Ms Mama Macy and the Brave Little Rhino Girl Part One: Africa

Part One
Africa 

     This is how it began. My cat, Ms Mama Macy is a world traveler. She’s been all over the place, and among her favorite places to go is Africa. She tells me about it every morning as I’m feeding her. Recently she told me about the first time she went to Africa and she helped to save a family of Western Black Rhinoceros from some poachers. Here then is that story.

The taxi roared off down the lane trailing dust as it went. Macy stood at the doors of her friends B&B and wondered at how quickly everything can change. It wasn’t even two hours ago she was flying at thirty thousand feet, and when she got off the plane she was hit with a kind of sweltering heat one only finds in August in her home of Minnesota, but she loved it. It didn’t seem to take long coming here, but then she did have a lovely long nap in the window of the cockpit as the pilots were petting her.  She’s here for the adventure and to see her old friend. It had been so boring back home, and that’s not to say she didn’t like the Stillwaters. They were a wonderful family and the children are well behaved, but she wanted adventure so when they left on their vacation so did she and here it is Africa.

She stayed with an old friend named Amanda who has a smallish Bed and Breakfast here, and people from all over the world like to stay there. Macy is forever getting letters from her telling stories of the Sheiks, Sultans, and movie stars that stay at her place.

“Amanda are you here?” she called out as she walked through the big old wooden front door. It’s a roomy entrance and the ceiling fan created a lazy breeze while other guests milled around the room. The entrance was tall and open with big overstuffed chairs and couches for the guests. There was a table  in the center of the room with a vase and flowers behind it and to either side was the couch and chairs. A smallish wooden front desk which was the brain of the whole place was just behind the couch. It was just to the left of the stairs and that’s where she was headed.  

“She’s in the back.”, said a voice from behind a screen which stood near the front desk.

“Excuse me?” Macy asked the voice.

“She’s in the back getting me a bag lunch for my day of exploring the city.”, said the voice. “Oh I’m sorry. My name is Cody, and I’m afraid it was my being late getting out of bed that caused her to be away from the desk just now.” Stepping out from behind the screen and standing in front of her was a tall Bobcat believe it or not. His fur was nicely combed and he was wearing a linen leisure suit up to the vest which gave him the appearance of a perfect gentleman.

“My name is Macy, and I’m a friend of Amanda’s from back home in Minnesota.” she explained as she offered him her hand to shake. “Where are you from?” Her curiosity pushed a little trying to figure this man out.

“I’m from Montana just a few states away from Minnesota; by the way, I love your State. All of the forests you have and Lake Superior is amazing.” He exclaimed with true wonder as he shook her hand. The excitement in his eyes when he was talking about Minnesota was apparent. “Amanda was talking about you coming to visit she is very excited.”

“So am I” is what Macy was about to say when in popped Amanda from the back with a Cody’s lunch and screams of joy echoed in the room as she ran for Macy.

“Oh my god you’re finally here! I can’t believe it. Tell me you’re staying forever. I have missed you so much!” She picked Macy up and gave her such a squeeze she couldn’t breath and was reminded of her old Aunt Mildred who always did the exact same thing only she smelled of Roses.

“Let me get you settled. Which room do we want for you? Oh yes. The view from the east is the best in the morning, and if I remember right you are a morning person right?”

    “It doesn’t seem that I have a choice Macy said to no one because Amanda had already gotten her luggage and begun taking it up the stairs. “This room is perfect,”  said Macy as she walked in behind her old friend. It had one window facing east a very large bed complete with mosquito netting, and a three drawer dresser for her things. “Perfect, I love it. Very simple, and just perfect.” They hugged once more before Amanda went back to work leaving Macy to plan the rest of her day.

    “I’ve decided to go out and explore around the place Amanda.” explained Macy as she skipped down the stairs but no one was at the desk so she left out the big wooden front doors anyway. “The hardest part of a journey is deciding in which direction you should start.” Macy thought. “In this case I shall go left and around the house.” and left she went till she came to a smallish revine which was about 50 yards from the house. She started down toward a little river which cut through the rugged reddish brown dirt of this place. This little river was the color of a cool blue jewel and while it wasn’t all that deep at this point it seemed very healthy and alive. Macy wondered if she’d have time to go fishing here. She just adored fishing and hoped that perhaps Amanda had a rod she could loan her. She’d been fishing in many different rivers and lakes throughout Minnesota, and thought it would be a joy to add this one to her book. She stood there for awhile watching it drift by until she noticed a small grove of scrubby bushes just up the river. It looked like a fine place to sit and watch so off she went and a truer statement has seldom been said. There was even a nice warm rock to sit on, but just as she was about to get to it a voice interrupted her thoughts and then a quick and strong arm grabbed her from behind.

    “Hold on Macy. Look again at that rock.” a man's arm pointed and Macy saw the rock seemed to slither a bit in the sun.

    “Oh my! It’s a snake!” cried Macy

    “Yes, and not just any snake that’s a ‘Puff Adder’ I’m afraid if you had been bitten by that it would ruin your vacation.” said the voice the owner of which was seeming mighty familiar to her. He relaxed, let her go and backed away. Which gave her the opportunity to meet her savior.

    “Oh it’s you Mr Cody. Thank you sir for that. I’m afraid I don’t know much about snakes, and that rock looked like a mighty handsome place for little sit-down next to this cute little river.” said Macy pleasantly

    “It does at that doesn’t it?” which was more of a statement than a question  “Why that adder almost got me on my first day too. He’s always on that rock at this time of day. You could set your watch to it.” he said jovially.  “If you’re up for a walk though I know of a great little spot along this river, but the opposite direction. What do you say?” he asked.

    “I accept just as long as we’re back in time for supper.” said Macy and off they went till supper time.

    “I saw you out exploring this afternoon Macy. Where’d you go?” asked Amanda.

“I just went down to that cute river and explored it a bit. Thanks to Mr. Cody I didn’t sit on that old Puff Adder whose down there a lot. Thanks again, Cody. It looks like you could follow that river right into town, and I might just do that tomorrow morning early so I can watch the birds.” Macy explained

    “Oh you should, and I will come with if you don’t mind. It’s market day and I was going to ask if you wanted to come with anyway. It’s something you should really see while you’re here.” Amanda continued “We might even get to see the Rhino Falls if there’s time.

    “What’s that?” asks Macy

    “It’s a lovely spot up the river where it widens and you see a falls above you. The rocks are in the shape of a Rhino if you look at them right.” interrupted Cody  “I’ve been there a few times, and it never stops amazing me. Although, I’ve never seen the Rhino’s head.

    “You know they’re almost all gone don’t you?”, asked Amanda.

    “The Rhino’s?  No, I didn’t know that. What do you mean all gone? Where have they gone?”, asked Macy putting her fork on the table and looking up to see everyone looking from Amanda to her.

    “What I mean is they are almost extinct. Humans have been killing them for the horn, and now there is only one family left in this area.

“Why would anyone want to hunt something to extinction? I just don’t understand that.” Macy expressed the whole group's thoughts at that moment. “Well, tomorrow after we get back from the market I will go to the falls and experience it. Hey didn’t you say there was cake?” she changed the subject to something lighter. Dinner was great and desert better, but now it was time for Ms Mama Macy to go to bed. She had a big day and was very tired.  Up she went changed to her pj’s, brushed her teeth, and crawled inside of the mosquito netting to sleep.  Thus ended her first night in Africa.