Gary and Morris Stop a Forest Fire

It was another hazy day at The Hervey Foundation for Cats. For the past few days, a visible layer of smoke was hanging all around the property, the roads, and nearby towns.

Marjorie, rightfully so, was trying to keep everyone inside to avoid inhaling too much smoke, but Gary and Morris were sick of it. They wanted to go outside. They saw the feral cats coming and going from the shed. Marjorie kept food out there for the strays who would stop by, but they were wild – cats who lived life on the edge!

“The weather looks so nice, but that darn smoke is blanketing everything,” said Gary.

“I agree,” said Morris. “But I want to go outside and make sure our woodland friends are doing okay!”

“Marjorie says it’s a bad idea to go outside though,” Gary replied.

“Well, Marjorie is responsible for everyone,” said Morris. “She is going to take the most likely course to keep us all safe – and that’s to keep us indoors.”

Well, it’s a good thing you and I are such smart fellas,” said Gary. “Follow me!”

He then jumped down onto the floor and towards the back door. As they passed through the kitchen, they could overhear Marjorie on the phone with someone.

“…the smoke is terrible, yes. What’s really freaky is that the fire is so close to the forest near our house… That’s right… No… Yes… Yes… Well, that’s a great idea. I hope they do something about it soon…”

The cats paused for a moment.

“Fire? By the forest?” said Morris.

“Oh no! That explains the smoke!” said Gary. “Now I really am worried about our friends. We gotta get out of here!”

The two cats knew that the shelter was buttoned up tightly, with all the windows and doors shut to keep as much smoke out as possible.

Gary had an ace up his sleeve. He knew there was a basement window they could easily slide open. It had a small latch that had grown easier and easier to move over the years and was now at the point where he could open the window with his snout. He couldn’t close it, so it was likely that they’d be found out at some point, but he and Morris agreed it was worth it.

The two kitties jumped up to the window, used their snouts to unlock it, and then slid out and into the smoky outdoors.

“Oh wow. This smoke is intense,” said Gary.

Morris coughed a bit, but they were both okay.

“You’re not kidding!” said Morris. “Let’s be quick!”

The cats ran over to the edge of the forest. From there, they could see smoke pouring out the top of the trees.

“You see that?” said Gary.

“How could anyone not see that?” said Morris. “That is shocking.”

The forest fire was quite serious, and it looked like it was starting to get closer to the edge of The Foundation property.

“Let’s go!” said Gary, as he darted into the bush.

The cats made their way over to Bullwinkle’s cabin. They knew there was a good chance the other animals would try to meet there if they had an issue, and Gilbert the Crow would also likely be home. He lives above Bullwinkle’s place, and he might be able to provide a bird’s-eye-view.

As the cabin entered their view, they could see there were a handful of other animals out front, and they were frantically discussing something.

“It’s here! It’s here!” said Joey the Squirrel – especially quickly. “It’s almost at my tree!”

“What do we do?” said Mama Raccoon.

“Everyone! Let’s try to stay calm,” said Bullwinkle.

Gary and Morris joined the group.

“Hello everyone! What’s going on?” asked Morris.

Just then, Gilbert the Crow arrived on the scene.

“Gilbert, how does it look?” asked Bullwinkle.

“Not good, you guys,” said Gilbert.

“The forest is on fire!” said Joey.

“We were worried that was the case!” said Gary.

“What can we do?” asked Papa Raccoon.

The animals were starting to panic. Bullwinkle was trying to calm everyone down, but even Gary and Morris could tell he was nervous. They knew they needed to do something, but what could they do? Papa Raccoon really hit the nail on the head. They were just animals and the fire was a real force of nature.

“We’ll be right back!” said Gary, as he bolted back down one of the forest trails.

“Where are we going?” asked Morris.

“To the river!” said Gary. “It’s a lot to ask, but I think Terrance can help us.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. If you think about it, he has dammed up the river with his home. If he was willing to do it, he could probably save the forest!”

“But that’s his home!” said Morris.

“I know. This won’t be easy,” said Gary.

The cats continued to race down the path until Terrance’s dam was in full view. The plucky beaver was working away on his home when they arrived.

“Terrance!” shouted Gary.

“Boys! Smokey day outside, isn’t it?” Terrance replied.

“More than usual! The fire has made its way to the forest!” Morris replied.

“Oh no!” said Terrance.

“We came to ask you a pretty serious question,” said Gary. “The whole forest needs your help.”

The cats explained to Terrance what was going on and just how desperate the situation was becoming.

Terrance looked very serious, but for some reason, he wasn’t worried.

“Gentlemen, I have some good news! Bring me to Bullwinkle’s cabin!” said Terrance.

The cats gave him a confused face, then agreed to walk with him all the way back to Bullwinkle’s cabin. Being a pair of excited cats, though, they ended up running back and outpacing Terrance by a minute or two. Terrance was doing his best, but he just wasn’t able to keep up.

The cats were back with the group, looking around to see where their beaver buddy was, and just then, a very tired, and very mud-covered Terrance arrived.

“Ladies. Gentlemen,” Terrance said, then paused to catch his breath. “I think I can save our beautiful little forest!”

Terrance explained to the group that he had built his dam in such a way that it had a drain plug. One that could be removed to flood the area without losing his home. This way, if he ever needed to defend himself from intruders, move to another place, or, in this case, a forest fire!

“We just need to build a diversion, so it floods the forest floor instead of the river!”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Bullwinkle. “Let’s boogie!”

All the animals ran back to Terrance’s place, except this time Terrance was able to catch a ride on Bullwinkle’s back. That moose was like a public transit bus of the forest.

Once back at the river, the animals got to work. Terrance would cut trees down, Bullwinkle would haul them out of the forest and onto the water, where the Raccoons and some of the other animals would move them into place. Gary and Morris stood on top of the dam to supervise and soon they had built a wall of logs with moss and mud stuffed in between to make it waterproof.

Bullwinkle then got ready on the riverbed, with one end of a rope around his waist and the other tied to the big drain plug on the side of the dam. Terrance sat in the water to make sure everything would go according to plan.

With everything in place, Bullwinkle and Terrance got ready to pull the plug. The other animals were all standing on top of the dam, hoping and praying that they’d all be able to go home to their beds tonight.

Gary started the countdown, “Three… Two… One… Now!”

Bullwinkle lurched forward, and Terrance popped his head under the water. All of a sudden, a great burst of water poured out of the drain, hit the diversion, and started to flood across the forest floor, pushing all the dirt, leaves, and sticks with it.

All the animals were quiet as they waited for the water to do its work. They had no idea if it would actually make a difference, but it was their best chance. It felt like time was passing very slowly.

Eventually, Gilbert the Crow flew over the treetops to survey the fire. After fifteen human minutes, he returned to the group on the dam.

“It worked! It worked!” he cried. “We did it!”

“Gilbert!” said Bullwinkle. “Please tell me you aren’t joking!”

“I would never!” said Gilbert. “I saw it with my own eyes!”

“What?” said Terrance. “It worked?!”

The Racoons started to jump up and down and dance with each other. Joey the squirrel was so happy he started to run in circles on the spot.

“Let’s go see!” said Bullwinkle.

Terrance and a few of the other animals climbed on his back. They were very tired after working so hard to build the diversion. Bullwinkle was tired, too, but he was now filled with adrenaline as well!

The big moose strode ankle-deep through the now-flooded forest, each step covering lots of ground. The smoke got heavier as they got closer to the spot where the fire was. Some of the animals were not feeling very optimistic.

But there it was! Only about 20 metres from Bullwinkle’s cabin! The smouldering remains of the fire were hissing as the water continued to climb up the trees and bushes, extinguishing the embers and pouring hot steam into the smoke-filled air.

Some of the trees had been burned but were not ablaze. The ground and the bush had suffered most of the damage, leaving charred, and now soaked, remains of their branches and foliage.

As the animals stood there assessing the damage, they realized just how much of their forest had burned away. Bullwinkle’s cabin used to feel like it was deep in the thick of the bush, and now, just 20 metres from his place, they were looking out onto the valley.

“We were never able to see the valley from here before,” said Joey. “The trees are almost all gone!”

Mama and Papa Raccoon were hanging onto each other. They were sad to see the forest they called home in such a sorry state, but they were happy and relieved to have saved their actual homes.

“Great work everyone!” said Terrance. “While this moment may feel sombre, you should all be proud of yourselves!”

“That’s right,” said Gary. “You all worked hard today, and you saved not just your own homes, but the homes of all our friends!”

The animals looked around and started to smile.

“Let’s hear it for us!” said Morris. “Hip, hip, hooray!”

The animals followed along with his cheer as they slowly walked back towards Bullwinkle’s cabin.

“Let’s also give a big thanks to Terrance, whose wonderful mind saved us all from the fire,” said Bullwinkle.

Morris started another ‘hip, hip, hooray’ for Terrance.

Once they arrived at Bullwinkle’s place, they noticed the floor of the cabin had flooded along with the forest, and that meant the big moose wouldn’t be able to spend the night there.

“Why don’t you come sleep on our lawn?” asked Morris.

“Yeah! I bet our mom would get a huge thrill from it!” said Gary.

Bullwinkle thought about it. He wasn’t used to interacting with people much, but he figured that Marjorie must be pretty nice if she had raised Gary and Morris.

“Let’s do it!” he said.

The other animals hopped off his back and crawled onto the roof of the cabin before saying their goodbyes and scurrying off to their newly saved homes.

“Let’s hit the road fellas,” said Bullwinkle. “I am tired!”

Once they arrived back at The Foundation, Marjorie immediately stood up on the back deck.

“Oh my gosh! Gary and Morris! What are you two doing on the back of that moose?!” she asked.

Bullwinkle lay down on the ground.

“Good night fellas! Thanks for letting me stay here!”

“No problem!” Gary replied. “You’re one of our best friends!”

The cats ran over to Marjorie, who was still aghast, and then into the house to grab some dinner.

Later that night, while the two cats were hanging out on the couch and talking to some of the other kitties at The Foundation, they noticed Marjorie standing at the back window, on the phone.

“You won’t believe what is going on over here,” she said. “Gary and Morris came home riding on the back of a moose, and the moose is still in the yard. I think he’s going to spend the night! He’s asleep!”

The cats smiled at each other, knowing they had helped their friends in their time of need.