TOMMY.

The heat weighed down on the meadow like a heavy paw, driving Tommy toward the river. The little degu settled into the shade of a thick bush growing by the cool water. Paws busily groomed white fur. Prickly burdock seeds stung skin, sending an unbearable itch along the back.

Where did all of you come from? Oh, here’s another one stuck in the tuft of the tail…

He yawned and swallowed. The sweet smell of strawberries drifted through the air, teasing him, moistening his mouth.

The little one remembered his father’s rule against sweets perfectly well. But the strawberry bushes were so close he could see ruby berries gleaming above the dark leaves. He imagined the sweet-tart burst on his tongue — and that was enough to tip the scales.

Keeping low, he darted across the worn path and vanished into the green shadow of the bushes. He devoured everything within reach — fruit, stems, leaves, even small distracted insects. Sticky juice splashed and ran down his dusty snout and paws.

A loud burp escaped him. He froze.

He squeezed his eyes shut. A heavy wave rolled through his stomach, and the sweet scent of strawberries suddenly turned sour.

“Tommy! Tooommy! Where are you, you naughty boy?” Father’s voice rang out in the distance.

Caught off guard, Tommy bolted. He dropped low into the grass and darted toward the river. He had no desire to dip his paws into the cool water, but berry juice gleamed in bright stains against his white fur. The water didn’t help — the juice had already soaked in, leaving pale pink streaks behind.

Father’s voice drew closer.

His heart began to race. He slipped into the thick sedge and froze. A plan formed quickly. He bit off a few young stems, gathered them in an armful, and pressed them to his chest.

“Tommy, where are you?” Father’s voice sounded tired.

“Dad, I’m here!” Tommy called, stepping out of the sedge. He moved slowly toward Father, hiding his pink-stained muzzle behind the bundle of grass.

"He who does not work shall not eat! Work those little paws, and you'll earn your treat..." The old degu patted his son on the back and looked him over. "No, this won't do. Stop right there. What's this you've got here?"

The little one lowered his head and pressed the grass tightly against himself, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It just happened..." His ears trembled and flattened back. His stomach gave an embarrassed rumble.

"How many times have I told you? Cleanliness comes first! You're special, snow-white. Fur like yours is a rare thing. Take care of it!" Father's paws moved quickly, picking the seeds from Tommy's coat, one after another.

"Although..." He chuckled softly and stroked his son's head. "I honestly don't know how we're supposed to keep your fur perfectly white. Nobody's done away with dust baths yet..."

Tommy let out a relieved breath.

Phew... Got away with it. I don't think he noticed.

He adjusted his steps to match his father's pace.

Left, right... Left, right. Good thing I came up with this armful...

"Son, are you tired? Want me to help you...? Oh, look at this. Such fine, tender grass!" Father stopped beside a thick patch of bentgrass. He began briskly biting off the long stems and laying them beside him. "Drop that sedge. We'll gather more of this instead."

Tommy took a step backward. He dropped his armful of sedge onto the ground, then quickly disappeared among the soft, fluffy tufts of bentgrass.

The narrow leaves stirred at the slightest movement. He moved carefully between the stalks, glancing upward at the mosaic of bright blue sky flickering between the tips of the grass.

This one's tender and juicy. And it smells good too... This one goes in the pile, and that one goes straight into the stomach...

Suddenly, he slipped and fell face-first into the dirt. A trail of glistening slime led deeper into the maze of passages between the tufts. Sniffing and twitching his ears, Tommy followed it.

After a couple of turns, he came upon a strange creature. Its long, thin body stretched away into the distance, then gathered itself into a fat, rippling lump, leaving behind a shining film that reflected fragments of the sky.

"Hello... My name is Tommy. And yours?" He bowed, lifting his tail. "What's your name, and what kind of creature are you?"

The creature raised half its body and looked back at Tommy, waving its long eyestalks. It silently attached itself to the nearest leaves and began to crunch them slowly. Large brown patches on its body expanded and contracted, sending a wave rippling across its moist skin.

"Well... Well, fine... If you don't want to answer, you don't have to. But my daddy says that's rude. If someone asks you something, you should answer... At least just say hello." Tommy sat down beside the creature, folding his front paws over his stomach. "I like this grass too. I could eat it all day. Do you like strawberries...? Hey? Can you hear me...?"

He poked the slippery body with his paw.

The creature flinched and contracted sharply, turning into a large lump of quivering flesh. Through a small opening in its side, an air bubble hissed forth. It swelled in all directions, then popped, spraying Tommy with fine droplets.

"Oh, is that how it's going to be...? Fine. Have it your way. Like I even care. It's not like I wanted to be friends with you anyway. You don't even have any paws..."

The little one wiped the drops from his face and walked away, his scruff and tail puffed up.

"Tommy! Tommy! Where are you wandering off to now?" His father's voice reached him.

"I'm here, right here. Gathering grass." Tommy quickly bit off the nearest stems and bundled them together. Puffing and panting, he pushed out of the grass and plodded slowly toward Father.

"Papa, don't you think we have enough grass? I'm tired, I just want to lie down. When are we going home?" He sat down, keeping the bundle tucked against him. "And it's so hot, I'm thirsty..."

"Mm-hmm... soon. We'll go soon..." Father bustled around an enormous pile of grass. He bit the stems in half and stacked them into a neat bundle. It grew higher and higher, looming over Father in a precarious tower.

Tommy looked around. High above him, on a long, juicy stem of a Policeman's helmet growing in a massive bush, green seedpods lay hidden among broad leaves and lilac flowers whose petals gaped wide. Plump and swollen with juice, they swayed drowsily under their own weight.

Berries? Those are definitely berries. Juicy, and probably as sweet as strawberries... Papa never said anything about those. What if...

He licked his lips, set the grass down and darted toward the translucent stem filled with sunlight.

Just a couple of berries...

He shook the stem.

SNAAAAP! POP! CRACK!

A tremendous explosion thundered above his head. Hundreds of seedpods burst open, firing volleys of large seeds in every direction, pelting his fur.

"What was that? What was that?!"

Tommy bolted after Father, who was already racing down the path at full speed.

…

Beneath a low, rotting stump, among gnarled roots dried hard as bone, the entrance to the burrow was hidden. Only a trail of freshly scattered red earth gave it away.

Tommy darted into the burrow after Father and froze, breathing hard. Father covered him with his body and stretched his muzzle toward the entrance, sniffing.

“What was that?”

“Berries. There were big green berries up there... No, not strawberries, nothing like them. Strange berries. I didn't even touch them, but they attacked us...” Tommy sighed. “I didn't even bite them. Not a single bite, honestly...”

“Berries? Just berries? Hmm... Very strange. I've never seen anything like that in this meadow before... But, anyway, we need to go back for the grass. No sense letting it go to waste. If they're just berries...” Father headed toward the entrance. “Will you come with me?”

The little one shook his head and hid behind a root sticking out into the passage.

“Nope. I'm not going back there. Those berries spit way too hard. And they're probably horrible to eat anyway... Can I stay here, near home?”

Father waved a paw, smiling into his whiskers.

“All right. Don't wander too far, little scaredy-paws. You can help me sort through the grass later.”

He crawled out of the burrow, looked around, and soon disappeared from view among the tall grass.

Everyone around here is so strange.

Tommy crawled outside and sat down by a stump. He wrapped his paws around a dry root and began to gnaw on it.

One wouldn't talk to me, and those nasty berries pelted me with their seeds... Mmm, this stump is always so crunchy and chewy...

For a moment, he stopped chewing and looked up at the sky.

“Hey, you! Where are you running off to?”

Still watching the sky, he scrambled up onto the stump and stretched his front paws upward.

“Hey, you up there! Can you hear me?! Where are you running off to?” He waved a paw.

They can't hear me... They're so far away. I need to find somewhere higher!

Tommy jumped down from the stump and ran ahead, glancing up at the sky every few steps.

His chase was short-lived. Gasping in the hot air, he collapsed under a sprawling bush, pressing himself to the cool, damp earth.

Water, I need water... Just one sip, or a juicy berry... Strawberries...

The little one yawned wide and slowly made his way toward the sound of the river.

The sandy bank was busy with its own life. Small beetles scurried along the water's edge, water striders glided across the surface, and above it all dragonflies darted with a loud dry rustle. The river smelled of silt and rain.

"Out of my way, let me through!" He batted the pestering insects aside with his paw and dropped down to drink.

Much better.

Tommy rolled onto his back on a patch of plantain leaves. Tearing off a strip of the fibrous leaf, he held it in his teeth, gazing thoughtfully upward.

That one up there looks just like me, small and white, with ears like mine, and a tail... And there's another one just like it, and another... I'll bet they have fun playing up there among those heavy blue-grey clouds. But why don't they come down?

He waved his paw at the clouds.

"Hey! I'm here! Look at me! Here I am, lying right in front of you. Come down, you can play hide-and-seek in the reeds by the bank! Come on..."

He tossed it aside, sighed and curled into a ball.

"You don't want to play with me either..."

A heavy raindrop fell on his nose, scattering fine spray across his fur.

"What? Really? You want to play? I'm coming, I'll be right there, just don't run away..."

The little one leapt up and raced along the bank. Spotting a tall gnarled tree in the distance, he squealed with delight.

"I'm coming! I'm coming to you!"

The tree grew closer and larger, until its silvery silhouette loomed over Tommy like a strange dome of needled branches against the sky. The warm bark slipped under his claws, but thin peeling strips gave him purchase, letting him climb higher and higher. Near the top, he scrambled onto a single jutting branch.

The familiar meadow had vanished. Far below, green fur of grass spread out in waves under a light breeze. The smell of pine resin and flowers pulled him toward sleep.

Tommy rose on his hind legs, peering into the sky.

"Here I am, up here! Come out... come out and play!" He stretched his paws toward the sky.

The small white clouds had disappeared, half the sky swallowed by a heavy blue-grey mass.

"How? I ran so far... I climbed so high..." His paw slipped from the branch. His tail spinning, he tumbled through the air, crashing through the thick branches on the way down.

The ground rushed up fast. Enormous yellow clouds of woad blossoms beneath the gnarled pine softened his fall, parting around him and scattering small, honey-scented flowers.

SPLASH! The soggy mush of rotted leaves swallowed Tommy whole.

"Ow, my tail! And... What is this...? What is that smell? Ewwww... Yuck!"

He hauled himself out of the woad. Covered from the tips of his ears to the tuft of his tail in reeking slime, he stood with his legs spread wide, wobbling awkwardly in place.

"Daddy! Daddy!" The little one burst into tears. He shook his paws, tried to lick himself — a fierce bitterness blazed in his mouth, making him squeeze his eyes shut and scrunch up his face. He plodded down the path toward home, tears falling.

Sunlight breaking through the clouds quickly dried his fur. The dirty yellow slime disappeared — Tommy stared at his coat in bewilderment. From white it had first turned greenish, then blazed a vivid blue.

"No! No! Not this... What am I going to tell Papa...?" He sat down on a small stone and propped his face in his front paws.

"I'm not going home. I'll sit here until I turn white again..." He let out a heavy sigh. A flickering shadow overhead and a soft rustling snapped him out of his thoughts. Something landed on his back, gripping his fur with clinging legs. A pair of enormous sails painted with huge eyes spread open behind him.

"Hey! Shoo! Shoo! Get off my back! I'm not a blue flower. I can bite, and it'll hurt!" Tommy arched his back and shook it hard.

The peacock butterfly lazily fanned its wings, not loosening its grip on him.

"I'm counting to... One... Two... Four..."

He jumped up from the stone and began leaping from side to side. Seeing that the butterfly hadn't flown off, he bolted down the path toward the burrow.

"Dad! Dad!"

Having dropped the last armful of grass onto the pile, Father settled down by the roots of the stump. Pulling out the grass, bunch by bunch, he sorted it with his paws, separating the thin leaf blades from the stems and laying the leaves to the right and the stems to the left.

"This is for eating, and this will go for bedding. Time to refresh the sleeping area, the old hay is already crumbling..."

A strange shadow fell across the gathered grass — something large was beating its wings, hovering above him. Father squeaked in fright and darted into the burrow. Ears pressed back and nose twitching, he peered outside.

"Daaaad!" A blue creature came crashing onto the haystack, its bright wings beating wildly.

"Get it off me! Get it off!" He heard Tommy's voice.

"Son, is that you...?" Father took a couple of small steps toward the creature.

"It won't leave me alone! Get it off!" Tommy twisted his back and spun in circles. The butterfly fanned its wings, balancing on his scruff.

"Stop! Stand still! What on earth is going on here?!"

Father walked over to his son and touched the butterfly with his paw. It beat its wings desperately, trying to take off, then, exhausted, went still, folding them against its body.

"What have we here? Well now, you've got yourselves stuck together... Is that sap? And why are you blue?"

The little one curled into a ball and said nothing.

Scooping up a handful of russet dust, Father sprinkled it over the fur on Tommy's back. Carefully working the dust into the sap, he freed the butterfly's legs one by one. It spread its wings and lifted off, circled over the stump and came back, landing on the haystack. Rubbing its legs together, it began working the dust into its sticky feet.

"What is wrong with you...? Where did you find sap? Were you climbing the pines? And why are you blue, explain it to me?" Father scooped up more dust and sprinkled it on his son's scruff, picking the last bits of sap from his fur.

"I wasn't climbing anywhere. There were just some prickly branches lying on the ground... I tripped and fell into the grass... And she — there she is — attacked me, I didn't even do anything to her!"

Tommy waved his paw toward the butterfly.

"Tommy, Tommy... Always with the excuses. Sit here while I finish the work." Pulling out another bunch of grass, Father went back to his sorting.

The little one picked up a thin stem from the ground. He sat down beside the butterfly and tickled its side with the stem. It turned its head and pushed it away with its leg.

Not scary at all. Maybe she could be my friend?

"Dad, why are we alone? Where are the others, ones like us?"

Father set down the hay and looked steadily at his son.

"We're not alone. I have you and you have me. But if you're curious — there are many others, just like you and me. All different colors — fawn, ginger, grey, and sometimes white like you..."

He looked at Tommy's blue fur. "And once I saw one that was a little blue, grey-blue, not as bright as you are now... There is a place where many different strange animals live. Mostly small ones, like us. They all sit in clear burrows and nests made of very hard little sticks. Enormous giants come to this place, they walk between the burrows and nests, look at us and touch us. And then they take one or two away. And one day a giant came with its young one. And they took us — you and me..." Father fell quiet, lost in thought.

Noticing Tommy's frightened look, he added. "Don't be afraid, the giants won't come here — they grew tired of us, they don't need us anymore..."

His paws worked very fast. Both piles grew, taking shape as neat bundles.

"Sit here while I carry the grass into the burrow. Don't run off anywhere, all right?" Father scooped up a couple of bundles and disappeared into the darkness of the burrow.

"This is my home. Dad and I live here together." Tommy waved his paw after Father. "And where is your home?"

He moved closer to the butterfly and pricked up his ears, listening.

"What does your home look like? Do you have a bed there? How do you sleep at night? Come on, don't be shy, tell me..."

He touched the butterfly's wing carefully.

"So thin, like a little leaf... Can you talk...? Would you like me to give you another ride?" He lowered his head and held still. The butterfly moved unhurriedly onto the top of his head, fanning its wings. The little one laughed. In short hops he bounced around the stump and scrambled up onto it.

A strong gust of wind sent up a column of dust and scattered the remaining hay across the ground. It blew the butterfly off Tommy and carried it away.

"Come back! Come back! Where are you going?" Tommy stretched up tall, watching his accidental friend go. Waves of swaying grass flowed around him, turning the meadow into a green lake. There, in the distance, where the gust had flung the butterfly, black clouds and the edge of the meadow merged into a dark wall of rain. Lightning flashed, a flock of birds wheeled frantically above the treetops, shrieking. And thunder cracked.

"Tommy! Run home, rain's coming!" Father scooped up the remaining bundles of grass and dragged them into the burrow. Grabbing a bundle of stems, Tommy followed him.

The far end of the burrow was dry and dark, smelling of damp grass and mushrooms.

"Sit here, my little blue monster, and don't get into mischief."

Father went away and returned shortly, carrying a stick with a glowworm perched on it. He pushed the stick into the earth beside his son. A soft emerald-green glow filled the space around the little one.

Working with all four paws, Father swept out the old bedding and pushed it toward the entrance, scattering the last crumbling bits of old hay along the passage, and disappeared from view. A minute later he came back carrying an armful of fresh grass. He spread it in a thick layer and ran off for another armful.

The glowworm tumbled off the stick and crawled unhurriedly up the burrow wall. Tommy wrapped his paws around its scaly sides and put it back.

"Stay here, little monster, don't get into mischief..." He sat down beside it, admiring its glowing belly.

"Tommy, time to sleep. Come here, little one." Father curled up on the fresh bedding. Tommy lay down beside him, pressed against Father's warm side, watching the emerald light from under half-closed eyelids.

Falling from the stick to the ground, the glowworm crawled toward the exit, its belly growing dimmer and farther away, until the burrow sank into complete darkness.

…

Tommy sank into a strange dream.

In the clear depths of the water, among thin grass blades dancing in a gentle current, he hung in complete silence. Above his head the bright disc of the sun had shattered across the water's surface, its small fragments sparkling in the ripples, casting restless sunbeams across the bottom. They skipped cheerfully along the riverbed, among colored stones and strawberry leaves, hiding in his fur as it swayed softly in the water.

Tommy reached a paw out to them and breathed out, trying to say hello. Rainbow bubbles of air burst from his mouth and rushed upward toward the sunny ripples. The little one watched them go and drew a breath — cold water scorched everything inside him, dissolving him into itself.

"Tooo-mmyyy... Tooo-mmyyy..." It came from all sides, striking the bottom and flying up to the waves.

He swept his paws and began slowly sinking downward. Suddenly something dark pushed him from below and dragged him upward, toward the shattered sun.

Tommy opened his eyes. The darkness of the burrow was filled with the sound of running water.

The grass bedding floated up, keeping the little one above the water. It spun, gradually sinking beneath the surface.

"Run, Tommy, run!" Father shoved him hard in the side, urging him toward the burrow exit. Entangled in the sodden bedding, the little one lunged forward. His heart hammered wildly. He scrambled upward, his small paws sinking into the sodden clay, murky water streaming down, slowing him.

Ahead, a reddish glow of sunset flickered into view. Then suddenly the sunset went out — a powerful surge of water blocked the entrance. It knocked Tommy off his feet and dragged him back into the dark mouth of the burrow.