Sunday Mornin' Hope : The Race p9

Taking her eyes off that stump, Puffy ran down the beach to get enough speed for when she hit the water. As a light roadrunner, she could stay on top of the water IF she was travelling at over 100 mph. This time she hit the water at 110 mph and was once again back in the race. Travelling by herself over the water gave her lots of time to think about the night before. Was it all a dream? Or did she spend the evening with a bunch of happy go lucky penguins? She still had a little sand in her mouth, so she knew it was more than a dream. Was she really a 'mustang' of sorts? Yes, she concluded. Now how does one go about getting rid of that independent rebellious spirit without frontal lobotomy? Maybe she needed new friends that wouldn't get her in trouble constantly. She had met many friends during this race.



Off to the left she could see the occasional seagull, dolphin, cloud, and branch. BRANCH? "What would a branch be doing way out here?" Puffy pondered. There's no reason for a large branch to be floating way out here. This particular branch was close enough to smell. It smelled like something rotting. Running faster, she looked over at the branch. It somehow seemed to keeping pace with her. Then it was gone. It really gave her the creeps. Way up ahead in the distance Puffy could see just a sliver of land. Was this the finish line? Could she be almost at the end of the race with Platty? "Strange, I haven't seen much of Platty since the race started." Puffy thought to herself. "Of course platipus can swim far under water. Bur she's NO match for my speed!" Faster and faster Puffy ran.



As she was running she noticed something quite odd. It was about three in the afternoon and the clouds rolled in. The water turned from emerald green to torquise, then dark blue. In the blue there were some black and brown stripes like little rivers. "What in the world are those?" she thought. As she was running across the water at full speed, she felt like it was starting to rain on her head and back. But this was odd cuz the air in front of her had no rain falling. Looking down on her feet, she could see a black color on her feet. When she ran, some of it was flicking off her feet and onto her head and back. "OIL?" she yelled. "Who poured oil in the river?" As she ran, her feet started to become heavy. It was like she was wearing boots or wet wool socks. Her body began to get heavy too. She knew she couldn't slow down or she would sink and might lose the race. No way would she ever admit Platty was faster than her. She would be the laughing stock of all the road runners in Clarksville. One of her talons got so oily it slipped off her foot. NOW she was in trouble. She had counted on it to keep her speed up. Without seeing it, she tripped over a log out in the water. Her body cartwheeled for a good hundred feet. Then she came to a complete stop in the middle of the river. Behind her she could hear hissing. It sounded like hundreds of little snakes. She looked behind her but could see nothing. Looking at herself, Puffy realized she was covered in oil from beak to tail. She began to feel exhausted and couldn't go on. But she had to go on or die. Scenes of her life began to play in her mind. Most of her life she was full of pride. It really was "all about her." She lifted her right leg out of the water as if to try to run it off, but her leg was dripping with black oil. She was stuck. That hissing behind her was getting louder, and an awful stench started to gag her.

Thanks Dino.

thanks dino