Rocky Racoon: A Children's Story

Rocky Racoon wakes up in his comfortable if cluttered home in the oak tree in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. To his dismay, his cozy house is leaking and flooded! After he pulls on his boots he pokes some holes in the floor so the water begins to drain out. Rocky has a snack, then goes out to find out how his best friends, Harvey the water shrew and Celeste the otter, are doing. He finds Harvey and Celeste down by the river, where they share some food and agree that after a storm being with friends is the best.

Transcript

Rocky Raccoon by Jacob Watson Rocky Raccoon lived in his cozy house in the tangled branches of an old oak tree,

Low to the ground,

But still high enough so that he had a good view of the stream in the meadow.

He had built it in the big hollowed out part of the tree several years ago.

If you want to know the truth,

He wasn't the best housekeeper.

I mean,

He kept his house,

But he kept it the way he liked it.

And he liked it full.

Full of things he treasured.

Special things.

And he liked a lot of things.

I wouldn't call it messy,

But some of Rocky's friends did call it that.

Though,

Not when Rocky was around.

Because they liked Rocky and they didn't want to hurt his feelings.

It was pretty close to being messy though,

But to Rocky it was exactly how he liked it.

Everywhere he looked,

He could see his favorite things.

He could reach out and touch them without getting out of his bed or his favorite stuffed chair.

For instance,

There on the top shelf were his favorite books,

Right where he could reach them without stretching too far and falling over.

If he reached out too far,

He knew he would fall over,

Because it had happened before many times.

His copy of The Velveteen Rabbit was right there on the left,

As if blown there by the same strong wind that had blown the rabbit's ears to the left on the book's front cover.

In the middle somewhere was his next best,

The book Wind in the Willows,

Which has the story of Ratty and his friends having a picnic by the river,

Which Rocky especially loved.

He thought of Ratty as his own special friend,

Even though he'd only met him in this book.

Reading of their picnics always reminded him of his own river down past the grassy meadow,

Where he and his friends,

Especially Celeste the Otter and Harvey the Water Shrew,

Would have their own picnics on quiet summer evenings when the river was behaving itself and staying lazy and obedient between its banks as it should.

This evening,

Rocky was sleeping in.

Well,

It was like most evenings,

Because most evenings Rocky slept in,

Because he was a raccoon and all raccoons he knew slept during the day and got up just as darkness came.

But this evening he really slept in,

So long that his breakfast might be lunch by the time he opened his eyes.

Tonight he didn't even feel like opening his eyes,

So he didn't.

He leaned over the edge of his bed and felt around with his arm so he could find the floor.

Then he was planning to push himself up onto his feet.

But he couldn't find the floor,

Because his arm was caught in his blanket.

He pulled his arm out and reached down further.

His hand touched something,

But it wasn't the floor.

His fingers were wet.

Wet!

He moved his fingers around in the water.

Water!

Now he opened his eyes.

He looked down over his bed and,

Yes,

His floor was wet.

Not only wet,

But the water down there was moving along the floor.

Now Rocky opened his eyes wide.

He couldn't see very well in the dim light,

But he could see his floor,

And his whole floor,

Everywhere he looked in his bedroom,

Was wet and moving.

Rocky sat up in his bed and looked around.

His bed was like a boat,

A boat in the middle of a pond.

But the pond was his house,

Or his house was a pond.

Rocky remembered that it had been raining when he went to bed.

He had fallen asleep listening to raindrops on his roof,

The gentle sound brushing away his thoughts.

Rocky pulled his fingers up out of the water and wiped them off on his blanket.

He thought in his mind,

Water everywhere.

His boots were over by the outside door.

He was going to have to get his feet wet.

He knew he was scrunching up his face,

But he did it anyway,

And when his feet touched the cold water,

He scrunched even further.

Ow!

It was cold for sure.

He hopped across his bedroom,

Splashing as he went,

And saying each time he put his foot down,

There,

And there,

And finally,

There!

I made it!

He grabbed his boots and put them on,

Though they didn't go on easily because his feet were wet.

But he got his boots pulled on.

He stood up.

Now what?

He thought.

He sloshed over to the door and opened it up.

That was good because now some of the water in the house was flowing out of the house.

Outside,

The rain was still coming down heavily.

Water poured out of the gutters overhead and also into his house.

He could see holes in his ceiling that were letting water in.

Drips splashed into the water on the floor.

The sky was dark overhead,

Without stars.

Down on the ground below Rocky's treehouse,

Water was running down the hill,

Off into the distance.

Even though he couldn't see it,

Rocky knew water was flowing down to the stream in the meadow.

Then he had another idea.

He knew how he could get more water out of his house.

He splashed over to a thin place in his floor and began to pull branches out.

Soon he had a hole and immediately water began to flow down the hole.

He splashed over to his bed and found another thin place in the floor and made another hole.

Again,

Water began rushing out the hole.

He splashed over to his kitchen and did it again under the sink.

And again,

Water poured down the hole.

Rocky stopped to look around.

His floor was drying out.

Then he realized he was hungry,

Really hungry.

It didn't matter if he called it breakfast or lunch.

He needed to eat.

He looked in his cupboard and found some strawberries and nuts.

He gobbled them down and took a big drink of water.

That felt better.

Now,

He looked again at his floor and was happy to see it was almost dry.

Only a few small puddles remained.

He thought of his friends,

Celeste the Otter and Harvey the Water Shrew,

And wondered how they were doing in the rainstorm.

They lived down by the river where they had houses.

He thought he'd just go down there and see.

He was glad he had good boots as he headed out the door and began walking down the wet,

Squishing path to the meadow.

Suddenly,

He heard a loud squeal nearby.

He stopped still and listened.

Nothing.

No more sound.

He started walking again.

Though everything was dark,

He could still see pretty well because he was a raccoon and he knew his way on this path that led to the river.

Then again,

Right close by,

He heard it again.

A loud squeal.

Really close.

He jumped.

Then stopped short,

Right in the middle of the path.

He felt his chest breathing fast and his hair was standing up on end.

He stood as still as a statue and stopped his breathing.

He felt his ears grow large as he tried to hear every single sound around him.

All he could hear was the hiss and buzzing of the cicadas and he thought maybe a few flies or bees.

Hey,

Rocky,

Is that you?

A voice boomed out really close.

Rocky nearly jumped out of his soggy boots.

Who's there?

He stammered.

It's me,

Your friend Harvey.

It's Harvey.

And then Rocky saw a shape in front of him on the path.

There was Harvey,

His friend,

The water shrew,

Bending over but looking right up at him.

Everything is wet,

Said Harvey.

Isn't it delightful?

You scared me and no,

I don't find it delightful that everything is wet.

Rocky felt grumpy.

Harvey stepped onto the path beside Rocky.

What happened to you?

Said Harvey.

My house got flooded.

I woke up and my whole floor was covered with water.

Oh no,

What did you do?

I made holes in the floor for the water to drain out,

Said Rocky.

That was smart,

Said Harvey.

I thought so.

Let's go down to the river.

Maybe we can find Celeste and see how she's making out.

Of course,

Otters love water,

So she probably loves all this rain.

Okay,

Said Harvey.

Let's go.

It was still dark,

So Rocky had to keep a close watch on Harvey as they headed off down the path.

Rocky's boots still squished in the wet dirt.

The river was just ahead.

They could tell by the sound of the rushing water.

Soon,

Even though it was still dim,

Rocky and Harvey could see the river.

A gray mist swirled over the surface of the water and little white waves dotted the surface.

And right there on the bank was a dark shape that Rocky recognized.

It was their friend,

Celeste,

The otter.

They all hugged each other,

Not caring that they were wet from the rain.

Good friends hug anyway.

This is right where we usually have our picnics,

Said Celeste.

Right,

Said Harvey,

But we don't have any food.

Who needs food when we have each other,

Said Rocky.

True,

But a little snack wouldn't hurt,

Said Celeste.

She reached down into the river and pulled up a few little minnows and passed them around.

Rocky found some green grass and passed it around.

The three friends sat quietly in a circle on the muddy river bank and watched the water rush by.

They chewed on their snacks.

As the morning light began to brighten the river,

They looked around the circle at each other and each in their own way smiled a little smile.

Rocky curled his tail around Celeste's paw and leaned into Harvey.

This is the best,

He thought to himself.

Then he said it out loud.

This is the best!

Reviews

Cute 🥰! Wait Rocky the recycling raccoon 🦝 from the garbage mound?? ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️💕💕😴🥱😀👍♥️♥️🦝

Amazing story, and I loved the plot. So good; so tired

I am so moved by the we connection!!! The element of water brought them together and they shared as one!!! Beautiful!!!!!!!!

Bad ending but good 👍🏽

Great

Cute! What i suggest is be a teensy bit softer with the “there, there, there!”

I liked it very much it helped my siblings sleep

Perfect for my students to support processing their feelings after a storm 💕

😉❤️🏆🥉🥈🥇🏅🦦♥️