Rascal grew from an unmarked newborn baby to a twenty-five-pound raccoon before he was turned outdoor. He didn't know he was a raccoon and tried to do what people do. The book contains suspense and many laughs.

Rita and Rascal

By Autum Agusta

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2013 Autum Agusta
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-6971-1

Contents

Chapter 1: Coon Hunting.................................1Chapter 2: The Find.....................................6Chapter 3: Taking Care of Baby..........................14Chapter 4: A Visit to the Mountains.....................30Chapter 5: Visiting the Neighbors.......................42Chapter 6: Summer Camp..................................61Chapter 7: A Trip to New Mexico.........................72Chapter 8: All about Animals............................86Chapter 9: Who Knows?...................................101

Chapter One

Coon Hunting

"Cool!" Danny exclaimed. "Did you just say that your grandpa wants you to go out to his place on the creek and try to find a baby raccoon for a pet? With an unusual pet like that I could be as important as my big brother that is a football hero!"

"Grandpa said those critters get into his garden and pull up his vegetables. He said he would like to get rid of them and this is the time of the year for the babies to be born," Alan explained.

"My mom is at the school lunchroom fixing food for the sports banquet tonight. Since the high-school teams won three championships this year, it will be a big event. I will have to go by there and ask her if I can go coon hunting with you," Danny said.

The two twelve year old boys jumped on their bikes and rushed to the lunchroom.

Rita looked up from a pile of pealed potatoes when her slender, freckled-faced, redheaded son came running through the door. "Before I say yes, how far is it to your grandpa's farm, how will you get there, and when will you be back?" she asked.

"It is only six miles, we will ride our bikes, and we won't be gone very long," Alan answered.

"If you aren't back by dark I'll come looking for you," Rita said.

It's awful hot so let's stop by my place and get some water before we leave town," Alan said.

The boys were putting water containers on their bikes while Alan's mother fixed two juicy peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches for the boys. She also put in some cookies and apples into the sacks to complete the meal. Mrs. Willie handed the sacks to the important hunters.

Danny followed Alan through town and onto a dirt road leading north to the creek. They came to the first creek two miles from town. Parking their bikes on the only hill for miles, the boys ate their lunch. "Please let us find a baby raccoon," they prayed before they ate.

The country was starting to turn green after a cold winter, but the boys were too excited to notice. All they could think about was having a raccoon for a pet.

"I wonder what kind of animal that hawk is searching for over there?" Danny asked, pointing his finger west.

"I don't know, but maybe we can keep a baby coon from becoming some big bird's meal," Alan answered.

Thirty minutes later Alan and Danny saw the creek where grandpa lived.

"Are you going to go to your grandpa's house first?" Danny asked.

"No, he will want us to stay and visit and we just don't time," Alan said with a feeling of importance.

The boys hid their bikes in some bushes not far from the road. They motioned to each other to be quiet, and tip-toed through the tall, dry grass to the creek. Their exciting hunt had begun.

The creek was not running but there were several water holes in the lowest places. The boys started their hunt on the east side of the bridge. They walked around the first water hole. Sure enough, there were two different kinds of tracks. One set of tracks looked like a rabbit's hind foot and the tracks that went with them looked like a baby's tiny hand prints.

Yep, there in coons around here all right," Alan whispered.

The tracks seem to lead to nowhere. The boys decided that the animals went over some hard ground that didn't make foot prints. Alan pointed to the west side of the bridge. Danny shook his head to agree.

"There are more trees and water on that side," Danny whispered.

The boys found more coon tracks and tip-toed around every water hole. They were as quiet as the animals around them.

Alan pointed to a huge rock. "Let's crawl up there and look on the other side," he whispered.

Alan and Danny climbed the huge rock and looked over the edge. Underneath the high side of the rock was a porky pine digging in the dirt. The boys shook their heads "No" and quietly crawled back down.

The young hunters felt disappointed as they searched more areas of the creek, and didn't find any wild animals except for the tiny minnows in the water.

It's time to head back," Alan said. "Maybe it is too early for the coon babies to be born," he sighed.

Danny agreed. As they were walking back to the place they had left their bikes, he said, "I'm going to look in that old tree stump over there before we leave."

"Aw, it's too close to the ground and too close to the road. I'm sure no coon would be dumb enough to have her babies in there," Alan said.

"Well, I'm going to have a look anyway," Danny said as he quietly walked toward the old tree stump.

Chapter Two

The Find

Danny quietly walked toward the tree stump. He could vision a fierce tiger coming through the tall dry grass toward him. He shuttered and put one foot on a bare root of the old tree and the other foot on what had been a low branch. Danny pulled himself up even with the top of the stump. The inside was much deeper than it looked on the outside. The bottom was covered with dry leaves. Danny slid both feet down the inside of the old tree. "I hope the bottom isn't too deep and nothing very wild is in here," Danny whispered to himself. He felt his feet hit the bottom and balanced his body and turned loose.

Running his hands through the dusty, brittle leaves from last summer, Danny touched something wet and warm. He jerked his had back. Something was hidden in the leaves. Danny carefully parted the leaves to see what he had touched. "It's probably some kind of a large insect," he told himself.

It was no an insect. Lying in the loose leaves was some kind of tiny animal. It was long, gray and alive. The animal looked kind of like a picture of a weasel Danny had seen in a book at school. The tiny animal's eyes were still closed so tightly that it was hard to tell where they were supposed to be.

"I found something but I'm not sure what it is!" Danny yelled to Alan.

The boys were too excited to be quiet now.

Alan slid down in the tree stump with Danny. "It must be a raccoon, but it doesn't look like one," Alan said. "The ones I've seen have black rings around their tales and black masks around their eyes that make them look like bandits."

"Whatever it is, there is only one, and there are two of us," Danny reminded Alan.

Alan ran his fingers through the leaves until he was convinced that no more tiny animals were in there. "Let's not get this one yet but look for another one before we leave," Alan said.

"No. The mother might come back and get this one while we are gone. I'm going to take him with me right now!" Danny exclaimed. He took off his shirt and pulled his undershirt off over his head. Danny put his other shirt back on and then gently picked up the wet, newborn baby and wrapped him up in his undershirt. He handed the baby to Alan. "Just hold him while I get out of here and then you can give him back to me while you crawl out," Danny said.

Danny tried to keep the baby warm by holding him under his shirt next to his own warm body. It was too late to look for another baby and the boys needed...