The valley would darken quickly, so he trotted to the pool below the waterfall. Wading in knee-deep, he turned over a rock in search of a snail. Suddenly, four small forms leaped onto him, forcing him into deep water. He spluttered and swam a bit deeper. They lined up on the shore watching him.
“Papa, we’re hungry.”
That was Nicole, the youngest. Fourth-born were still the hungriest of the litter, he thought with surprise.
Many other things had changed over the last year. Without the curse compelling armadillos to travel northward, their society was changing rapidly. He and Corrie had taken the news back to the Great Clearing, but the armadillos had known things were different long before they arrived. Without the curse’s compulsion to travel, many missing armadillos had wandered home ahead of Galen and Corrie. Galen had a joyful reunion with his brothers, Garcia and Felix, while Corrie rejoiced with her sisters, Bianca, Luz and Alicia. The returning trekkers only brought confirmation: the curse of the vagabonds was gone.
The ballad-singers had been busy all winter, composing new songs, explaining the trek, honoring Blaze, Rafael, Galen, Corrie, and even Victor, for their parts in the trek. But when the first hint of spring came, Galen and Corrie had left. Almost without discussing it, they had returned to the valley of the Turi’s cave, the place where they had first felt at home. There, they dug a den so snug that even Rafael would have approved. And there, Corrie bore her first litter of Four Daughters. In the next valley over, two of Galen’s Sisters had built dens with their mates. Slowly, the Ozarks were filling with dens of their people.
Galen swam close to shore and tossed snails to his Daughters. They ate and ate until they were full. When he finally emerged from the water, he climbed onto a large, flat rock and gazed at the waterfall.
Corrie appeared in the den’s opening and yawned. She joined Galen on the rock and the Four Daughters huddled close.
“Papa, tell us the story again,” said Number One, who was named Bella.
“Yes,” the Four Daughters chorused. “And don’t leave out anything.”
And Galen began the story, “Listen, then, to the story of the Vagabonds.”
The End
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author, blogger, and writing teacher, Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com) has hiked, canoed and explored the Ozark Mountains, and for years has wanted to set a story there. Recent news reports said that 100 years ago, armadillos were seldom seen in Texas, but in recent years, had pushed as far north as the Ozarks, and even beyond. She began to imagine the Ozarks from an armadillo’s point of view and that sparked this story. In addition to novels, Pattison also writes nature picture books: Wisdom, the Midway Albatross (Mims House), which received Starred Review in Publisher’s Weekly; Desert Baths (Sylvan Dell), an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book 2013; and Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma: The True Story of an Orphaned Cub. Darcy Pattison is the 2007 recipient of Arkansas Governor’s Arts Awards for her work in Children’s Literature.
Copyright © 2014 by Darcy Pattison.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Darcy Pattison
Mims House
1309 S. Broadway
Little Rock, AR 7216
www.mimshouse.com
Vagabonds/ Darcy Pattison
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-62944-014-9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62944-015-6
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62944-016-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013920542
Lexile: 710L
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