Grandma Leopard Archives - Fern The Leopard

Once upon a time there was a little leopard named Fern who was ten and a half years old and loved to read. She would read for a long time in the morning, and a long time in the afternoon, and just keep on reading. But her mom stopped her sometimes; she said Fern needed to rest her eyes in order not to get glasses, and Fern really did not want glasses because she thought they looked ugly.

Fern followed her mama’s directions and didn’t read for an hour or two, and then kept reading.

One day, Fern heard a knock on the door, but Fern was so busy with her book that she didn’t notice.

Mama Leopard opened the door, and there was Flower who was going to go on a playdate with Fern.

“Okay,” said Fern. “But let me finish this chapter.” She finished the chapter, but kept reading after that because she loved the book so much.

“Are you done yet,” Flower asked impatiently.

“Oh, um yeah I’m done.”

She put the book away and started playing with Flower. Once she and Mama Leopard had said goodbye to Flower and she had gone back to her house, Mama Leopard said in a very stern voice, “Fern, what you did was very disrespectful. I hope you don’t do it again.”

“Okay Mama,” Fern apologized, “I will try not to. But now can I please go back to read my book? I just got to the good part.”

“Sure honey,” sighed Mama Leopard.

Fern got back to reading her book for a while.

“Fern,” called Mama Leopard. “It’s time for a reading break. We’re going to have a snack.”

“Okay Mama,” Fern called, remembering that she might need glasses if she didn’t take a break.

Fern went over to the table and watched as Mama Leopard put down two trays of food; one was full of veggies and one was full of fruit.

“So,” said Mama Leopard, sitting down at the table across from Fern. “I noticed something.”

“What mom?” Fern asked her, while crunching on a delicious orange carrot.

“It’s just that…” said Mama Leopard, “when I say it’s time to take a break from reading, you come immediately. But once one of your best friends knocks on the door, you have to “finish this chapter” then you finish the chapter, but you don’t finish reading. Why is that?”

“Well,” said Fern, “it’s because I don’t want to get glasses. It’s also because when I… I just have a habit that makes me keep reading when it’s something not important to me. I don’t think going to the door is as important as reading because I like reading more than going to the door.”

“Well,” said Mama Leopard, “can we try to erase that habit?”

“What does ‘erasing a habit’ mean?” Fern asked her.

“It means getting rid of it,” said Mama Leopard.

“Oh,” meowed Fern, “I mean I guess we could try. But how?”

“Well,” said Mama Leopard. “I’ll just remind you every time you make a mistake, and then you’ll not do that, and then you’ll get into the habit of not doing the bad habit. Does that sound like a good plan?”

“Yeah,” said Fern. “Thanks mom! I’m gonna go read one of my books upstairs”

“You’re welcome honey,” purred Mama Leopard, but Fern was already up the stairs and in her room where she threw herself on her bed and got her favorite book and snuggled up to read it.

The book was full of short stories and it was called, “Animal Stories From Around the World.” Her favorite story in this book was called “Dapplegrim” and it was about a young boy and a horse who rescued a princess from atop a really high mountain and who stomped down the mountain with his horse’s powerful hoof.

A couple of minutes later, Mama Leopard called upstairs. “Fern, Marsh just called on the phone. He says he wants to talk to you.”

“He does?” Fern called back downstairs. “Hold on, I’ll be there in a minute.”

She finished the story quickly and dashed downstairs to the ringing phone.

“Hey Marsh,” said Fern to the phone.

“Hey Fern,” Marsh’s voice answered back. “I want to ask you, what’s your favorite fruit that’s not mango?”

“Pineapple. Why are you asking?”

“You’ll see,” answered Marsh cheerfully.

And he hung up.

“Mom,” Fern asked her mom, “Why do you think Marsh was asking what my favorite fruit is that’s not a mango?”

“I don’t know, honey,” answered Mama Leopard. “Maybe he’s going to get something for your birthday? Maybe he doesn’t know what to get you for your birthday.”

“Oh,” said Fern. “That’s probably it.”

Fern went back upstairs to read a book and Mama Leopard went back to prepare a feast for them to eat with Fern’s grandma and grandpa who were coming over.

A couple of hours later, the doorbell rang.

“Grandma and grandpa are here!” Mama Leopard shouted up the stairs.

“Great!” called Fern.

She rushed downstairs and opened the door and threw herself into a hug from Grandpa Leopard. Then she twisted and jumped into Grandma Leopard’s arms, hugging her as well.

“Hi mom, hi dad,” said Mama Leopard, opening the door. “I haven’t seen you both in a while!”

“Well we’ve been busy going around the world,” said Grandpa Leopard. “But now I’m hungry! Is there anything to eat?”

“Yes,” said Mama Leopard. “In fact, I just made a bunch of food. We can have a feast!”

“Great,” said Grandpa Leopard. “Let’s eat!”

He stomped into the kitchen and sat down at the table and called to them, “Hey are you guys going to come over here?”
“Yep,” said Mama Leopard, “We’re coming.”

She hurried over to the table with Grandma Leopard and Fern right behind her, who were chatting about how much Grandpa Leopard loved to eat.

Mama Leopard got all the food, and ate until their tummies were all full.

Once the feast was done, Grandpa Leopard said, “That was a delicious feast! We will come over more often to eat because that was super good!”

“Thank you,” said Mama Leopard.

“You’re welcome,” said Grandpa Leopard.

“Now, now,” said Grandma Leopard. “It’s getting late. We should get going.”

Fern and Mama Leopard waved goodbye as Grandma and Grandpa Leopard started a new journey.

“Well Fern,” Mama Leopard purred, “you did a wonderful job of parting with your book. I think it deserves a reward. How about some ice cream?”

“Yes!” Fern cheered.

“And how about,” said Mama Leopard, “we put the ice cream in a triple scoop cone?”

“I love that!” said Fern.

“But,” said mama Leopard, “Under one condition.”

“What is it, Mama?” Fern asked her. “I’d do anything for triple scoop ice cream!”

“Really,” said Mama Leopard. “What if I asked you to clean the house with me?”

“Um,” said Fern, “Maybe not everything…”

The end.

Fern Gets Sick

It started out like any other day. Fern got up in the morning, had breakfast and went on an adventure. She came back home and had tea with Mama Leopard. She had dinner and then read some books.

Fern was sitting on the couch reading with Mama Leopard. They were reading a book of wild animal music that had just recently been published by an elephant. Elephants love music and have great memories but Fern had never met an elephant. She imagined huge white tusks, big grey storm cloud skin, and tiny black eyes.

Suddenly Fern felt a sneeze coming on.

“Aahhhhhhh…choo!!!”

The sneeze sent the pages fluttering everywhere.

“Bless you!” said Mama Leopard. “You might have a cold coming on. Let me get the tissues.”

While Mama Leopard got the tissues, Fern fixed the pages of the book. One or two of the pages had slid under the couch so she got those pages out with a mop. Fern put the mop back in the garage.

Then Mama Leopard came back holding the tissue box. “Here you go sweetie” she said. “We should move you up to your bed. It’s bedtime.”

So Fern went past the couch, up the stairs and into her bedroom. She brought the tissue box with her and put it on her bedside table. Then she went along the hallway to the bathroom and brushed her teeth with her toothbrush, which was made out of reeds. She used mint flavored tree sap as toothpaste. Then she combed her fur and went back to her bedroom. She snuggled up in bed and blew her nose. Then she drifted off to sleep and started having the weirdest dreams she’s ever had.

Fern is at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa Leopard, and Toco and Bella. It is a calm beach with tiny waves and the water is very warm. Every fifteen minutes there’s a big wave that’s freezing cold and then that wave is just gone and there’s warm water again.

Fern is looking for beach treasures. She holds her breath underwater and looks at the bottom and she looks at the beach treasures. She picks up five pieces of sea glass and one shark-eye shell. She puts the treasures in a tiny little bag. Then she pokes her head out of the water and runs out so the big wave can’t get her. But the big wave does get to her grandparents and Fern’s grandpa is carrying Bella. So they run away from the waves. Toco is flying above them and the wave can’t reach him.

Then he figures out that the big wave is caused by a giant sea elephant. Toco sees part of the trunk spraying the waves at them. They hear a loud trumpeting sound, exactly like Fern imagined in the music.

Every time the elephant sprays his trunk, the big wave comes halfway up the beach. The weirdest part about the elephant is that it is an orange elephant. Nothing like the big grey storm cloud skin that Fern pictured earlier while reading on the couch. She can see the elephant now and it is stomping around, sucking up water in its trunk and blowing it at them.

And then there is a loud roaring sound, and suddenly a huge red lion is galloping on top of the waves toward the elephant. So the elephant starts running as fast as a cheetah and Fern wakes up.

The first thing Fern notices is that her nose is leaking.

“Cough cough” uh-oh. She also has a cough. Fern might actually have a cold, she realizes.

“Yaawn” she is tired. There is a knock on the door and Mama Leopard peeks in.

“Hey honey,” she purrs, “I made you some tea.”

“Thanks Mama” Fern says. “Also, just to tell you, I might actually be sick.”

“I know honey” meows Mama Leopard. “I think you might have gotten it from Toco when you had a playdate with him the day before yesterday. He was coughing and the day after that his mom said that he is in bed and sick.”

Fern chased her tail around in her bed as if she had never done it before. She didn’t seem to hear her Mama or care about anything she was saying. She drank the tea and laid back down.

The next dream came immediately. Fern is chasing her tail around in circles. Fern looks at her tail and realizes she is blue. She’s in the sky. Toco is hovering above her but he is orange and his tummy is red, the blue circle around his eye is now purple and his wings are yellow.

Fern catches her tail in her mouth and tries to get it a different way. She’s snapping at it between her legs. Her tail is just out of reach. She is still all blue and hovering in the sky. She is exhausted and lays down on a cloud. The cloud surprisingly is hard like wood, but white. There is no other animal besides Toco in sight.

Then Toco starts doing acrobatics and rolling around in the sky.

“Hey!” Fern calls up. “Toco why are you doing that?”

“Because you were giving me such a good show of chasing your tail that I decided to give you a show back.”

Then Fern gets up and starts nipping at her tail more. She is running around in the sky and doesn’t even see the elephant until she has raced past it.

It’s the huge orange elephant from the last dream. This time it is blowing clouds at her. Then suddenly she hears the same big roar that she remembers from the last dream, and the red lion scares the elephant away. It runs as fast as a cheetah through the sky. Then Fern wakes up.

It’s like the elephant and the lion are dream-visiting her. The lion is following around the elephant and making sure that the elephant doesn’t mess up her dreams, but every time the lion comes, the dream stops!

Fern feels weird. She takes another sip of her tea. It tastes so good that she takes more and more sips until the tea is finished. Then she goes back to bed.

It takes a long time this time, but finally Fern opens her eyes. She is lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling as a little baby. “Bah bah” she says and rolls over. She rolls onto her knees and elbows and starts crawling everywhere. “Beh beh” she says, “beh beh.” Then she suddenly changes direction, goes over to her toy room, sticks a rattle in her mouth and falls asleep. Then she wakes up, crawls out of the playroom and starts playing with a toy orange elephant. And then a red toy lion comes hurling at the elephant. Fern moves the elephant so fast that it’s moving as fast as a cheetah.

And then Fern wakes up again.

“Wow” thinks Fern, “I certainly have had a bunch of dreams.”

Then she sniffles, and then “Aaaahhhh..choo!”

The end.