Patches and the Great Refuge

Creak and whine,

The door swings in time,

The metal racket

CLACKS!

—”Oh dear, oh dear. It scares me every time,” said Patches, the little guinea pig with white and black fur. Slowly, she stretched one paw out of her tiny blue house. “My refuge,” she said, “It always keeps me safe.”

But just then, a shadow passed before the window. “Dark!” she squealed as she ran back to her house. Huffing and puffing, she peered out of her refuge, casting her eyes across the walls and windows to discover the danger. The door opened again.

Shadow and dark,

Fearsome and stark,

The child walks in and

“MOM!”

—“Too loud! Too close! This home is nothing but terror,” cried Patches.

Inside her tiny, blue house, Patches made a plan.

1. Escape my cage
2. Sneak out the door that creaks
3. Eat grass and be safe forever

And so she began her work.

With her soft, wiggly nose, she pushed all her bedding into the corner of her cage.

With her tiny, clawed paws, she climbed up the mountain.

With her long, nimble body, she stretched to the top.

With her strong, jumping legs, she leaped!

Up and over the top of the cage she tumbled, rolling and rolling through the air. She saw the ground, then her cage, then the ceiling, and then *PLOP* —she was standing… her strong legs holding up her nimble body with her clawed paws as her wiggly nose smelled freedom.

The world was so much bigger outside of her cage. And she’d made a mistake! She’d left her blue house behind! “My refuge,” she whispered as she cried tiny tears.

She told herself, “This is no time to be sad over happy places I once had. Besides, once I get outside, I won’t have anything to be afraid of.”

She scurried across the floor. Under the couch. Over the rug. Beneath the chair. Behind the pile of coats.

Thump and slap,

Floorboards crack,

The footsteps fall,

STOMP!

Patches buried herself in the coats. Her heart was pounding almost as loud as the footsteps. But worse than that… she had missed her chance! Even now she could hear the squeal of the door as it closed behind the boy. And she knew what was coming next. She dug further into the folds as the loud *Clack* sounded. It was much louder here, so close to the door. She hid for minutes until she was sure the fearsome door wouldn’t attack.

Slowly, she climbed out of the pile and looked around. Just through the screen, she could see the grass. So much grass! It was green and it was long, with just the right amount of brown. Soon she would be free of fear!

There she waited. First for five minutes. Then for ten minutes. Then for 2 hours! Not that a guinea pig knows how long an hour is. Patches sighed. “Am I going to wait here forever?” Patches was too distracted to realize that for 2 whole hours, nothing scary happened at all. No creaks, no shadows, no thumping footsteps.

But finally, she saw the boy. The sky had turned grey and pink, and he was coming back inside.

Patches readied herself.

Patches hid herself.

Patches… LEAPED!

As soon as the door opened. She hardly heard the creak behind her as she rushed out into the great outdoors. But when the door slammed shut —*CLACK*—she did hear it. And she did not know where to go. Her blue house was gone. Her pile of coats was gone. Even paper bedding and big couches were gone. Patches ran.

She ran through the grass, but —a shadow! She ran to the side, but —*Ribbit*—a strange noise! She turned around and around. She had nowhere left to go! And then she saw it… far in the distance… a big blue house. “Refuge!” she cried with terrified glee, and she began to run toward it.

Grey and whirling,

Wind is twirling,

Water falls,

KABOOM!

It was the loudest noise Patches had ever heard. The sky lit up with yellow and white as a cracking line tore it in two. Lightning and thunder. They filled the sky, and Patches felt as if her heart would jump out of her chest. As the raindrops fell, her hair got wet, and the grass got slippery. “It’s the end!” she cried. “I’m done for! I should have never left my blue house!” and then in the loudest voice she’d ever used, she yelled at the top of her guinea pig lungs,

“I’M SCARED!”

And Patches heard a noise. But it was a tiny noise. It wasn’t loud like the thunder. It was a tiny noise. Tiny like her. *Ribbit* the noise sounded again. Patches looked next to her, and there in the grass was a tiny, green frog. *Ribbit* the frog belched. And then it croaked, “I’m lost from my pond, and I’m scared.”

Patches looked at the green frog as she cleaned the tears from her eyes and nose. Then she said, “I’m lost from my house, and I’m scared too.”

Flashing light,

Dazzling bright,

Dripping rain,

Distant Boom.

The frog said, “That one wasn’t so scary. Maybe I can go with you.” Patches nodded, and the frog climbed onto the guinea pig’s back.

Together they made their way through the tall grass toward the big blue house. Patches’ legs, strong as they were, began to get tired. The lightning flashed overhead and the thunder boomed in the distance. Each time, Patches jumped, but each time she was a little less scared. The frog bounced on her back, and his slick green skin kept some of the water from wetting her hair.

Rumble and crink,

Shuffle and tink,

The black bag,

Shuffles and moves.

Patches and the frog stopped and stared at the black bags of trash as they moved and tilted. “H-hello?” Patches squeaked. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

A pair of bright yellow eyes rose up from the trash. The eyes were surrounded by a dark, black band. And the black band was on top of wet, grey fur.

Patches was scared. The frog was scared. Together they looked at the scary creature and then Patches spoke. “Are you a friend?”

The animal crawled out from the bags, and his striped black tail flicked to and fro. He looked at them, and he made no response.

“Are you a friend?” Patches asked again. But then she saw that the animal’s ears were broken. One of them was missing, and the other one looked like it was folded. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered to the frog.

“He’s different, but maybe he’s scared too,” the frog replied.

Patches walked slowly to the raccoon. The raccoon watched them, and when he showed his sharp teeth, he was smiling. “So maybe you are scary, but maybe only when you want to be,” Patches said. The raccoon laid down on the ground, and with his black hand, waved Patches and the frog on his back. So the frog on the guinea pig, and the guinea pig on the raccoon walked a little more quickly through the rain to the big blue house. There they were, just a few feet away, and Patches said quietly, “Refuge.”

Hiss, hiss, slither

Slide through the weather,

Long and stretched,

Snap!

In the light of the storm, Patches saw as a snake lunged for her. It stretched its whole body out and its mouth was wide open. It soared through rain and with its sharp, pointed fangs it clamped onto Patches. She let out a cry; she had never felt so much pain before. “There really are things to be afraid of,” Patches thought to herself as her eyes fluttered shut. But as she blinked, she saw the raccoon holding onto the snake with his strong, black claws. Blink. She saw the raccoon show his sharp teeth. Blink. And the snake was gone. Blink. The raccoon was running with Patches on his back. Into the old, blue barn they went. The raccoon lay Patches on the dry ground and the frog sat nearby.

The raccoon found an old sack and carried it over to Patches who nestled under it. “Refuge,” she said, as she looked up at the big blue house. “Refuge,” she said as she lowered her gaze to her newfound friends. “The world is bigger and scarier than I thought; but I was afraid of the wrong things all along. The creak and the footsteps meant someone was there to take care of me. And my blue house was always there when I needed it.” Then Patches fell asleep. The sound of the rain and thunder filled the sky, but Patches was warm and safe, and she didn’t cry once.

The next day, the raccoon and the frog helped Patches stand up. She still had the bite marks, but they had healed some during the night.

With the help of her friends, Patches found her way back to the creaky door.

She said goodbye to her friends, the frog and the raccoon.

And when the door opened up, she walked inside.

She climbed up to her cage and tumbled in.

Patches still gets scared sometimes. The loud door, the shouting boy, the footsteps, and the shadows. But she gets scared less now. And when she settles into her tiny, blue house whispering, “Refuge,” she’s thinking of more than the house.

Laughter and giggles,

The rain dribbles,

Family walks by,

Refuge. Refuge.