Christmas In The Forest
Edward alan Kurtz Second Edition
Book • eBook • Audiobook
CHRISTMAS IN THE FOREST Edward Alan Kurtz SECOND EDITION 2016 Book • eBook • Audiobook Copyright 2013 Edward Alan Kurtz Cover Image: © Vectorfusionart | Adobe Stock Images - Photo Stock Agency: Adobe Stock ISBN: 978-1-910370-90-2 (Stergiou Limited-Assigned) ISBN: 978-1540526-93-9 (CreateSpace-Assigned) ePub: 978-1-910370-91-9 (Stergiou Limited-Assigned) StErgiou limitEd Publications Suite A, 6 Honduras Street London EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom web: http://stergioultd.com email: publications@stergioultd.com All rights reserved. Image: © Vjom | Adobe Stock
CONTENTS Chapter One
The Pine Tree
4
Chapter Two
SebaSTian The Squirrel
12
Chapter Three
The bad newS
18
Chapter Four
Olivia'S STOry
27
Chapter Five
KnOcKing On dOOrS
30
Chapter Six
The circle
38
Chapter Seven
TraPPed!
44
Chapter Eight
eScaPe!
49
Chapter Nine
neTS!
53
Chapter Ten
a SOluTiOn
57
The Author
edward KurTz
62
CHAPTER ONE
THE PINE TREE
O
nce upon a time, there was a very beautiful and special forest. Of course there were lots of trees in this forest, but there was much, much more. There were large areas of heath as well as pasture land. There were also several rivers that ran through the forest. And there were many birds and animals that lived in the forest. In the middle of the forest was a pine tree. It was very old and quite tall. Its branches were long and they were full of soft dark green needles. It was a special tree, and all of the animals that lived in the forest knew that this was the most beautiful tree in the forest. This pine tree was the home to several animals, and other animals liked to rest on the soft pine needles under the shade of the tree. Near the top of this magical tree lived three birds. Their names were Wendy the Warbler, Wally the Woodlark and William the Woodpecker.
Image: Š Oksanaok | Adobe Stock
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Wendy and Wally and William were best friends. They each had their own little house built high on top of the old pine tree. The three friends met and talked almost every day, and they often got together for a cup of tea. Wendy was a very smart warbler. Everyone in the forest knew her, and they all thought that she was a kind and helpful bird. If anyone needed any help, Wendy was right there, ready to pitch in and do whatever was needed to help! The front door of Wendy's house was bright pink. Pink was her favourite colour. And inside of her house there was lots more pink. She had pink rugs, and pink curtains and a pink bedspread. And, if you were invited to tea, Wendy had a teapot and teacups that were decorated with very pretty pink roses. Wally was also a good bird and a good friend, but he was terribly disorganized. He lost things all of the time, and he was constantly late for appointments. If he wasn't late, it simply meant that he had forgotten the appointment, and he would not turn up at all. On the other side of the tree from Wendy's house was Wally's house. The front door of his house was bright blue. Blue was Wally's favourite colour. Although his house was quite cluttered, you could still see bits of blue here and there in the mess. His walls were
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painted blue, and he had a soft blue quilt on his bed. His fuzzy blue bedroom slippers sat right next to his bed which was covered with a blue quilt. Wally kept his backpack next to his front door, and, as you might guess, his backpack was also blue. William was the most energetic of the three bird friends. He was always active, either doing work around his house, or out playing sports. He almost never sat still. William's house was inside the tree. What? How could that be? William was a woodpecker. And, as you know, woodpeckers like to peck holes in tree trunks. William had pecked a hole in this old pine tree, and the hole was big enough for him to go inside.
Image: Š Multik79 | Adobe Stock
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And there, inside the hole, he had made a house for himself. He put a door on the front of the hole and painted it purple. Purple was William's favourite colour, and there were many purple things inside his house. He had a purple table cloth on his kitchen table, and a purple lampshade on the lamp standing next to his purple reading chair. One day, in December, just before the Christmas holidays began, Wally and William were visiting Wendy in her pink house. The three friends were enjoying afternoon tea. "Would you like another cup of tea?" asked Wendy. They were drinking some of Wendy's delicious tea. William had brought some Christ7
Image: Š Aniko G Enderle | Adobe Stock
mas cookies along with him to add to the party, and Wally had made some brownies with red and green icing on top. The three of them always pitched in and helped each other because they were quite good friends. "Oh, that would be lovely," answered William. He had a big appetite, especially with all that pecking into the tree trunks that he had done off and on that day. Wendy put the kettle on and soon the three of them were enjoying another cup of tea. It was very peaceful and calm high up in the tree. At least it was calm this fine day in December. Sometimes when the wind was really strong, then everyone hung on for dear life! Eventually the three friends started to talk about the upcoming Christmas holiday season. "Do you think we will have a white Christmas this year?" asked William. "Oh I do hope so," said Wendy. "That always makes everything so lovely." "Yes, and a bit of snow on the green branches of our tree always helps to get me into the Christmas spirit," added Wally. "Are you finished with your Christmas shopping yet?" asked Wendy. "Yes," answered William. "Finally! The crowds in the shops this year were amazing! I've never seen anything like it." "I think I'm almost finished," answered Wally. "You think so?" asked Wendy. 8
"Well, I lost my shopping list," answered Wally. "But I think I have just a few more gifts and then I'm done. How about you, Wendy?" "Yes, I just finished yesterday," she answered. "Now all I have to do is wrap them and put bows on each gift." They sipped at their tea and then they each had one last Christmas cookie. They had already finished the brownies. "I'm really looking forward to decorating my front door this year," said Wendy. "I am too," said William. "Me too," said Wally. "I can't wait!" "I wonder who will win the prize for the best door decorations this year," said William. Each year during the Christmas season, there was a contest in the forest for the best door decoration. Every animal decorated its front door and then crossed its fingers and hoped to win a prize. And the judges went from door to door to look at the decorations and make their decisions. The first prize was always a surprise, and it was something different each year. "Your door was so pretty last year," Wally said to Wendy. "I can't believe you didn't win first prize." "Thank you," said Wendy. "Oh well. Whether we win or not, it's still fun to do, isn't it?" "Yes," answered William."And with your door and Wally's door and my door, our tree is Image: Š Annamei | Adobe Stock
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always the most beautiful tree in the forest, no matter what those judges say." "That's right," said Wendy. "Do we want to make wreaths like we did last year?" "Yes," answered Wally. "Let's do that." "Yes," answered William. "Even though each wreath is different, it looks nice when all three of our doors have wreaths on them." "I agree," said Wally. "And lights?" asked Wendy. "Absolutely!" said Wally. "Yes" said William. "The strings of lights we put up around the doors really help to bring out the beauty of our wreaths." "So we'll have matching wreaths, and bows in different colours: pink, blue and purple," said Wendy. "Good," said William. "Then that's all settled." The room became very quiet as they each sat back and thought about their doors and wreaths and lights and ideas about how to make their door decorations extra beautiful. "Oh, look!" said Wendy. "There are a few snowflakes!" 10
"Maybe we will have a white Christmas!" said Wally. Suddenly they heard a terrible racket outside. "Whatever can that be?" asked Wendy. She got up from her comfortable pink chair and peeped out through the pink curtains of the window next to her door. "Oh my goodness!" she cried. "What is it?" asked Wally. He and William peeped out of the window with Wendy. There, on the limb just outside of Wendy's front door, just beyond her pink welcome mat, was a squirrel. It was their friend, Sebastian the Squirrel. He was flat on his back and it looked like he wasn't breathing!
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Image: Š Marsea | Adobe Stock