It had been a long day and Hibiscus hadn’t spent much time
in zoom talking with her class as some of the day was set aside for planning
and meetings. Dovic was a little bored at first as he missed the smiles and
liveliness of his class. When they came in after recess, he watched their
faces, their thumbs up, their greetings and cheerfulness, and it made him feel happy.
Outside was cold and wet so he was glad he was inside where it was warm. Even
Milly the black lab stayed curled up on her mat. At one time, she squeezed
under the table and nudged Hibiscus with her nose, letting her know she needed
to go outside.
At the end of the day, Dovic saw Hibiscus write a note to
her students reminding them to record how many kilometres they walked, ran or
cycled as they were adding them up to see how long it took them to get to
Sydney Opera House. They were about one third of the way, but the other Year 5
class was much closer to their destination and it was unlikely they would catch
up.
As usual, Hibiscus got ready to go for her one hour of exercise
and she put on her coat and gloves. Dovic shivered as he thought of her going
out there in the cold and the rain and he was glad he didn’t have to go. Since
he had arrived here, he’d only been in the house and in the backyard. As much
as he would have liked to have explored the neighbourhood, the Stage 4
restrictions meant they couldn’t go further than 5 kilometres from their home
and could only go outside for one hour of exercise each day.
As he got caught up wondering what was outside their house,
he felt Hibiscus reach for him. She already had Tumbarumba in her other hand. “What???”
he asked Tumba, who smiled and said, “Looks like we’re going for a walk today.
Hooray!”
“But it’s cold out there and it’s raining!” complained
Dovic.
“We’re bears and we have fur to keep us warm. I thought you
wanted to go on adventures” replied Tumbarumba, “Here’s our chance. I’m so
excited!”
Dovic could see how happy Tumba was, so he put on a brave
face and tried to look forward to it. He and Tumbarumba were put in the Dog Man
Walking’s backpack and Milly was coming with them, too. He saw Milly prancing
about, her nose to the ground as she sniffed everything out of curiosity. He
noticed that the rain had eased and he was glad about that. There were lots of
puddles alongside the path and Milly splashed through them, her tongue out, licking up the water as she went.
When they reached a certain tree, Hibiscus took them out of
the backpack and let them have a little climb. As she took a photo of them,
Tumbarumba looked proudly from his branch and let out a joyous growl but Dovic
looked down and hoped he wouldn’t fall. He held on to the trunk of the tree,
very tightly.
When it began to rain, Hibiscus put her hood over her head
and Dovic and Tumba were kept dry in the backpack. They walked a long way
through the streets, past shops, up and down hills and through the park. He
wished they could play on the playground but that was closed during this time. They
saw a rainbow arching over the houses, and they saw other people out walking
their dogs too. Milly would get excited when she saw other dogs, but they didn’t
have time to stop and play.
Dovic noticed it getting dark and colder. He wished they would
walk faster but they were going up a hill. Tumba noticed the frown on Dovic’s
face and asked him what was wrong. Dovic gulped and said, “I just sometimes get
scared when it’s dark. I don’t know why. I wish we were home already.” Tumba reassured
him and spoke gently, reminding him that their people would take good care of them
and not let them come to any harm. Trying to distract him, he told Dovic about what the rest
of the Hibiscus clan had done while Dovic was at school. The Old Wise One had
read them, “Little Treehouse: The Story of the Ninja Snails” and they had all
enjoyed it very much.
When they finally made it home, Dovic and Tumbarumba told
the others about their adventure out walking. Ronnie was a bit miffed that he
hadn’t been invited and Dovic said that next time, he would ask Hibiscus to
take Ronnie instead of himself. Ronnie was pleased with that idea!
Later when he had given it some more thought, Dovic realised he was grateful that he had gone on a walk and explored the neighbourhood. It had been a good walk after all.
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