It was Christmas Day, and we had seen all of our closest friends and family earlier in the day. It had been a lot of fun singing carols and drinking hot cocoa with candy canes. After they left, we had opened presents under the twinkling tree.
Bella was super excited because she had gotten a sensor that could track where there were glow in the dark mushrooms. It had been on her wishlist for a very, very long time.
“I’ll be right back,” Bella told me. She scampered out of the door and was gone.
I started cleaning up after the party and presents. “It was weird for Bella to just leave like that,” I thought. “Maybe she was excited to use her mushroom sensor.” I shrugged and continued cleaning.
A couple of hours later, it was dinnertime and Bella still had not come back. The sun was already setting outside the castle window. I searched frantically around with my eyes through the window but I could not see any signs of Bella. I was feeling very worried and anxious about my friend maybe being lost. Bella was very small so the jungle would feel very big and she hadn’t been in the jungle for a long time so she would get lost more easily. “At least we don’t have any enemies” I thought. “Maybe she stopped by Flower’s Field.”
“That’s weird,” my mom told me. “Bella should have been back by now.”
“Maybe I can go look for her,” I suggested, “using my map of the rainforest I got for Christmas.”
“It’s a great idea, honey,” my mom told me. “Just make sure you don’t get lost.”
“I won’t,” I reassured her. “I have my map, remember?” I held it up as I scampered out the door.
Right outside the castle door I looked at the map, it was very detailed. It even had places where there might be glow in the dark mushrooms!
“Let’s search those places first,” I thought, “and then I can search in some of Bella’s favorite spots.”
I went to the closest place with glow in the dark mushrooms. The only thing there, was a very startled panther.
“Hi,” I said. “Did you happen to see a little gray mouse come by?”
“I did,” the panther grunted. “She went that way,” he pointed north with his claw.
“Thank you,” I called through the trees as I scampered away. The only patch of glow in the dark mushrooms north of where she was was at the edge of Flower’s Field. “Maybe I was right and Bella is hanging out with Flower.” I thought.
It took me about half an hour to get there, but finally I made it. When I got to the mushrooms, Flower was sitting on top of them singing. To my disappointment, Bella wasn’t with her.
The mushrooms were glowing greenish yellow and were about the size of my paw, which was pretty big to Flower.
“Hey Fern,” she said when she saw me. “What’s up?”
“I’m looking for Bella,” I told her. “Did you see her come by?”
“Oh yeah,” Flower responded. “She went by here about 30 minutes ago. She had this cool sensor. And I got a glimpse of it and it said “Glow In The Dark Mushrooms” and had little dots lighting up on it. But I didn’t see any more. She was moving quickly and didn’t seem to notice me.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s very helpful of you! But which way did she go?”
“Oh,” said Flower, “she went west.” Flower pointed with her tail.
“Thanks again,” I called as I ran westward.
The next place on my map that was west was a little clearing in between Flower’s Field and the Watering Hole. It took 15 minutes to get there and when I did, I got there just in time to see the flicker of Timothy’s light.
“Hi Timothy,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh hey Fern,” he responded. “I’m just admiring these mushrooms. They’re so pretty!”
“They are very pretty,” I agreed. “Have you seen Bella come by, by any chance?”
“No,” he shook his head. “Is she missing?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I haven’t seen her since the end of the Christmas party.”
“Oh, well good luck finding her! I wish I could help find her but I have to go home in about five minutes.” He said.
I walked toward the trees and glanced down at my map. I had gone to all the places on the map where there were glow in the dark mushrooms. “I’ll never find her,” I thought sadly as I walked back home.
On my way back I heard a small squeak come from the orchid leaves next to me. “Bella?” I squatted down in the path. “Is that you?”
“Yeah it’s me,” Bella said sadly. “I was using my mushroom sensor to look for some mushrooms and got super far away and I was here when I figured out I was lost. I was admiring these glow in the dark mushrooms.” She moved aside to show me a whole patch of glow in the dark mushrooms that wasn’t on the map I had. Then she sighed. “I thought I’d be stuck here all night. But you know the way back home right?” she turned to me with her big eyes shining.
“I do!” I told her proudly. Let me show you the way.
We walked back home, and when we got right in front of the door, I turned to Bella.
“Bella,” I told her. “I’m going to give you my Christmas present – this map. It helped me find my way to you and it has the places where there are glow in the dark mushrooms you can look at.”
“Really?” Bella said, her eyes large. “You’re gonna give me your Christmas present?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s for you.” and handed her the map.
“Oh Fern,” Bella cried, “Thank you! Thank you!”
She jumped up and hugged me.
“Oh you’re welcome, Bella,” I said laughing. “Now, we haven’t had dinner yet. Let’s eat!”
Bella and I ran to the table and sat down.
“Oh hi Bella,” said my mom smiling. “I see Fern found you!”
“Yep,” Bella told her. “She found me!”
“Well that’s just wonderful,” my mom told her. “Guess what we’re having for dinner!!”
“Hmm,” Bella and I said at the same time.
“Mango?” I guessed.
“That’s what we’re having for dessert,” my mom laughed. “Try again!”
“Cheese!?!?!?” Bella asked eagerly.
“Well, that’s part of what you’re having,” my mom told her. “Can you guess what you’re having, Fern?”
“I give up,” I said. “What is it?”
“It’s your favorite,” my mom said with a grin. “Taro soup!”
“Yay!” I cheered.
“What’s that?” Bella asked.
“Taro soup,” I explained, “Is the best soup ever and it tastes like sweet nuts!”
“That sounds good,” Bella told me, “especially with cheese!” Her eyes lit up.
Meanwhile, my mom was back in the kitchen. Bella started thanking me again.
“Thank you Fern for finding me and then giving me your map as a Christmas gift. You made me feel so loved. Is there anything I can do in exchange?”
“Nah,” I told her, “I’m just glad that you’re back.”
The End.