Epilogue

[Stephen Whiteside]

Epilogue

© Stephen Whiteside 02.12.2011

The world held many other wonders for Horatio. He continued along the coast, finding sufficient fresh water in the occasional streams that ran straight into the ocean - for that, of course, is what it was. On the third day he came across a town populated by human beings. He had heard of human beings before, but never actually seen any.

Human beings were no friends of rats, but they weren’t terribly bright, either. They were easy to avoid, and very wasteful. There were always plenty of delicious food scraps wherever human beings were. It was just a matter of staying out of sight and for a tough, clever rat like Horatio, that was a simple thing.

Horatio hung out down by the docks for a while, and eventually stowed away on a large cargo ship. Imagine his delight when he discovered the ship to be full of other rats just like him!

Since that time, Horatio has travelled around the world many times over, and continues to do so. He makes a point of disembarking at every port, and having a good look around. If he misses his ship, it matters not. There is always another one. Most of the rats move from ship to ship like this, so there is a large floating (no pun intended) community, whose members all know each other pretty well.

And what of Magnifico? Well, he made his way eventfully but successfully back upstream to the fresh water. He picked a beautiful bend in the river to settle down. There he met a beautiful lady mouse, and they are now busy raising a large family of little mouselets.

But Magnifico has never forgotten Horatio. And Horatio has never forgotten Magnifico. And neither of them have ever forgotten Dulcie, whose spirit continues to look over them both.

Horatio still has not found his peanut cow but, from all reports, he is still looking, and is confident of finding her soon!

[Maureen K Clifford]

Travel well little mates - stay safe.

Do hope this gets published Stephen it was a IMO a delightful story

Cheers

Maureen

[Stephen Whiteside]

Many thanks, Maureen. I'm very pleased you enjoyed it so much. I really appreciated your supportive comments throughout.