Friendly's New Friend Melodic notes from songbirds filled the air on a warm, early-summer Saturday morning in the town of Wedgewood. Many cubs were heading to the park. Some were running along with their friends, Some were riding their bikes, bells ringing and chains softly grinding against the pedal sprockets. One or two were accompanied by a loud clattering or scraping sound as they rode along, their training wheels keeping them upright as they cycled. Whoosh! A lean, pre-teen fox shot past riding a big blue bike, seeing just how fast he could go. He squeezed the gear shifter on his left handlebar to the highest position. Then the right. It became much harder to pedal, but the fox pressed down hard on his pedals and accelerated even faster. The park lay just ahead. He squeezed the gear shifters again and put them both into the middle position, coasting to a halt in front of a lamppost. "Whoo! That must have been the fastest I've ever rode." chuckled the fox as he rode up to the metal railings that surrounded the town park. He rested his bike against the railings to catch his breath, as other cubs went past him. He looked to see if any would comment on his fast ride, but none did. They passed by, focused on their own friends and adventures. The fox sighed and retrieved his bike from the railings, rolling it towards the entrance to the grassy area of the park. "Never mind, Friendly." he told himself. The fox laid his big blue bike against a tall oak tree as he wandered over to the playground. "Mommy! I'm gonna ride my bike now." Friendly looked over - it was a slightly chubby, four-year old raccoon wearing a blue t-shirt and orange flame shorts. He chuckled as the little guy mounted his little red bike - propped up by two black, plastic training wheels - and slowly rode along the tarmac path. - There were cubs everywhere. Some were on the swings, some on the slide, there was a see-saw with two cubs bouncing up and down and giggling at each other. Friendly smiled as he watched them all playing with each other. There was a squirrel on the climbing frame, accompanied by a slightly chubby skunk who wasn't as confident about his climbing abilities. Friendly smiled as he saw the skunk being comforted by one of his parents. Friendly looked all around again, he noticed a raccoon and a wolf riding all around the grass on their bikes. Another wolf and a cheetah were playing on the basketball court - all of them around Friendly's age. Friendly shook his head and headed back to his bike, he didn't really want to do anything else. He mounted his bike and kept it in middle-gear as he set off down the tarmac path. Shortly he saw the little raccoon from earlier - his bike sitting stationary with the back wheel over a pothole. It was then Friendly noticed the little guy was turning the pedals, but the back wheel was just spinning in midair. He stopped a short ways behind the raccoon and dropped his bike onto the grass, heading over to investigate. "Oh no!" squeaked the raccoon, as he kept turning his pedals fruitlessly, trying to ride. Friendly reached the back wheel of the little raccoon's red bike, the training wheels had high-centred the rear wheel so it just spun in midair as the little guy turned his pedals, he was stuck. "Hey there, would you like me to give you a push, little buddy?" Friendly asked in a soft voice, giving a sympathetic smile to the little raccoon as he stopped pedaling and looked back at him. The little raccoon nodded, with a nervous squeak. "Yes, yes please." Friendly smiled warmly at the raccoon and stood behind his bike. He put both of his paws on the seat of the raccoon's orange shorts and gave him a gentle push - enough to push his little red bike clear of the pothole. "Try now..." said Friendly, as he stopped pushing. The raccoon turned his pedals and he smiled happily as his bike moved by itself. "Thank you!" squeaked the raccoon, happily. Friendly smiled and sat on the nearby park bench. Friendly sighed, and looked all around again, thinking about what to do. Maybe he could talk to the wolf and cheetah who were playing basketball, they looked like they were around his age; or maybe he could find the other raccoon and wolf who were riding their bikes. He looked all around, but they were all gone. The fox sighed and closed his eyes, maybe he'd have to come back later. Just then, Friendly felt someone sit on the bench with him. He opened his eyes, and there was the chubby little raccoon he'd helped out of the pothole - sitting next to him! "Hi!" squeaked the raccoon. "Oh, hello." said Friendly, smiling at his visitor. "Thanks for helping me." "You're welcome. My name's Friendly." said the fox. "Friendly?" repeated the raccoon. "Yeah, it's what everyone calls me." "My name's Timothy." Friendly looked at Timothy. He had white ears; he had thick, brown headfur, and he had hazel eyes. He then glanced down at Timothy's shorts, orange swimming trunks with white and blue flames on the legs, accompanied by a blue chopper motorcycle print on each side. "How old are you?" asked Timothy. "Me? Oh... I'm nine." said Friendly. "I'm gonna be five, soon!" said Timothy, wrapping his long ringed tail around the fox. Friendly was a little surprised at how trusting the little raccoon was, but he didn't say anything. "So, when's your birthday?" asked the fox. "My birthday's in September." said Timothy. "Mine is too!" yapped Friendly. "Really? Wow!" cried Timothy. Friendly grinned at the raccoon, for the first time he felt like he was with a true friend. "Are you here with your parents?" asked the fox. "I'm here with my mom. My dad's a bus driver." "Oh, okay" said Friendly. "You like riding your bike, huh?" Timothy nodded. "I do, but I wish I had some friends to ride with." "I'm looking to make friends..." began Friendly, though he wasn't sure given how much younger the raccoon was. "You'd make a great friend!" piped up Timothy. Friendly smiled and wagged his brush, softly. "You said you're here with your mom, would you like to introduce me to her?" "Okay!" said Timothy, pushing himself off the bench and sitting on his little red bike. He turned his pedals and rode along the path, his training wheels scraping along noisily on the tarmac. Friendly grinned as he watched his new friend riding along the path gleefully. "Wait for me!" chuckled Friendly, picking up his bike and strolling along to keep up with Timothy. "Sorry, I just got excited. I've never had a friend meet my mom before." said Timothy. - Soon, the fox and the little raccoon arrived back by the big oak tree, an adult female raccoon sat on a red and white checkered picnic cloth with a one-year old baby raccoon in her lap. "Mom! Mom! I've made a new friend!" squeaked Timothy excitedly, leaving his bike on the dirt verge of the path and sitting on the edge of the picnic cloth. Friendly looked at Timothy's forgotten bike and pushed it through the grass, so it sat by the tree-trunk. He then positioned his own bike leaning against the trunk of the tall oak tree. He then joined Timothy at the edge of the tablecloth. "Is that your little brother?" asked Friendly, noticing the baby raccoon. "No, that's my little cousin Justin." said Timothy, "This is my mom!" "Hi." said Friendly, anxiously. Sitting on the edge of the picnic cloth. "My name's Sally, and this is Timothy's little cousin Justin." Timothy's Mom introduced herself. Justin giggled and tried to grab the fox's tail as it swished back and forth. "Come here, you little scamp." chuckled Sally, picking Justin up and bouncing him softly on her knee. Suddenly, Friendly noticed his parents walking along the path. "I guess I've got to go home." said Friendly, standing up. "Can't you stay? We're gonna have some food!" said Timothy. "I'll ask, but I don't know." said Friendly, walking over to the path. "Oh, hey Friendly." said his Dad, "Hi Sally." "Hi Mr. Brush." said Sally. "Mr. Brush?" repeated Friendly, a little confused, "Do you know each other?" "Yes, your dad owns the restaurant I work at, part-time." said Sally. "Oh!" said Friendly, smiling. "Your son helped Timothy when his bike got stuck." said Sally, "I think they'd be great friends." "Yeah! We can do all sorts of stuff together!" said Timothy, grinning happily as Friendly sat down next to him. "Can we join you?" asked Friendly's mom. "Of course! There's enough food to go around." said Sally, gesturing for all of them to sit down and eat. "Mmmmm, you're such a great cook Sally." said Friendly's dad, licking his lips as he devoured a chicken drumstick. "We're so glad we took you on as a chef;" said Friendly's mom, "Business has gone up since we hired you, word's getting around." "Thank you." said Sally, smiling. "Dad, can Timothy have a sleepover?" asked Friendly. "Is it okay with you, Sally?" asked Friendly's dad. "Sure." said Sally, though she leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Oh... I see" said Friendly's dad. "What's up, Dad?" asked Friendly, inquisitively. "Nothing, Friendly." answered Mr. Brush. "Timothy's just a little nervous about the dark." "Oh. That's okay. I was too at his age." nodded Friendly. - That evening after supper, Friendly sat on the porch outside of his modern, brick house and waited eagerly for his new friend to come. He paced to the end of the driveway and looked both ways, but he couldn't see anybody coming. He went back to the porch and sat down, resting his head on his paws. "What if he isn't coming?" Friendly thought, "No... he's got to come. He seemed so excited..." Just then, Friendly heard a familiar noise... the sound of a bike with training wheels trundling up the sidewalk. "Timothy!" yapped Friendly, jumping to his feet and running over to the driveway, almost tripping up on his untied shoelace. "Hi Friendly!" squeaked Timothy, as he rolled onto the driveway with his bike, his training wheels scraping along noisily. As Friendly and Timothy greeted each other, Sally went over to Friendly's dad and talked to him. Friendly listened curiously, though the first sentence was indecipherable, he did catch the end of the conversation. "...and he's got some more in this bag if he needs them" said Sally. "Okay, thanks Sally" said Friendly's dad, "We'll make sure he feels comfortable" "Oh, I don't think there'll be any need for that. He seems quite comfortable with your son." chuckled Sally, grinning as she watched Timothy and Friendly playing together. Friendly was pretending he was a war-plane, and he chased Timothy inside. "Achtung! Achtung! I see a little raccoon in our airspace!" said Friendly, imitating a german accent and making plane noises. "Aaaaah!" cried Timothy, in mock terror as he ran towards the front door. "Boys will be boys;" chuckled Friendly's mom, "Don't worry about Timothy, you know our phone number, so feel free to call if you want to check up on him." "Thanks, see you later" said Sally. "Bye mom!" called Timothy, waving from the front door. "Goodbye Timothy" smiled Sally, as she began to walk back home. - Friendly chuckled as he stopped chasing Timothy and caught himself glancing at the waistband of Timothy's shorts. A dash of red was showing between the little raccoon's blue t-shirt and his orange shorts. "What are we gonna do?" asked Timothy. "I'm going to go and get some ice cream from the store, you two can play in the back garden for a bit if you'd like" said Friendly's dad, "I'll bring your bike around through the gate, Timothy" "Okay, thank you!" squeaked Timothy, as he and Friendly made their way to the patio door of the house and looked outside. "Wow! You've got a big backyard Friendly!" said Timothy "Yeah, I do... but I've never had anyone to share it with" sighed Friendly "Let's go on the swings!" squeaked Timothy, running over to the swing-set and selecting the middle swing. Friendly sat down on the other swing and began to rise up and down, swinging high and swinging low, going to-and-fro. Timothy watched as Friendly went higher and higher, and he tried to do the same, but he couldn't quite get the movement right, and he didn't swing much at all. "Friendly, can you push me?" asked Timothy, looking a little sad that he couldn't do it himself. "Awww, okay" said Friendly, using his feet to come to a stop and walking around behind Timothy. He then pulled the swing back as hard as he could, and let go, before reaching out with his paws and pushing Timothy higher and higher. "Heehee, wheeeeeee!" cried Timothy, as Friendly pushed him on the swing. "Timothy, here's your bike. I'll be back with the ice cream soon." said Friendly's dad, as he pushed Timothy's bike along the concrete path and left it by the patio door. "See you later, Dad." said Friendly, as he pushed Timothy's swing again with all his might. Friendly's dad chuckled and smiled at the two boys, before giving them a brief wave and leaving through the garden gate. - Soon, Friendly was tired out from pushing Timothy so much, that he had to lay down on the grass and regain his breath. Timothy giggled and lay down beside him, looking up at the clouds. "Ooooh, look, that one looks like a train!" squeaked Timothy, pointing to a particular cloud to the right. "Look Timothy, that one looks like an apple pie!" chuckled Friendly, pointing to the small puffy cloud to the left. "Yum! I love apple pie" said Timothy. "Alright... shall we ride our bikes around the garden now?" asked Friendly. "Yeah!" squeaked Timothy, rolling over and jumping to his feet before running as fast as he could to fetch his beloved little red bike. Friendly grinned and fetched his own big blue bike. So, Friendly and Timothy met on the grass by the wooden table and sat on their bikes. Friendly had one foot on the ground to help him balance, but Timothy could put both of his feet on his pedals because his training wheels kept him balanced. "Ready, steady... go!" said Friendly, pushing off with his foot and riding off. Timothy tried to follow him, but his training wheels high-centred his back wheel on the uneven terrain of the lawn, it just spun helplessly, unable to touch the ground. "Friendly, wait!" cried Timothy, trying harder to ride with his friend, but just making his bike's back wheel spin. Friendly looked back and saw that Timothy was having trouble with his bike. "Oh dear... Looks like your bike doesn't like the lawn," said Friendly, "Hold on a minute." Friendly put his bike down and went into the garage, soon he returned with a bungy cord. "Now I can pull you along too!" chuckled Friendly, fixing one hook onto the front post of Timothy's bike and the other hook to his own bike's seatpost. "Ready Timothy?" asked Friendly "Ready!" cried Timothy, turning his pedals as hard as he could, but just making his back wheel free-spin. Friendly smiled and turned his pedals, pulling Timothy along the grass. "Wheee!" cried Timothy, turning his pedals to try and help. A few moments later, Friendly's Mom came outside the patio door. "Boys, ice cream!" called Sally. "Friendly, stop!" cried Timothy, trying to use his rear-coaster brake by pushing his pedals backwards, but his bike's back wheel wouldn't get a sufficient grip to make much difference. "Hold on Timothy, I'm gonna keep going around until we're by the patio door" said Friendly "But I wanna get off now!" cried Timothy, still trying to brake, but he just kept rolling along behind Friendly's bike. "It's okay Timothy, here we are." said Friendly, slowly bringing them both to a stop by the wooden table. "Come on Timothy, let's get our ice cream." said Friendly, helping Timothy off his bike. "Yay! Ice cream!" squeaked Timothy excitedly. "What flavour would you like?" asked Friendly's dad, "I got Neopolitan ice cream, there's strawberry, vanilla and chocolate" "All of them please!" exclaimed Timothy, grinning and licking his lips in anticipation. "Just strawberry and vanilla for me please, Dad." said Friendly, smiling at his friend. "Don't you like chocolate?" asked Timothy. "Not really... I prefer strawberry and vanilla." said Friendly. - That night around nine o'clock, Friendly and Timothy got ready for bed. Both of them were tired out after an exciting evening of playing together in the back garden. Friendly had even briefly shown Timothy his big train set in the loft. "But... I wanna play with the train set some more!" cried Timothy "Tomorrow, Timothy;" chuckled Friendly's dad, "It's time you were going to sleep now." "Okay" Timothy sighed sadly, as he struggled to take his blue t-shirt off. "Want some help, Timothy?" asked Friendly's dad, helping Timothy free of his shirt before he got himself tangled up in it. "Thank you" squeaked Timothy. "Do you want some help with your shorts too?" asked Friendly's dad. "Yes, please!" answered Timothy, blushing a little as he fumbled with the long blue laces on his orange shorts. Friendly had finished brushing his teeth and closed the bathroom door behind him, he was about to head back into his bedroom when he heard his Dad talking to Timothy. "Alright, time to get your teeth brushed, and it'll be a good idea to try to use the bathroom before you go to bed Timothy." Friendly headed back into his bedroom and changed into his pyjama bottoms, leaving his clothes at the foot of the bed. He then remembered what his Dad had mentioned earlier about Timothy being nervous of the dark, and he plugged in an old night-light he used to use when he was younger, to make Timothy feel a little more comfortable. He left the bedroom light on as he clambered into bed, waiting for Timothy to join him. A few minutes later, Timothy entered the bedroom. Friendly glanced over and saw Timothy was still wearing his orange shorts. "Don't you have pyjamas, Timothy?" asked Friendly, as the little raccoon clambered into bed with him. "I... I like wearing my shorts." Timothy answered, though he blushed slightly as he waited for Friendly's Dad to tuck him in. "There you go, Timothy." Friendly's Dad answered softly, as he tucked Timothy in and stroked his headfur, gently. "I plugged that nightlight in while you were brushing your teeth." Friendly mentioned to Timothy. The raccoon smiled and snuggled down comfortably, turning to face his fox friend and snuggling up with him. "Thank you Friendly." said the little raccoon, closing his eyes and making a contrent, trilling noise. "Goodnight Timothy." smiled Friendly, giving his friend a little hug. "Goodnight Friendly." squeaked Timothy, and immediately began to snore quietly. -- The End --