Tippy, Chapter 16

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

Continued from last week.

We stayed on Route 50, which was our objective. We went through several small towns and then came to a larger one. I glimpsed at the sign – Owensville – even though it was dark and still raining. The chicken jumped aboard to give her wings a rest.

“How are you doing?” she said.

“Not bad, but I wish this guy would quit weaving. He is making me sick. And the water in the boat is not helping.”

Going a little further, we started down a sizable hill, and the road was quite curvy. We really started weaving very fiercely.

I think I howled but I wasn’t chasing any rabbits.

The chicken yelled, “Watch out!”

The next thing I knew, I was airborne, going over the side of the hill into the trees. Fortunately, I landed in a soft pile of leaves and small twigs.
  
The chicken came swooping down, “Are you OK?”

“I think so. What happened to the car and boat?”

“They overturned; the driver was thrown out. He might be dead.”

“I am sorry for him, but what are we going to do? We are out in a woods, miles from anywhere.”

The chicken said, “You crawl under that pile of leaves over there. Should protect you from the rain and any curious creatures. I’ll go on down ahead and see if I can get some ideas on what to do next. I may be gone for quite a while – maybe a day or two – but I will be back. I will not desert you, Tippy.”

I did as she told me, but I was unhappy and very sad. It seemed like we were never going to get to Ivy Hill Drive. I finally fell asleep. I woke up when I felt something brush against me – a snake!  

I remembered what Jim had read to us, in the very beginning of the Black Book, about a snake and a human lady.

I jumped up and ran and ran and ran. When I finally stopped, I realized that now the chicken might not know where to find me. I wasn’t sure I could get back where I had been or that I wanted to go back to where the snake was. And I was hungry. This was terrible.

To be continued….   

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.