you too much given his size.
And I'd worry he'd catch your cold, too."

"He's a human--he can't catch our germs."

Who knew--he could be right!, she thought. And after breakfast she
headed out to work and left her ten year old to recover in his
bedroom. He bundled up in a T-shirt, sweatpants, and his robe and got beneath the covers. It was a good thing Hila had brought the box of cough drops up and left it on a chair next to his bed--might be too big for Alec to carry. But Alec
could help in one way--when Lotor asked for one, he'd reach in and
hand it to him. He actually needed both hands to successfully
carry it.

"Thabks," said Lotor in English.

"No problem; not sure if I could bring you some water up, that's
too big for me. But I could help you heat up some soup later."

Even that might be too big for me, he thought.

"Alec, did you you say sub more Earthligs are coming?," said
Lotor in English. "I wanna meet 'em."

"Which I guess is why you're practicing your English," he said.
"And yes, there should be some coming soon. Maybe they can
stay with us."

"An' be our pets."

"Pets. Hmm. Well...maybe yes, maybe no. Don't forget humans
are like you guys, only smaller, so I'm not sure we can be your pets. We're smart animals like you."

"A smarbt pet," said Lotor, still stuffed up.

Alec walked over to Lotor over his mattress and pointed to his
furry wrist.

"You know it's funny--on Earth we don't have fur but we love
furry little animals. How can you love some animal like us
that has no fur; I mean, you think we're cute?"

"Yeah, you are. 'Course it's 'cause you're lil', too. Little arms
and legs, feet..."

"But we have no tails. You can't hold us upside down by our tails since we have none."

"Oh but that isn't polite."

"Guess not."

"You're like a second dad to us, you know. A small one. And you said you had no kids on Earth."

"Never got married or had kids; 'course, I'm still young. Though I kinda have you cubs here."

"I bet you never had a little pet who could talk to you, take care of you the way you take care of us."

"It's the other way round, isn't it?," asked Alec. "The big kids take care of the little pets. And you do take care of me, don't forget."

"We help each other lil' guy."

"It's nice that the big ones help the small. I'm just imagining...
what if I'm a raccoon here and one day a spaceship crashes near
my house...and I see a family of humans in there, a dad and mom
and their three kids, and I bring them back to my house..."

"So I'm one of the humans?"

"You are, kiddo. No fur, no tail, no mask...but you have, let's
say, blond hair and lil' tiny arms and legs. And you wear socks
and sneakers on your paws."

"And I see a big huge raccoon who takes me in."

"That's me!"

Lotor laughed. "Daddy's a lil' bitty human from Earth!"

Alec pretended he was holding a tiny human in his 'paw'.
"Don't be scared, now, I won't hurt ya, little furless guy..."

Suddenly Alec could sense it was coming. "Ah...ah..."

He dove under the blanket just in time. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The tiny human peered out from under the blanket. "OK, now?"

"Yeah...could ya get me a tissue so I could wibe my nobe?"

Alec gladly sprinted over to the chair and got one and counting his
blessings he wasn't covered in raccoon snot at the moment!

Later that day Ungorp came over to talk to Alec to find out more
about Earth. He'd asked Hila to leave the back door unlocked so
he could let himself in.

"I found a way to convert the computer files," said Alex. "I had
some Earthlings send me some pictures and Meeko found a way to
transmit the info to Reeko's computer by wireless and now we
can all see the pictures. You should find this interesting."

They went to the computer and Ungorp got the pictures to show up.

"Oh, my--Earth racccoons!"

"My friends just did a picture search and copied some. There you go--maybe one third the height of humans at the most, walking on four legs, though sometimes they stand erect. You'll notice often they're raiding someone's barrels or doing funny little things--
or maybe just gathering in the woods. Poking out of trees,
swimming..."

"Why do I keep seeing pictures of them behind bars?"

"Well, sometimes they're put in cages or fenced in areas."

"Yikes--and what's this file?"

"You'll like this," said Alec.

"Whoa! Earth foxes!"

"Red foxes, fennec...ooh, there's a vixen with a dead squirrel in
her mouth."

"Ooh--I have squirrel friends..."

"Sorry. Hey, a different world...Keep clicking--oh, that's a human in a fox costume. He's named 'Yappy Slyfox'"

"Well at least there's one who stands on two legs like me!"

"And these are some fox cartoon characters. This is Vicki Fox...
and here's Mike Rowe Fox, who's about four inches tall."

"How big is that?"

"About the size of MY palm."

"Interesting!"

"Yeah, I guess the guy who draws him writes a lot of
stories, calls himself Shrinkingman."

"That Vicki Fox looks really nice! Too bad she's only a cartoon."

(

14

The Youngest/ Giant Humans/ Tiny Visitors

The youngest of the three raccoon brothers was Cadirek, who was nine. Being the smallest and kind of shy he wasn't one to make
waves and even when Lotor and Procione seemed to be spending the most time with Alec, he didn't complain. But one night when his two
older siblings were elsewhere, he did have the Earthling to himself.

"Ugh--you're squeezing too tight, Caddy! I'm fragile, here!"

Cadirek was holding on to Alec with his right paw and even part of
his left and he indeed was pushing too hard. All kinds of pressure
pushed down on the man's body.

"Please! You'll break a bone or burst my blood vessels! I'm no toy!"

Caddy let go of him a bit. Then he tossed Alec up in the air at a slight angle, toward his face; the man collided with the boy's
upper chest then slid down, and Caddy giggled, catching him with
cupped paws.

"Stop that! C'mon, you're not gonna treat me like those rabbits did!"

Cadirek went up the ladder to his bunk, which was the top one.
He sat on the edge, dangling his paws over the side and kicking them while holding Alec up against his chest.

"Do I get my own when the other Earthlings show up?"

"Your own...person? I don't think so--you don't really own us anyway. If they get to live here, they'll kind of belong to everyone;
I mean, to no-one.."

"If I throw ya from here you can land on Procy's bed!"

"Please, NO! Now, Caddy...just settle down. I'm getting tired of this."

"If I let you go, you'll tell Mom and Dad--"

Suddenly Procione came into the room and looked up at the both of them.

"We gotta go to Ungorp's. He found some aliens-- they're humans...
and they're our size!"

"You're joking," said Alec.

"They're dad's size, actually. C'mon!"

They got Lotor who was down in the den at the computer, told him what was up, and they walked a few blocks to the fox's house.

Ungorp was in the back yard trying to talk to two people, each of
whom was roughly 70 feet tall.

"Procy! Caddy, Lotor--glad to see you. Well, take a look..."

There were two people there, a 14 year old boy and a man in his late twenties.

The first to speak was the teen who said, in English, "Hello! I'm
Lenbo and this is my cousin Jeren; is that an Earth human you have
with you?"

Procy said, "Yes...I'm Procione Irnsbo and these are my brothers
Lotor and Cadirek." Procy had the best command of English of
the three brothers. "And Alec DiCarlo, from Earth..."

"We're from the planet Ghoyi and if you're wondering, I know
English because some Earthlings came up to visit us--and I've
been to Earth!"

"Hello Lenbo--when was this?," Alec asked.

"A few weeks back. Some Earthlings got to Ghoyi by way of a space warp and we used the same one to go to Earth; and now we have
used it to get here!"

"Planet Wodlen," said Procy.

"Unreal--it's kind of like Ghoyi--or Earth--but you're all animals!"

Ungorp said to Procy in Wodlenian, "We'll need you as a kind of
translator. You learned English so well and I certainly don't
know their language! Not well, at least..."

"Yeah, crazy that we'll have to all speak in English..."

"May I see him?," asked Lenbo.
The raccoon cautiously put the human in Lenbo's hands.

"Hi--we met some people from Vermont," Lenbo told Alec.

"I'm from Massachusetts. Kind of near there."

Lenbo spoke to his cousin in Ghoyian for a moment then spoke
again to Alec.

"Did you get here by space warp?"

"No," replied Alec, "I crashed my space ship here and
these raccoons took me in."

They all sat down and Ungorp said how thrilled he was to
see more aliens. He tried some simple English phrases he'd
learned from Alec.

"The cubs treat me well," said Alec. "Most of the time."

Procy looked concerned for a minute. Alec looked up at him
and then gave him a waving-away gesture. "We can talk about
it later."

Procy glanced at Caddy who was trying to look away. "Were
you giving him some trouble?," he asked his younger brother.

"It's OK," said Alec, who was still sitting in Lenbo's hands. Alec
looked over at Caddy. "I remember when you found me. I
was kinda scared, dazed...all of you guys took me in and treated me well--once you realized I'm not your pet."

"Pet?," said Lenbo in English. "Oh, no, Alec, they don't...?"

"Anyway, I do appreciate it..."

Cadirek looked down for a moment then mumbled, "Sorry...I
think I went too far..."

Lenbo put a hand on Cadirek's shoulder. "Cadirek--that's your name, so many names to remember here! Cadirek--I have a brother a little older than you and he did some nasty things to our
little Earthling. He apologized, and our Earthling forgave him.
I know it's tough to remember that they're not pets or toys,
but just...treat each other right."

Cadirek nodded.
"And you know, my little brother, who's named Rootik, he made it up to Danny--our little Earthling--and everyone got along fine."

"How long are you guys staying?," asked Lotor.

"I don't know--we just went through the space warp and wound up here but we'd like to stay a day or so."

"I have extra space in my house," said Ungorp to Procy who
then translated it.

They all stood up. It was weird for the three raccoons to see a human so tall; Procy was as tall as Lenbo's shoulders and the other
two were as tall as his armpits.

"With this space warp, which you may or may not be able to
control, not sure--with it, we could go to Ghoyi or even Earth?"
asked Ungorp.

"Possibly. Sometimes we can control it. We find co-ordinates in
a computer where we think there's a planet with life. Though
with Earth, it was pretty accidental. If you were in the wrong spot at the right time, boom, you were on Earth!"

When the raccoons went home, and Alec got into his spaceship,
Alec found some data on his computer in the ship telling him that
the Earthlings who planned to move to Wodlen would be there soon,
perhaps the next day.

And by late morning that next day, with the Earthling ship
using specified co-ordinates, it made a safe landing in the
raccoons' back yard.

Gathered there to greet them were Ungorp, Lenbo and his
cousin, the three raccoon boys, and Alec.

"You go up to the door of the ship because you're their size,"
said Ungorp. "Hopefully they won't freak when they see us,
even though they know we're big.."

The ship's door opened and Alec was there; he was invited in
for a moment where he greeted the three Boston area Earthlings:
Eleanor Bradford, Bob Benning, and Jeff Hampton. Eleanor and
Jeff were around 30 while Bob was in his early forties.

"Get ready to meet 'em and prepare yourself for their size--and how huge everything else is!," said Alec. "I asked them to kinda sit down or lie on their stomachs."
They opened the door.

"Here are my raccoon pals, Lotor, Procy, and Caddy!"

"Welcome! Wow, more Earthlings!," Procy said in English.
"If you're like Alec you're gonna love it here."

The three humans were amazed at seeing animals with intelligence, and so gigantic.
"Allow me," said Procy, who took Jeff and Eleanor in one paw and
Bob in the other. He stood up and introduced them to Ungorp
and the two Ghoyian humans.

"Whoa! Giant people too?," asked Bob.

"They're just staying here, but on their planet they're indeed all
that size," said Procy.

to be continued

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Re: The Earthling Pet
« Reply #26 on Jan 6, 2009, 10:23am »
15
Protecting the small/ Settling in

Later that day, Procione met up with Alec and Cadirek in the boys'
bedroom.

"Caddy...you just can't treat Alec that way. He's so small and you
don't realize what harm you're doing."

Cadirek said, "I know...I guess I got carried away."

Alec said, "You were almost gonna throw me over to Procy's bed
from the top bunk. I'm not a doll or toy--that could have hurt me."

Procione went over to his brother and sat down next to him, putting his arm around his shoulder.

"Alec can't help being that small, it's how he was born. And look at you. I know you're the youngest and you're a little smaller than
Lotor and me, and you can't change that. But think of the times
I've protected you--like when the bullies went after you. I'm bigger so it's my duty to protect the littler guys, like you."

Cadirek nodded.

"If you were on Ghoyi and one of the bigger humans there tried to
hurt you, Lenbo would protect you from them. And...and what if
you were on Earth and you saw someone attacking Alec? Wouldn't
you save him, since he's the small one?," Procy continued.

Procy had Alec on his other paw and he lifted him up to
Cadirek's face.
"Caddy," said Alec, "You know what it's like being small compared
to the grownups here, and your brothers...imagine what it's like
for me. Everyone here, everything here, is huge. All I ask is that
you help me out, here..."

Procy lifted his paw closer to Cadireik's face. Alec saw Caddy's
green eyes surrounded by a black mask, and his grey and white
snout. Alec tried his best to hug the snout. He could see the
eyes tearing up. Cadirek put his hand behind Alec carefully; he
brought Alec down to an area just to the right of his left shoulder and Alec patted the giant raccoon gently with his right hand.

"I am sorry..."

"And I do forgive you. We have to watch out for each other in
this family," said Alec.

"As far as I'm concerned, he IS a part of our family," said Procione.

Cadirek held Alec in his paw and moved Alec down to chest level.
Alec touched his nose then pointed to Cadirek, in a gesture they had learned from the Ghoyians. It meant, "It's OK. I like you; I love you," and so on. The other two did the same.

---
It was decided that two of the Earthlings, Eleanor and Jeff, could stay with Ungorp though they were also invited to occasionally
stay over at the Irnsbo treehouse. They were boyfriend and girlfriend and thought later they may marry and have children.
"We could help create a race of humans here," said Eleanor.

"That is, if you want to stay. It's up to you; if it doesn't work out for you, there are ways you could get back to Earth," said Rekko.

Bob Benning, meanwhile, was encouraged to stay with Meeko,
Rekko's brother, and Meeko's boyfriend. Bob had something in
common with the two raccoons.

"Our kind aren't tolerated as well on Earth," Bob admitted. "But
we have love, even if it's man to man or woman to woman, it's
still love."

"And you love raccoons," chimed in Alec. "Now you get to stay with
two giant ones."

As a bit of a joke, just before Meeko went over to the Irnsbos,
Ungorp took Bob into another room where Bob put on something
he'd brought with him in their spaceship.

Meeko arrived and his brother had him sit down at the kitchen
table. "And now, my brother, meet your new roommate..."

With that Ungorp came into the room with someone cradled
in his paws. It was a nearly six foot tall raccoon! Or was it...

For Bob had brought his costume, his "fursuit", in which he could
portray an "anthro" raccoon, much like the ones on Wodlen.
Meeko laughed and took Bob gently in his paw and gave him
a close look. Bob waved up at him.

"He always wanted to be a raccoon," laughed Eleanor.

16
(poss. last chapter though this is subject to re-writes or sequels/
continuation)

The four tiny humans were sitting on a coffee table in the Irnsbo's den;
Alec, Bob, Eleanor, and Jeff.

"Ah, our waiter is here," joked Alec, noting that Procione had entered the room. He had with him four shot glasses full of a fruit like drink
similar to a strawberry daiquiri (but non-alcoholic). The shot glasses
were fairly big but cut-down sip-n-straws helped the humans to drink.

"So, I thought the new people were staying with us," Procione said.

"Sometimes they will," replied Alec, "but you have animals
taking turns--Jeff and Eleanor at Ungorp's and sometimes here,
and Bob at your uncle Meeko's and sometimes here. Ungorp
wants to learn a lot from all of us humans."

"I like your uncle Meeko," said Bob. "He and his partner get a kick
out of me and they make me feel comfortable. But Procy, I'll be
here too--I can show you the Earth sport of baseball and you
can play it with your brothers."

"Cool!," said Procy, waving goodbye and heading out.

"You're picking up the language quickly," said Alec. "As did I."

"It's been just a few days so far but we're picking it up too,"
said Eleanor.

"They pick up English fairly well too," replied Alec. "And this is
what this is all about, folks; we share our language, culture, and
knowledge with the Wodlenians and vice versa."

"Did you have any idea you'd be seriously thinking of staying here
forever?," asked Jeff. "I mean, you were just here to explore,
make contact, but eventually head back."

"I still can. We all still can. But I've come to like it here."

"When you're not being kidnapped by a giant bunny!," laughed Bob.

"Well, our size does have its limitations, but it can sure be
interesting--and they're very willing to help us whenever they can,"
said Alec.

"So what's the deal again about jobs?," asked Eleanor.

"Like I said earlier, it's all taken care of. We live where we want for free. Some volunteers can make clothing in our size. And Ungorp
needs people for his interplanetary exchange project--so we'll
have plenty to do and will be rewarded."

"So...did you tell Ungorp that there's such a thing as fox hunts on
Earth? And how did he take it?," asked Bob.

"Oh, I told him and he wasn't pleased but he just said, "Well,
that's your planet and I can't change that...of course keep in
mind the foxes on Earth aren't intelligent like the ones here.
Still not a good thing, and neither are the furriers who harvest
raccoons..."

Eleanor looked over at Jeff. "So I guess we get to be Adam and Eve... we breed to start a race of little humans on Wodlen!"

"Yeah, and maybe if some other folks come over they can breed
with Alec, or on their own...hundreds and thousands of little
humans here!," replied Jeff.

"You know, I meant to tell Procione something--I hope he comes
back in here," said Alec.

"Speaking of which, do you know that before I left, I looked
up Procione online and found it's the Italian word for raccoon?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, Alec, I'm surprised you didn't know that. You're of Italian
heritage."

"Whoa--didn't know; I don't know much Italian, actually..."

"And get this," continued Bob: "Don't you remember from school
or whatever what the scientific name for raccoons is? Procyon...
Lotor..."

"Yikes! That is a co-incidence!"

Procione walked into the room and his fellow cubs followed.

"Perfect," said Alec. "I need to just say something to you boys,
and I'll say it in front of everyone here."

Alec stood up; the boys knelt down and looked down at the
tiny humans on the coffee table.

"Procione, you have been the oldest and most mature of the
boys. You're a good friend and a huge help!"

Procy said, "You're welcome--no problem..."

"And Lotor, you've stuck up for me--and saved me from those
rabbits. That means so much to me, my friend."

"Yeah...you're cool, Alec. What are friends for?," replied Lotor.

"And Cadirek--why, you may be the youngest but you did
something very important. You found me. I don't know what would have happened if nobody had spotted me, or if other animals
got to me first. It all started with you."

Cadirek smiled. "You're welcome--and I'm glad you're staying!"

Alec added, "And your parents, and uncle, and Ungorp--I need
to thank them too and I love living here!"

"And now we got more 'pets'--oops, I mean friends!," joked Lotor.

"Can you imagine these three guys, if they ever got to Earth?
That'd be a fun place for you guys to visit, eh!," Alec told them.

"That would be awesome!," said Lotor.

"We'll have to either use that space warp the Ghoyians know
how to use, or maybe get a spaceship, but, someday!"

Procione looked at his brothers and then down at the Earthlings.

"Alec, it's been great and I know the other Earthlings will be
great friends, too...but, you guys are more than friends. I think
you should be honorary hirrrrakkkoooons!"

Alec smiled. "Even without fur, without a tail?"

"Guys, you are now hirrrakkkoooons as far as I'm concerned! And...
you are not just friends, but family."

He gentle touched Alec on the head with one finger, mussing his hair up slightly.
"Hirrrrakkkkoooon!"

Alec acted as if he had just been knighted. "Thank you, m'lord!"

"I'll put on my raccoon fursuit first," joked Bob.

"I still don't know why you guys would want to leave Earth,"
said Lotor. "You talk about the good things about it..."

"Ah, it does have good things," acknowledged Alec. "But somehow,
Wodlen is even better."

And with that, the three raccoon cubs took turns taking up the
Earthlings in their paws, cradling them against their chests,
and gently touching their big black noses to the Earthlings' faces.

The future held much promise. It wouldn't always be easy; surely
there would be setbacks on occasion, but those would only make
the victories of life seem even sweeter.

It was a great new life, far away from Earth.
(end for now!)

zukezorin · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 4:55 pm Post subject:

I read through this story the other day and it was really quite enjoyable. As something G rated yet interesting, it was a refreshing break from the near ubiquitous violence and dark content you see these days.
You did a good job on it.

AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

Thanks--I try to be different and add a bit of heart to the story! After this I wrote "Saving a Human" which I think I also posted here, a similar tale
of a giant anthro raccoon who finds a human crash landed on his planet and helps him out etc. Might enjoy that too!

http://forums.macrophile.com/viewtopic.php?t=14407

DarkMist · Getting Bigger Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 16

I was just thumbing thru the storys to find some new growth I possibly missed and came across this story. I enjoyed it quite a bit and was very surprised to find something non-adult that held my attention. Keep up the good work. I seriously see a writing career in your future if you decide to persue it. Very Happy

foxtailmastermind · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:00 am Post subject:

Amazing!! Truly superb! I liked this story because it had a somewhat "feel=good movie" feeling that kept my attention till the end..
I'd like to see more of these stories from you in the future.

I'll be waiting Very Happy

AnthroCoonM · Colossal Cuddly Coon Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 48

Thanks all! Well, there's a career as a postal clerk in my future (I'm 47)
but I like writing on the side; always have. And I tend to write chapter by chapter on messageboards (like my own shrinking.net)--the old "dream up the next chapter at work then get home and write it" deal.

Check out Saving a Human which I linked in this thread. That was taking the same basic idea and having
a slightly different start: a solo adult discovers him, etc.

The person who had asked me to write what became "The Earthling Pet"
enjoyed it though we both admit that I made the kids TOO smart and
mature--i.e., they learned English (and he their language) too quick and
grew quickly out of the "he's our pet" deal (could have been some interesting situations had I delayed that) but overall he did like it.

I just like certain images and scenes I put into the stories...
EARTHLING PET: He sees how huge the kids are...

Middle kid Lotor helps out Alec when he points out that there's no need to keep him in that cold cage. Alec is excited that the boy stuck up for him.
Alec sees how huge Rekko is--then later discovers that the boys' father is a cuddly, sentimental, friendly sort, perfect to talk to over some beer.
The image of the two of them falling asleep after the raccoon beer,
and Rekko holding down Alec on his chest like a pet--but one who is
just as intelligent, etc

Alec having the rabbits serve a bit of penance by...spreading the
Easter tradition to Wodlen and giving to others!

The caring they show for each other.

Ungorp being amazed when he meets Alec--an actual alien--and
he wants to be friends with the strange creature and help him. He's
awestruck at the tiny being.

The idea that these giants can do a small thing which would mean so
much to a tiny human.

SAVING A HUMAN: Arkody feeding David--a tiny bit of food is so huge to him--and David feeling embarassed when he finds that no, raccoons
do not wash their food here, despite him asking if they do.

The dejection David feels when he realizes he may never get back--
and Arkody tries to cheer him up. He's found a new, tiny friend.

David panicking when he trips over a fork on a restaurant's table,
gets flustered when the giants chuckle at it, and he runs off the table
in frustration...a bit of over-reaction

David going into Arkody's bedroom and sitting down at the foot of
a table, waiting for his new big friend to wake up...