Noises in the Night

By
Margo Wayman

"ROAR!" Yazid, the amber colored lion snarled. "I’m thirsty. Let’s go down to the river and get a drink," he suggest to the other lion, Jemal.

Both lions were lying down in their cave. Yazid stood up, and stretched his sinewy body. Jemal lay there. He yawned, and at the same time said, "You want to go to the river? But it’s the middle of the night. It’s dark outside."

"Stop being such a fraidy cat. You are afraid of everything, even your own shadow. I’m hot and thirsty," Yazid told him.

"There are scary things out there. Why don’t you go and I’ll just stay here. I’m not thirsty," Jemal suggested.

"Let’s go," says Yazid. "Come on."

Reluctantly Jemal got up. He stretched his legs, shook his wheat colored mane, yawned again, and headed out of the cave. "It’s dark out here, Yazid. There’s only a little moon too," Jemal said, nervously. Yazid didn’t stop. Now that they were out of the cave, he knew that Jemal would follow him. He was too big of a fraidy cat to walk back to the cave alone.

They walked down towards the river, through tall grass that was swaying in the gentle night breeze. They hadn’t gone far when they heard a noise. "HOOT! HOOT! HOOT!"

"What’s that noise? Is it a monster? Yazid, I’m scared," Jemal whispered, cowering right up to Yazid.

"HOOT! HOOT!"

" It’s only an owl," Yazid assured his lion friend. "Look up in the sycamore tree. See? It’s a bird. It won’t hurt you." He pointed to the owl. "Now let’s get to the river. I am so thirsty."

They went a little further. Jemal walked right behind Yazid, practically stepping on his tail. A locust started chirping. "CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!"

"What’s that noise? Is it a ghost?" Jemal whined.

"CHIRP! CHIRP!"

"It’s only a locust rubbing its wings together. Look over on that rock. See the bug?" Yazid pointed. "Now stop being such a fraidy cat, and let’s get to the river."

The lions walked further on. Jemal stayed very close to Yazid, so close that he stepped on Yazid’s tail. Yazid let out a loud roar. "ROAR! Get off of my tail, Jemal! Don’t walk so close to me," he commanded.

Jemal backed off just a little bit, as they walked through the tall reeds, willowing back and forth. Jemal stopped when he heard a bird squawking. "SQUAWK! SQUAWK!"

"What’s that noise? What is that?" he whimpered. The hair on his mane stood straight up in the air.

Yazid stopped. He listened. He heard the squawking. "It’s only another bird. Are you afraid of everything? First it was owls, locusts, and now birds. Stop being such a fraidy cat!"

Yazid was tiring of Jemal’s nonsense. He began to run. Jemal followed, running just as fast. They got much closer to the river. The lions could hear the sound of it flowing swiftly. Jemal heard, "CROAK! CROAK!"

"What’s that noise? What is it this time? I think it’s a monster," Jemal said in terror.

"CROAK! CROAK!"

"Jemal. It’s only a frog. Why are you so terrified?" Yazid asked. Jemal crept backwards towards Yazid. When he got very close, he turned around. He saw some yellowish eyes, glowing in the dark.

Jemal let out a screaming roar. "ROAR! There’s a monster with yellow eyes. Help!" Yazid took a few steps towards Jemal, who then saw that the eyes belonged to his friend. "Whew. It’s only you, Yazid. I thought there was a monster."

Yazid shook his head in disgust. "Come on, we’re almost there," he urged, then ran down to the river bank. The two lions began to slurp up water.

Jemal looked all around as he drank. He saw the shadow of a date palm swaying in the gentle breeze. Just for a few seconds, he was scared. A papyrus reed brushed against his back. Jemal jumped up and gasped, but then saw the reed.

"Have you had enough to drink, Jemal?" Yazid asked.

Jemal drank, and drank, and drank. "I don’t want to go back and walk through the bushes and tall grass," he complained. "What if a mummy wrapped in dirty white bandages is walking around out there? What if one of the ancient Pharaoh’s has come back to life and is going to haunt us? I’m scared. Let’s just stay here until the sun comes up, then we’ll go back."

The two lions argued for hours. Yazid wanted to go back, Jemal didn’t want to.

Finally the sun rose over the horizon. Jemal looks around in the daylight. Feeling confident, he said, "Let’s go home!"

The two lions crept back to the cave, both dragging their tails behind them. When they got there, they both lay down and fell fast asleep, as they’d been up all night! Outside the birds squawked, and the locust chirped, and the frog croaked, and the owl hooted, and Jemal didn’t hear one sound.