|
Gordon Groundhog slowly opened his eyes. POW, POW, POW. There it was, again. He had been in the middle of a beautiful dream when he first heard the noise. "What in thunderation can that be?" he wondered. "It can't be snow. That just goes plop, plop." He listened, again, but everything was quiet.
"Oh, well," he thought, as he pulled the covers up around his chin, "I may as well finish my nap." He had just closed his eyes when his whole cave was filled with a brilliant burst of light. "What in the world is going on?" he wondered, as he jumped out of bed. It seemed like a fellow couldn't sleep around here no matter how hard he tried.
Gordon ran to the window and looked out. It was still dark outside, so it had to be February. March and April days were bright and sunny, but sometimes, in February, the days were so dark Gordon couldn't even see his own shadow. He yawned and decided to fix some hot chocolate. There was no use trying to go back to sleep now. He might as well stay up and begin his spring cleaning. Just as he was pouring the steaming water into his cup, he heard another awful sound. BAROOM, BAROOM, BAROOM. "Ouch," he yelled. The noise had frightened him so badly he had poured water on the table, and it had splashed on his bare toes.
He ran to the window, again. Something strange was going on. Maybe it was Mrs. Bear next door. She did manage to make a lot of noise when she was cleaning her cave after a long winter's sleep. But that didn't explain the light. "Look, there it is, again!" Gordon cried. He covered his eyes but left a peeking space between his paws. He had never seen light like this. It was blue, red and yellow, and it splintered into a thousand pieces. KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM. Gordon covered his ears. He didn't know what was making that noise, but he was pretty sure it wasn't Mrs. Bear.
He pulled on his coat, boots and mittens. He even found his red scarf in the bottom drawer. "Better not take any chances on catching a cold," he thought. He didn't know how long it would take to find the reason for the strange light and noise, but he did know a fellow could get mighty cold in just a few minutes in February.
He found his flashlight and some extra batteries, and, after stuffing a couple of biscuits in his pocket in case this took awhile, he slowly opened the door. He peeked out but couldn't see anything. He didn't remember February days being this dark. He listened. He didn't remember February days being this quiet, either.
CRASH, POW, BOOM. Another burst of light filled the air. Gordon ran quickly to Mrs. Bear's cave. He knocked and knocked, but no one answered. "Where in the world would Mrs. Bear be on such a dreary day?" he wondered. He decided to check down by the lake. Maybe she had gone there to get water for her spring cleaning. Very carefully, he followed the trail. Something was wrong. He tried to decide what was differend. "My, it's getting warm," he thought. "That's it. There's no snow on the ground. There's always snow in February." He looked around. There was no snow on the ground, no snow on the tree branches, and, using his flashlight, he could see there was no snow on the cavetops. "This is very strange," he muttered. "I wonder if the bright light melted the snow?"
"Phew, it's hot," he said, as he took off his coat and mittens. He folded them carefully and placed them on a rock by the trail. As he bent down to take off his boots, he noticed wild flowers growing by the side of the path. "This is getting very, very strange," he thought. "Flowers don't grow around here until June."
Another loud noise clapped like thunder, and the sky was filled with colored light. "Oh, my," said Gordon, as he began to run toward the lake. "I must find out what is going on." When he reached the lake, he stopped quickly and hid behind a big bush. There were people here. He could see big people and little people. Some were out on the lake in boats, some were sitting on blankets on the hillside and some were playing games. He was terribly confused. What were these people doing on the lake at this time of the year, and why were they dressed in summer clothes in February?
He spotted Mrs. Bear hiding behind a large, old tree. "There you are," he said as he came up to her. "What in the world is going on? Where are the lights and noise coming from, and what are these people doing here?" Mrs. Bear laughed. "We knocked at your door several times in February," she said. "You just kept telling us to go away. You said it was too early to get up. The lights and noise are from fireworks. The people are celebrating their freedom. They are enjoying being Americans. "Gordon," said Mrs. Bear, laughing so much she almost cried, "Gordon, you silly groundhog, this is the FOURTH OF JULY!"
|
