Kentucky Tails. Betsy Byrne

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      Kentucky Tails

      By Betsy Byrne

      Copyright 2015 Betsy Byrne,

      All rights reserved.

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

       [email protected]

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2502-3

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

      All facts noted about the animals are mostly factual. The only fictitious part is anything written about magic, but some still says it happened.

      DEDICATION

      This book is dedicated to ‘us’ Kevin. Our lives together have been such a colorful tapestry that has been woven with love and happiness. Our 35 yrs. of mostly ups, yet enough downs to keep us grounded and humble. Here comes the overflow of life, love and adventure for us!

      After all is said and done your creative pictures are the inspiration for my stories.

      I love you

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I deeply acknowledge the help I have received by my family, and other loved ones that have read and added valuable suggestions to this book.

      I want to thank my son Kasey for giving me the title to this book. It’s perfect! Also I want to thank you for most of the animal character names and adding to their characters.

      Much thanks to Kevin for bringing us here and for taking the inspirational picture on the cover.

      I also would like to thank the many articles from the internet that gave me facts about any and all animals.

      INTRODUCTION

      My family and I have always taken pleasure in making stories up about the various animals that have crossed our paths. My husband was able to retire early and we decided to move several States away to a totally different culture for us. These adventures of animals are the ones that scamper about our home here in the wooded country of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

      On our cross country trek to get here we were able to stop at the majestic Grand Canyon. While looking at the photos that we took after we got our home situated I loved the photo that Kevin had taken of the squirrel that appeared to be sharing the view of the canyon with him. That’s how the idea of this story started.

      The entirety of this book is absolutely a family affair, from the title to the photos that were taken by Kevin to many of the names of the characters being made up by our son Kasey. Kentucky is a special place to live and even though we were always ‘city folk’ we are amazed every day by the abundance of little critters scampering about. Every single day we wake up to birds greeting the morning with their beautiful songs and chipmunks scurrying in and out of their dens. The squirrels are rather special to me; they are so comical and will put a smile on any body’s face that watches them. A day hasn’t gone unnoticed by us or taken for granted of the beauty abound.

PART I

      CHAPTER ONE

      THE JOURNEY

      Everything was so stunningly bright, it was hard to see more than the forms of the mountains and her eyes watered from trying to forcedly see the breathtaking view. Tired from the trek to the cliff she sat on a rock nearby and the quiet was interrupted, not the usual tourist ooh’s and ahh’s but a quiet sigh that clearly sounded as if the person who obviously was sharing the view with Penny was also trying to catch his breath. It was more than worth the rush as the sunrise was magnificent.

      The man was very quiet, seemingly peaceful and since she knew that he already saw her and surprisingly wasn’t interested in bothering her, she didn’t feel she needed to rush off. The Grand Canyon looked particularly beautiful this morning and when she turned her back to scamper away she caught a glimpse of the handsome man creature that shared all the beauty with her and was once again taken back but this time it was by him and not the canyon.

      He had a furry chiseled jawline and a very kind face. His eyes sparkled and were dark brown like the clean acorns right after a soft rain. He already had his camera out pretending to take more photos of the canyon but aiming the camera directly at her. Penny blushed and turned her back once again to the stranger. Maybe if he couldn’t see her face he’d put down the camera.

      As she glimpsed back she saw that he did. He sat back on a rock and they just both went back to enjoying the view. After a bit of time the man reached into his backpack and pulled out a sandwich. Penny watched him eat it with so much intensity that she never gave the canyon another view. She was starving and he kept reaching into his backpack and pulling out food.

      She knew it was an awful thought but she wanted so badly to get to that backpack. She was hoping to find even a crumb of food. Even if she was hurt or killed what did she have to lose? No one wanted her around anyway. She was shunned from her family since she refused to marry the ‘chosen one’ picked by her parents. She always was very rebellious and supposed that was the last straw for her family.

      She had strong instincts yet chose to toss caution to the wind and attempt to climb into the bag. While he was studying his photos and reading a book, she quickly and quietly made her way to his back pack just as the man reached down to pick it up again. He saw the movement, grabbed his backpack and vigorously shook it, to drop out whatever just crept in. Penny felt an earthquake stronger than anything she ever had heard about but hung on to the pocket for dear life. She decided that it would be better to try to stick with the kind looking man till she had a full belly from his lunch! A pebble dropped out and plopped onto the dirt. He heard the sound and felt satisfied that whatever it was he saw fell out and promptly zipped his bag closed.

      Her heart beat so rapidly, she felt queasy but with a huge gulp she crawled inside one of the several small pockets so she wouldn’t be so tossed around.

      Oohh, there were crumbs in this one that she chose. Everything was looking up! Even though there was so much movement she lay back against the soft material and chewed on the crumbs until she got full, and fell fast asleep. She must have slept for quite a while. She had been on her own for so long now and was always frightened. She was afraid to close her eyes, as she could get picked off by one of the known enemies of the canyon.

      The sounds were different; Penny never heard anything other than the sounds of that area. Whistling winds and trees with their leaves rustling, sounding like the waterfall her family went to last summer. Although she loved to travel, how far was she going? She started to worry that she’d never be able to see her family again, even if it was just from a distance. She heard some loud sounds, it sounded like the strangers who came to visit the canyon daily at the huge place that they left their big carriers, when they slammed them shut.

      She felt movement. Her heart felt as if it would leap out of her throat once again. What was happening? Did she СКАЧАТЬ