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Boots and Patches
By Rozell Giesie, Casey Scarborough AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Rozell Giesie
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5246-4950-0
CHAPTER 1
Young Jim and Ruth lived with their father and mother in a little country house on a small farm. On the farm, they grew crops such as corn and cotton. Like most farms, there was also animals such as dogs, pigs, chickens, and cows. Part of the farm was bordered by a wooded area and a lake where Jim and Ruth would often play.
One night, a large storm passed through the area. The wind was very strong, and the sky was bright as day with the rapid lighting. The little farmhouse shook with each crack of the lighting and the boom boom boom of the thunder. Outside, as the winds gust and the lightning struck close to the house, the family could hear some of the trees falling to the ground.
The next morning, Jim and Ruth walked to the lake to see the damage from the storm. On their way, they passed one of the fallen trees and heard a noise. Looking around, they found two small raccoons next to a fallen tree. They searched the area but were not able to find the mother raccoon.
Jim and Ruth knew that the small raccoons were not safe without their mother, so they took the baby raccoons home with them.
When their father saw the raccoons, he knew that the little guys would need some help. He agreed that the kids should try to protect them. "Let's build a cage," the dad said. Within a few hours, the cage was ready, and Father said, "Let's put the cage on the front porch, so the two of you can feed them and care for them. The kids were excited and named one raccoon Boots as the back legs were black, and it looked as if were wearing boots. They called the other one Patches because it looked as if had a patch over one eye.
Time passed, and the raccoons grew larger and became great pets. Every morning, Mother would let the raccoons out of their cage, and they knew what to do. The two raccoons would rush into the house and scamper to the kid's room to wake them up by crawling up the beds and nuzzling them with their nose or pawing them with their little hands.
One morning, Mother let in the raccoons into the house as she was up early making pancakes. She had put the pancakes on the table and went outside to call Father in for breakfast. Boots and Patches did not go straight to the kid's room as expected. Instead, they found the unguarded pancakes, butter, and syrup. They quickly started to feast on the breakfast spread. The syrup was all over the raccoons, as they remembered their goal to wake the kids. So off they went down the hall leaving a sticky trail along the floor. Boots and Patches found Jim and Ruth still in their beds and soon the kids, the sheets and pillows were all covered with syrup. What a mess!!
When Mother found the sticky crew of four, she quickly ordered all of them outside. She was upset as she started to clean up the mess but soon started to laugh as she looked outside and noticed the furry little guys not only licking the syrup off of themselves but also licking the sweet goo off of the faces of Jim and Ruth.
The next day Father said he was going to help the children build the raccoons a larger cage. The bigger case was needed as that was going to be their new home and longer going to be allowed to run about the house. Father was clear, no more breakfast from the kitchen table for Boots and Patches. However, on the very first night in their new cage, the two furry bandits managed to escape. They did not head to the kitchen but instead found the chicken house. It was about midnight when the trouble started, and the entire house heard the noise.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Boots and Patches by Rozell Giesie, Casey Scarborough. Copyright © 2016 Rozell Giesie. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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