Chapter Five - The Perfect Team
"They traveled the globe, going on great adventures. Defending creatures who could not defend themselves. They made an extraordinary team..."
Ready for adventure and eager to help those creatures - the many - who were in need, they wasted no time in setting off.
CLANG!
Lily swung an axe, cutting the chain and setting free a captured elephant, while John tended to the animals in cages. One was a very frightened gorilla who's name they learned, after a conversation in hooting with John, was Chee-Chee and who had a blue blanket that he loved and which made him feel safe. John hated to see the poor creature in such distress.
"Hoo, Hoo, hoo," he hooted in encouragement. Slowly and cautiously, Chee-Chee crawled out of the cage and over to where John offered him the blanket.
Once all the animals were free, Lily strode over to the group of hunters they had locked up. She pointed her sword at them, still holding the axe in the other hand. "Maybe this will teach you a lesson about treating the wildlife with respect."
"Yeah, don't mess with us," John added, instantly regretting it and wishing he could take it back for it sounded silly next to Lily's serious threat. But it made Lily giggle, so he saw that as a win.
"He's right," she said. "We are not a force to be reckoned with."
"So," John said once they had gotten all the animals safely onto the ship. "Where to next?"
It was heartbreaking to see such a mistreatment of animals all over the world, and John felt very grateful to be helping the creatures out of these situations.
From the jungles, next they traveled to the Arctic, where they discovered a polar bear with a case of the chills - Yoshi was his name.
"It rains a lot in Britain," John told the bear. "But I think you'll find it a lot warmer than here, my friend."
They rescued elephants and monkeys, giraffes, wild cats, and various birds. They traveled the world together rescuing all kinds of creatures. All creatures were welcome at Dr. Dolittle's sanctuary.
"What's that you've got there?" John asked, coming over to where Lily sat on the deck of the ship during another day out at sea.
"Oh, my journal." She held it up for him to see. "It's getting rather full, as you can see. I write about all of my adventures in here - and now all of our adventures."
Our adventures. John liked the sound of that.
They stopped hunters and rescued trapped animals. This was how Chee-Chee, Yoshi, Betsy, Plimpton, Elliot, Elsie, and others joined their family.
Their family. John liked the sound of that too.
"We're going to need a bigger sanctuary soon," he joked.
They spent the whole year together, traveling the world. When they weren't on adventures, they were back at the sanctuary, charting their journeys and keeping a logbook of them, Lily recording everything in her beloved journal. She even had bridges connecting the tower and roof of the house, it reminding her of her home.
"Well, Yoshi's curled up before the fire, Chee-Chee is relaxed and is resting, and Elliot and Elsie are causing their usual chaos all over the house," John announced, hanging up his lab coat by the doorway into the kitchen. "It seems that everyone is feeling at home now."
Lily looked up from where she was writing in her journal and smiled at him. "Yes. You know how to make anyone and everyone feel welcome here, John."
He smiled back. "And how about you?"
"Yes, I feel very welcome here."
He sat down at the table across from her. "But do you feel at home?"
"Monteverde will always be my first home. But I am an adventurer - I can get used to a lot of places." She winked at him. "Yes, I like it here very much."
He smiled and nodded. "I'm glad. We make a good team, don't we?"
"Yes, I would agree and say we do. A very good team. In fact, I would say we make the perfect team." Lily winked, picked up her journal, and headed out of the room, John staring after her.
"Love," said Mini from where she sat perched atop John's head, nestled into his curly hair.
"Yes, Mini," he agreed. "Love."
This chapter is a bit short and sweet. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)
