Porridge for Piggy

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the snow was covering the ground like a soft blanket. Little Jemima was on the terrace of Riverside Lodge, riding her rocking horse with Quackie, her toy duck. Mr and Mrs Periwinkle, Jemima's parents, were inside the house taking care of chores.

Suddenly, Julie Periwinkle heard a strange shuffling sound. It seemed to be coming from outside. Had a neighbour dropped by for a visit?

She opened the front door... and saw no one.

Then she heard someone sniffle and looked down. There was a little white cat sitting on the front steps, staring at her. It looked awfully hungry and cold. "Oh my, you poor thing!" Julie exclaimed.

 

She turned around and called her husband. "James, there is a cold and hungry cat outside looking for shelter! I think we should give it something to eat and a warm place to sleep tonight." 

"Hello you! I wonder what your name is... Would you like to come in?" James asked the cat.   

 

The cat felt a little unsettled by so many questions and was obviously reluctant to enter the house, so James decided to usher her in. 
"Go on," he said, "there's no reason to be shy. Come on in and have a nice warm cup of tea with us!" (Of course, he was just kidding about the tea for the cat!)

Finally, the white cat went inside and Mrs Periwinkle dried her off with a pink and fluffy towel, while Jemima watched from a chair.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any cat food in the house, and not even the tiniest piece of meat. Stores weren't open today, so the cat had to make do with a plate of porridge. They sat her onto their warm stove and placed the food in front of her.

Mrs Periwinkle sat down and had a cup of tea. Everyone stayed to watch the cat eat. 

"Mommy, kitty fell into da powwidge!" Jemima suddenly exclaimed wide eyed. "Kitty eat like piggy!" 

"Oh dear, the poor thing must be dead-tired!" Julie said. "Let's clean Piggy up, give her some water to drink and put her to bed for now."

And that is exactly what they did. Before James and Julie went to bed that evening they checked on Piggy one last time. She lay wrapped in a warm pink towel in front of the stove, purring contently. "Why have we never thought of getting a pet, James? I think Piggy's lovely." "If we can't find her owners, let's keep her," James suggested.

That night, Piggy dreamt she was so tired from walking that she fell face-first into a plate of sticky, grub-coloured goo... 

"Oh wait! It actually happened," she remembered and fell back asleep.

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When Quackie got lost (Part 2)

"Now monster eat me!" Jemima thought. "Love you Mommy. Love you Daddy. Mima so sorry." 

All of a sudden Jemima heard a familiar sound. It was Quackie whimpering! Her heart pounded even harder as she realized that the monster had her duck in his clutches, too. That's why Jemima hadn't been able to find Quackie anywhere in the sewers. The monster had carried her off. Knowing Quackie was in need of her protection gave Jemima such a boost of energy that she wasn't scared anymore at all.

"ROOOAAAAARRRRRRR!" she growled at the monster. 
Although it sounded more like a squeak, because Jemima was so little, it caught the monster's attention. 
He held her up to his insect-like face and stared at her. 

"You put Mima an Quackie down NOW!" she ordered. The monster was dumbfounded. He was used to his victims wriggling and screaming, but he wasn't used to them being so bad-tempered and bossy... Especially not when they were so small, cute and furry.

He dropped Jemima and Quackie on the floor as if he had been burnt. Maybe it was better to find lunch some place else...

Jemima gave Quackie a big kiss on top of her round yellow head. Quackie seemed relieved and happy.

The monster was just about to run away (this strange little rabbit girl was really starting to freak him out), when he heard the sound of a vehicle...

"Stay back Stinkweed!!" said a dark green figure on top of a bike. He was wearing a red mask over his eyes and brandishing a knife. The monster looked very irritated and almost fell over. 
Jemima was fascinated.  The person on the bike looked like Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Could it be? She had thought they only existed on TV.
"Whoa, ninja turdoes real!" she marveled.

Raph and two of his brothers ran toward the monster. Each turtle was carrying a different weapon. Raphael's knives were called Sai, Leonardo was carrying his sword-like Katana and Donatello was waving something made of three articulated sticks. The plant monster was screeching.

Jemima watched all this from a few steps away. Mikey had gently picked her and Quackie up and said, "Don't worry, you're safe now little rabbit girl!"

Finally, Raph, Leo and Donnie had the plant monster cornered. There was no way out for him. But since the turtles were nice people and not killers, they told Snakeweed (that's what Mikey told Jemima the monster was called) to get lost and never ever come back to this part of town.

So Snakeweed escaped through the hatch to hopefully never be seen again.

Donatello made sure to close it securely behind him.

Raph went over to Leonardo, the leader of the group and said, 
"We beat Snakeweed again! High three, dude!" 
"Well done, everyone!" said Leo.

 After Mikey introduced the turtles to Jemima, Leonardo said,

"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, at your service!"

Jemima smiled and thanked them for their help.

She gave Mikey a kiss on the cheek. 

 "Awww, what did ya do that for?" said Mikey and blushed a little, while bashfully scratching himself on the head.

"Would ya like to take a ride with me on the Sewer Cruiser?" he asked her. 

"Whoa! I love to!" Jemima answered.

Mikey and Jemima sat in front and Quackie got a seat in the back of the cruiser. "Yippee!" Jemima called as Mikey stepped on the accelerator. "This fun!!" 
"Awww, you're so cute, Jemima!!" Mikey chuckled. 

And to his brothers he said, 
"Hey, guuuys, can we keep her??? Huh? Huh? Can we? Puh-leeeeeaaase??" 
Donnie, Leo and Raph shrugged.

"Jemima, do you wanna stay with us for a while??"

Jemima really wanted to. The turtles seemed very friendly and Mikey seemed liked an awesome big brother, but she had to get back to her parents. 
"Mommy an Daddy wai fo me upstair! Dey probally scared!" she admitted. "Oh, sure..." Mikey said, "you've got family looking for you..."

 "Well then let's bring you back to them!" he said.

On their way back up Mikey showed Jemima how much fun it was to live in the sewers.

"Look at me, Jemima! I'm a monkey hanging from a tree!" he said, swinging back and forth from a pipe with one hand. 
"Was that a confession, monkey-brain?" Raph teased. He and Mikey were always teasing each other and playing pranks.

"And THIS," Mikey continued explaining, as he stretched his right foot up underneath the grey sewer cap, "is my Secret Sewer Sissy Stopper! It helps to trip all kinds of mutant villains," he elaborated.

"Or to make good ole Raph here...

...land on his butt!!" Mikey finished. 
Jemima heard a loud thump and a growl as Raphael fell onto his shell. 

"I'll get you for this, Mikey!!!"...

Finally, Jemima and her parents were reunited. 

As a special thank you, James and Julie treated 
the four turtles to a meal at Antonio's. 
"Pizza - my favourite food!!!" Mikey cried and Jemima did a little dance.

And that was how Jemima, Julie and James Periwinkle ended up having pizza with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

When Quackie got lost (Part 1)

This story is about the Periwinkle's trip to New York City. 

James, Julie and Jemima had spent the entire morning sightseeing and were now looking forward to trying New York's best pizza at "Antonio's". They had read about it in their tourist guide. They were just going to enter the restaurant when something very unfortunate happened. Quackie, Jemima's little duck slipped and fell into a hole along the sidewalk leading down into the sewers. 

Never in the history of toys has a rubber duck let out such a high-pitched squeak of terror! 

Jemima was instantly scared out of her mind, which was why, against her better judgement, instead of alerting her parents to what had happened, she took a deep breath and slid through the hole in the ground to save her best buddy.

Julie was just going to enter "Antonio's" when she realized that Jemima was missing. Her heart made a terrible thump inside her chest. Where could she be? Had someone taken her? She had been right beside her a moment ago!

"James, where is Jemima?" she cried and James lost all the colour from his face as he realized his daughter had disappeared.  

Meanwhile, little Jemima had landed roughly at the bottom of the sewer. Her bum was feeling rather sore, but she couldn't dawdle, she had to save Quackie and fast. 

She sat up. Where was Quackie? She seemed to have vanished!

She looked to her right

and then to her left

and decided to climb up a ladder. Where could Quackie have gone? This place was cold and dark and Jemima thought it was very creepy.

She walked along a dark tunnel until she reached a dead end. 

Then she turned around and started to run.

She went back down the ladder, 

crossed a large sewer cap 

and climbed down even deeper into the canalisation. Quackie had to be here somewhere!

The air felt even colder and damper down here and there was a very unpleasant smell of waste and decay. "Quackie?" she called out. "Quackie!!" But there was no reply.

She went on walking until she came to another dead end. She was tired. She felt lonely and afraid.

She sat down on the grey and slimy floor to rest for a moment.

Suddenly, without Jemima noticing, a hatch behind her opened and something long, thin and green made its way toward the little rabbit.

It picked up Jemima by the ear and carried her through the opening in the wall.

It looked like a plant, but it stood on two strong legs and had a red pulsating heart.

"Now monster eat me!" Jemima thought. "Love you Mommy. Love you Daddy. Mima so sorry."

TO BE CONTINUED