Fritter explained that the day before she had a strange stirring feeling inside, the way you feel on a sunny day, when you look up at the sky, put your arms out in the air, and begin to spin as fast as you can. It’s the feeling you have the second between the rush of the spinning and collapse of the dizziness, when you’re not sure if you’re going to fall or fly away. But for Fritter it was lasting much longer than a second. The hot sticky day made Fritter feel uncomfortably warm and anxious. What a relief it was when the blonde boy brought cold, fresh water to her hutch. Finally, in the afternoon, a strong wind began to blow.
Except for the trees creaking and groaning in the wind, everything was unusually quiet until Axelrod began barking. Axelrod ran up the dirt road in front of the house, barking at some invisible intruder, and Dee-oh-gee followed him. The blonde boy's father came out of the house and, looking up at the sky, remarked that there was going to be some rain.
Fritter was looking forward to falling asleep to the soft patter of raindrops on the roof of her Happy Hutch. The heat of the day had made her tired and she fell asleep quickly, even before the rain began. Startled by Axelrod barking again, she awoke to darkness. She now heard a low, soft rumble in the distance. The wind blew even more strongly than before, and she saw lightning flash and again heard the far away rumble of thunder.
It began to rain, not the soft rainfall she was used to, but large drops pelting the roof of her Happy Hutch. They sounded like small stones, at first slowly, just one or two at a time, then like handfuls of pebbles being thrown down on her home. From inside her hutch she looked out into the blackness. Suddenly, the forest was lit as if it were day and there was a crash and a boom so loud that she shuddered. Just as quickly, it was dark again. As this continued, Axelrod, now tied at his doghouse, barked fiercely.
The strong gusty wind began to tug at her hutch, and she thought it would topple. In a flash of lightning she saw something much more frightening than wind. A large black bear blended perfectly into the darkness of the forest. Only the lightning had betrayed him. For seconds that seemed like years, Fritter stood motionless listening to the rain. She wished the lightning would flash again. She wanted to see where the bear had gone. She strained her eyes to see into the wet blackness. She strained her ears to hear the slightest sound through the noise of the storm. Did she hear a twig snap? Did some leaves rustle? She felt a warm breeze in her face. No, the wind was coming from the opposite direction. It was not a warm breeze, but hot breath. Finally, the lightning flashed! She was nose to nose with the bear. With the flash of lightning she could see into his fearsome eyes. Just the wire of her Happy Hutch separated them. She bolted to the room on the end of the hutch and burrowed into the sweet hay.
She was in trouble, big trouble! Remembering Herr Achenbach’s lessons, she began to thump her hind foot frantically. Now the bear was ripping and tearing at her hutch. The rain pounded! The lightning flashed! The thunder roared! Axelrod barked! But, the blonde boy was inside the house and didn’t know Fritter was in danger.
Too quickly, the Happy Hutch was pulled apart and Fritter was falling! She hit the ground on her side. Lightning flashed again. This time she saw the bear’s huge claws swooping down toward her. There was sudden darkness. In one movement, she twisted to her feet and ran.
She ran with all her speed and all her might. She ran through the darkness, with raindrops stinging her face as she scrambled to get away. She ran through bushes with prickly briars scratching her. She bumped into rocks and squeezed under fallen trees. She could not hear the rain or the thunder anymore. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart. She ran until she could not take another step. She didn't know how far or in what direction she had gone. She felt like she had run all night. Panting, wet, and exhausted, she collapsed into sleep.
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