Crash and Eddie froliced about in the snow. They lept from rock to rock, hiding from each other. For each young opossum had his own hallow reed, and a leaf sack full of pebbles. When Eddie believed that the long, black shadow of the rock that he hid behind camouflaged him enough, he placed a pebble into his reed and targeted his brother Crash, who thought he was an toàn, két an toàn behind a near-by tree. Eddie lowered himself down onto the cold ground, took aim, and blew through the reed. Crash recieved a mite amount of sharp pain in his back from Eddie's pebble.
"YES!" Eddie exclaimed.
Crash whipped around.
"I'm gonna get bạn for that, Eddie!" He cried.
Eddie gasped and plundged into a near-by hole in the ground, Crash fallowed after him.
It was dark inside the tunnel, but the opossums' eyes ajusted quickly. Eddie's pelt breifly brushed up against the dirt walls has he sped past. He saw an opening above him was coming up, the golden sunlight poured into the tunnel. As Eddie approached this opening, he jumped up and crawled through it. He quickly glanced down to see Crash run right past the opening he had escaped through.
Eddie let a smile creep onto his face that was that of a triumphed smirk.
"Sucker," He sneered.
Just then, Eddie felt a nhanh, swift pain at the back of his head.
"Sucker yourself!" Crash teased behind him.
Eddie turned to see that the alternative exit for the tunnel had led out behind him.
Wanting revenge, Eddie flung himself toward Crash, but he was too quick and dodged Eddie, who fell face-first into the snow.
"Ha ha ha!" Crash laughed aloud at his brother's position, has he himself quickly crawled up a near-by tree. Crash lept from branch to branch with ease until he was close to the top.
Eddie meanwhile, hastily dusted the snow off of his body and took off after his brother. Has he shot up the tree, Crash attempted to try to shoot his brother down with his remaining amo [the pebbles.] However, his efforts were in vain because of Eddie's constant pace climbing up the cây to get to the top.
Crash reliezed how close his brother was getting, without a một giây thought he put himself out on an unsturdy cây limb, hoping that his brother wouldn't see him.
Eddie of course, was no fool. When he reached the top, he saw Crash out of the corner of his eye; his tail wrapped around the thin limb for security and sights set closely on Eddie.
Eddie lept onto a stronger branch tiếp theo to Crash and quickly fired two pebbles at him, both missed.
"Is that all bạn got?" Crash taunted.
"Of course not," Eddie replied, "Those were practice shots!"
He fired another. This time it hit Crash square in the chest, causing him to loose balance and fall into a large snow pile far below.
Now it was Eddie's turn to laugh.
"Ha! Surrender yet?" He called down to his victim.
A moment later, Crash popped his head out from the chilly, wet snow pile. Bits of snowflakes here and there clung to his lông, lông thú and a pile rested upon his nose.
"Never!" Crash answered, smiling wickedly in a playful matter.
"Are bạn sure about that?" Eddie grinned, shaking a near-by cây limb so that the snow that had lied on it from the night before fell in clumps ontop of Crash's head.
Eddie laughed without remorse at the sight of his brother's head capped in snow. He laughed so hard in fact, he nearly fell out of the tree!
Down below however, Crash appeared unamused. He shook the snow from his head and glared sternly up at Eddie.
"Ha. Ha. Ha indeed," He remarked, sarcastically.
Crash's ear then flicked at a soft, near-by sound.
"Hush!" He called up to Eddie, "Do bạn hear that?"
Eddie, trying to restrain his giggles, began to listen.
"Yeah... Crash, I hear it too," Eddie đã đưa ý kiến after a quiet moment, "It sounds like someone crying,"
He crawled down the cây and Crash jumped out of the snow pile. They met each other in between the two locations.
"It sounds like it's coming from over there," Crash pointed over to a hollow log not far in the woods.
"Should we check it out?" Eddie asked him, figuring that his brother knew best.
"I don't know, " Crash admitted, "I was gonna ask bạn the same thing,"
A long, hesitant moment passed between the two. Finally, Crash spoke up,
"Well, I suppose if it's crying it can't be too dangerous. We'll take a peek on whatever it is. Alright with you?"
Eddie nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Crash murmured, "Let's go,"
They approached the log with great caution, fully aware that anything could be inside. Even a chó sói, sói hoặc an unfriendly saber-tooth tiger.
Slowly, the two opossums peered through the entrance hole of the hollowed out log. All fear flew off their shoulders at the sight of a young opossum, about their age, crouched up against the wooden tường of the log weeping. She was beautiful in every way. She had glossy, fine lông, lông thú and soft brown eyes.
A look of puzzelment crossed Crash's face, for Eddie, a look of awe.
Crash cocked an eyebrowl up at the figure and called out to her,
"Uh, hello? Who are you?" He asked.
The pretty female opossum looked up. Tear stains rolled down her cheeks, she tried to quickly brush them away.
"My name's Kate," She said, and then after an awkward pause,
"Oh please! Have bạn bởi chance seen an older opossum? She has pale green eyes?"
"Uh, no. I'm sorry. Are bạn lost?" Eddie asked kindly.
"I guess if bạn can call it that," Kate đã đưa ý kiến in a cracked voice, "My older sister, the one that I asked bạn if bạn saw, went out to look for thực phẩm for us four nights ago. She told me to wait here until she returned, but she hasn't come back yet. I haven't left this log since because I was too afried that if she came back and I wasn't there she'd panic and think something got me and go off before I would have been able to return.... She's never been gone this long before to look for food... I'm starting to think that a hawk hoặc saber got her like, like our parents."
At the end of her story, Kate began to sob heavily.
"I'm sorry for the out-burst," She told them between sobs, "I'm just so lonely and worried.... I needed someone to talk to, get my feelings of fear out,"
She continued to weep.
Crash stood uneasily at the log's entrance way. He didn't know exactly what to say hoặc do. Eddie however, crawled in and sat right beside Kate, trying to comfort her.
"It's alright," Eddie whispered to her softly.


A while hoặc so later, after she had calmed down, Kate began to Converse normaly with Crash and Eddie with no tears. Crash found her to be sensitive and daft, but Eddie in a short time grew fond of her.
Crash later looked out the log to see it was pitch black outside; Ellie and the rest may begin to wonder where they were! Besides, he was begining to tire of Kate's long story of survival.
"Well," Crash remarked, standing up, "It's getting late. Manny and Ellie may need us back at camp. Maybe we'll see bạn tomorrow, Kate. Come on, Eddie, let's go!"
He tugged on Eddie's tail.
"Hey!" Eddie said, grabbing his tail back.
He then looked back at Kate.
"We can't just leave her here. Why don't bạn come with us? Ellie wouldn't mind,"
"What?" Crash snapped, tugging Eddie bởi the arm.
"Excuse me, Kate, but I must have a word with Eddie please for a moment," Crash told her, pushing Eddie out of the log.
Kate hardly had anytime to react, tiếp theo thing she knew, the log was once again empty.
Outside, Crash and Eddie bickered amongst themselves.
"Are bạn mad? We can't just invite her to come with us!" Crash exclaimed.
"Well, why not?" Eddie argued back with his paws on his hips, "I thought that it would only be a nice offer!" Besides Crash, she's all alone. Her sister's probably dead,"
"I don't like her," Crash blurted, paws crossed, "There's something about her that I just don't like. She talks too much and she gets worried about every little thing it seems,"
"Oh, come on Crash, it may only be a few days,"
Crash looked up at his brother's pleading face.
"Hmm. Alright," Crash surrendered.
"Yes! Thanks, Crash! I can't wait to tell her!"
Eddie then dashed off back into the log to tell Kate.


Eddie walked beside Kate during most of the journey back to camp.
Crash, meanwhile, scouted ahead, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign of hidden danger, for these were the evening hours.
Behind him, strolling along he could hear Kate laughing at some joke Eddie had told her to help ease her uncertainty.
When Eddie had informed her that she was welcome to tham gia them for the time being, Kate at first protested.
"Well, I don't know," She began, "Are bạn sure that your herd won't mind? What if they don't like me?"
"Nonsense!" Eddie reassured her, "it'll only be until bạn find your sister again. Besides, who couldn't like you?"
She smiled and blushed.
"You're too kind, Eddie! But... Are bạn sure I won't be too much trouble?"
"Of course he's not sure," Crash had cut in rudly, "'Cause bạn seem to be thêm trouble than you're worth,"
"CRASH!" Eddie hissed at him.
Crash leaned up against the hollow log's entrance frame almost lazily.
"I'm just saying," Crash replied coolly.
Eddie turned back to Kate, and seeing the worried look on her face, quickly said,
"Don't mind him, Kate. He's just a little sore because he Mất tích at a game we were playing earlier with pebbles and reeds. Please, come with us. The others will be glad to have met you, I'm almost sure of it!"
Kate, still uneasy about suddenly waltzing into someone else's herd (even if it was just until she re-unites with her sister) asked,
"How do bạn know?"
Eddie smiled a soft and bashful smile,
"Well," He began, "I think that they'll be glad to have met bạn because I know I am,"
"Aww, Eddie," Kate đã đưa ý kiến in a kind voice, "You're so sweet to me,"
She then got up and walked up to him. Smiling a shy smile, she confessed,
"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever đã đưa ý kiến to me,"
Eddie could have gazed into her eyes for hours. They were a slightly darker brown color than his own, like two shinning twin pools of dark chocolate, reflecting the light of the dying sun through the cracks of the log. It was almost like he knew already that this may be the girl of his dreams.
"Um, hello! bạn two! We've got places to be before night fall! Kate, will bạn make up your mind?!"
Crash's inpatient voice sliced through Eddie's thoughts like a sharp knife.
"Oh, yes," He said, snapping back to reality, "Kate, will bạn be coming with us?"
"Uh, yes, I think I will," She answered, eyes still on Eddie.
So, that is how Kate had come to be with them.
Now, the three young opossums make their way through the dim light of evening. One scouting ahead, all senses alert, while the other two walk quietly a ways behind, chatting amongst themselves.
Crash didn't understand why HE had to do all the work and check to make sure no predators were about while the other two had the leisure of lagging behind at a slow pace. In fact, it made him a bit angry.
"Well, just look at them!" Crash muttered to himself, "they're taking their grand old time, aren't they? While I'm up here keeping an eye out for danger. If it weren't for me, those two might've been dead bởi now. And what thanks do I get? None!"
As the journey progressed, Crash began to get thêm annoyed bởi Eddie and Kate's hushed whispers to the back of him. Once in a while, he would hear the two young opossums burst out in giggles. Crash could not imagine what could be so funny at this time, for it was dusk! A very dangerous time for creatures to be roaming about.
Finally, fed up, Crash turned and lept back a few paces up to them.
Eddie, seeing his brother come up to them unexpectedly, suddenly turned serious, Kate became quiet has well.
"What's wrong, Crash?" Eddie inquired, "Did bạn hear something?"
"Yeah," Crash answered flatly, "You two talking."
"Oh, sorry," Eddie apologized.
"We'll be quieter," Kate offered.
"You're going to have to do thêm than that," Crash said, "I'd like it if bạn two stepped up the pace a little bit as well. At this rate, we'll never make it back to camp,"
"Well, excuse us!" Eddie snarled at his brother, "I'm escorting her!"
Crash laughed.
"You think you're the one who's escorting now, do you? What of me? I'VE been the one leading the way this whole time, haven't I? I'd say that I'M the one doing the escorting around here. In fact, I'm the only one doing the work bởi looking ahead for danger in these dark hours. You've only been strolling along at your pleasure exchanging words this whole time," Crash pointed out.
"Well!" Eddie growled, "I enjoy my strolls and conversing with Kate, thank bạn very much!"
"Oh yeah? Well it'd be nice to see bạn do some of the work for once!" Crash snapped back.
"Crash! Eddie! Calm down, alright?" Kate stood in between them, eyes pleading.
She continued, "It's no big deal, I'll scout ahead, if Eddie doesn't want to, he doesn't have to. Crash, if bạn want a break from it, here's your break. Okay?"
"Fine," They both muttered.
With that, Kate left them to go ahead and be on the look out for dangers. Crash and Eddie fallowed not far behind her. Since the tiff, neither of them spoke to the other. They remained of this silence for the rest of the trip.


"Who's she?" Manny asked almost immediately when he saw Crash and Eddie walk into camp with Kate.
"Wow, no greeting. Only demanding questions," Crash mumbled has he sulked off.
"This is Kate," Eddie smiled, making a gesture with his paw toward her.
Kate smiled shyly at the large woolly mammoth, Manny. She had been expecting thêm opossums, not that there was anything wrong with having different species for a family.
"What's she doing here?" Manny implored.
"We found her today inside of a hollow log in the woods. Her sister left her there to go find food, but she hasn't returned yet. We felt bad leaving her all bởi herself, so... We were wondering if she could travel with us for now... At least, until she finds her sister, that is," Eddie explained.
Manny looked down at Kate. He didn't like making rushed decisions and had wished that Crash and Eddie would have asked him first before inviting Kate into the herd.
"I'm sorry," Manny began slowly, "but we can't possibly-"
"Say no," Ellie cut in cheerfully.
"What?!" Manny cried.
"You heard me," Ellie, his wife, said.
She turned back to Kate and smiled warmly.
"Welcome to our herd, Kate! I'm sorry to hear that your sister isn't back yet, but we would be happy to care for bạn in the time being. I'm Ellie, Crash and Eddie's adopted sister, also Manny's wife," Ellie added.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kate said, doing a small curtsie, "I hope that bạn don't mind me. bạn see, it's only until my sister comes back,"
Kate paused at the mentioning of her sister and murmured quietly, "IF she comes back,"
"Oh, don't say that," Ellie told her gently, stroking her with her trunk.
Kate smiled weakly up at her.
"Thanks," She whispered, comforted bởi Ellie's affection.
"You must be tired. Here, it's warm over there bởi the fire. Get a good, long rest. We'll see bạn in the morning," Ellie told her.
"Thank you," Kate đã đưa ý kiến again in a tired voice.
And with that, she took a ghế, chỗ ngồi and curled up tiếp theo to the warm fire.
Crash watched as sparks from the red-hot flames snapped and floated up-ward into the night sky. He had not noticed how dark it had gotten, since he had come back to camp blinded bởi anger. The sky was now pitch-black, and their ngọn lửa, chữa cháy seemed to be the only thing attempting to burn it away to make light from night's dark cloak. Though the hot flames reached high, they were still no match for the darkness's vastness.
Then, movement caught the corner of Crash's eye. He saw Eddie, quietly hobbling over toward Kate, who was curled up tiếp theo to the warm ngọn lửa, chữa cháy and already fast asleep. He watched Eddie come close to her, and then lay down tiếp theo to her.
Crash rolled his eyes in disgust. What was his brother thinking?! He was just about to address the situation, when a wave of weariness fell apon him.
Suddenly, Crash reliezed how tired he was, and yawned loudly.
"I'll talk to Eddie in the morning," Crash reassured himself, "And then he'll relieze how odd he's been diễn xuất since we met Kate and stop it,"
Over come bởi sleep, Crash didn't even bother to climb a cây to hang up-side down in. Instead, he just layed back in the cỏ on his side of the camp ngọn lửa, chữa cháy for a comfortable sleeping position.
Before he knew it, Crash had drifted off to sleep.


"We need to talk,"
"But she can't possibly stay!"
"She can if she wants to!"
Crash's sleep was interupted bởi argueing voices.
The ngọn lửa, chữa cháy had now died down and was nothing thêm than hot embers. The night air was cool, and the sky dark. Only a sliver of moonlight could be seen through the gray clouds of night to give the snow about them an errie glow.
Crash slowly got up.
He saw that Kate was still asleep bởi what remained of the fire, but failed to notice Eddie's absence.
"Ellie, listen to me, we hardly know who this Kate is. We can't let her stay, even if it is only until she finds her sister,"
Crash's ears pricked at the filmilar voice of Manny.
"What does it matter if we don't know her well yet? She needs our help,"
Crash's ears stood even higher now at the sound of his sister's voice.
Crash's attention was now focused fully on Ellie and Manny's late-night discussion. Did Manny really want Kate to leave? Could he persuade Ellie to let her leave as well? Curious, Crash got up and walked over to where he heard their voices.
Slipping through the shadows of the trees cast bởi the dim moonlight, Crash made his way to two large, knotted willow trees. Crash was filmilar to these willow trees, for Ellie and Manny often went behind them to carry on private conversations. Therefore, Crash had no doubt that they were behind them right now, talking about the issue of allowing Kate into the herd.
With-out a sound, Crash climbed one of the two trees of which Manny and Ellie were behind. When he believed he was high enough for them not to see him, Crash brushed through the curtain of leaves surrounding the other side of the cây trunk. The leaves rustled silently behind him, but the noise was so faint, one would think it to be only the wind.
Now on the other side of the tree, Crash stepped out onto a near-by, high sturdy branch. He crawled out onto it about half way, and then came to a halt.
Looking down from the cây branch, Crash could see both Ellie and Manny below him. Crash listened intently at what both had to say on the arrival of Kate.
"Ellie, I understand that bạn want to help her out, but we can't trust her,"
"Yes we can!" Ellie protested, turning to her mate, "I could see it in her eyes, Manny. She's telling the truth. She's afraid for her sister and uncomfortable with suddenly dropping into our herd, but I know that she's trustworthy,"
"How do bạn know?"
Ellie took a deep breath and after a long pause replied,
"I don't, but my intuition tells me it's safe. What I'm shocked about the most though is that bạn would have told her no about joining our herd to her face if I hadn't cut in. Manny, bạn can't just do that, not when Crash and Eddie already promised her a trang chủ here to get her hopes up. I agree that they should have asked us first, but still. bạn can't reject someone just because bạn don't know them, because they may actually be a wonderful person. Besides, we can't just leave her out there alone... In the cold weather..." Ellie's voice began to crack.
"What's wrong?" Manny asked her, concerned.
"Oh, nothing," Ellie answered, her eyes filling up with small tears, "I'm just thinking back to when I was an orphan, like Kate. Remember? I told bạn once. I kept wondering around endlessly for what seemed like hours, maybe even days, alone, in that snow blizzard, utterly lost... And that's when I found Crash and Eddie's family of opossums. They took me in, cared for me, they helped me get back on my feet.... Thinking of Kate reminded me of this, and, well, maybe that's all she needs right now, too,"
It didn't take long for Crash to relieze Ellie was crying. Over Kate?!
Between sobs, he heard Ellie plead,
"We just can't leave her all bởi herself, Manny. We just can't. Being Mất tích and alone's a terrible feeling, Manny. We can't abandon her now,"
"Alright, alright," Manny said, trying to calm Ellie down a little bit,
"Don't worry, we won't leave her. She can stay,"
Crash didn't stay to see the rest. He knew that once Manny agreed to something, he stuck to it. Kate was to stay and that was final.
So with that being done, Crash stood and rather hastily climbed down the rest of the tree. He dropped to the ground with a soft thud and began to make his way back to the camp fire.
The chilly night breeze whispered hushed sounds has it peacefully rattled between the dead cây leaves of an oak near-by.
The moon cast the same leaves' patterns on Crash's chest has he strolled by. He could smell a faint drift of smoke in the air from when their campfire had been at full height. He was begining to enjoy the quiet of the winter night when suddenly, Crash heard a voice call out behind him,
"Crash? Is that you?"
Crash turned to see it was Eddie.
"Oh, hi, Eddie," He replied.
"Hey Crash," Eddie jogged up to him, "What are bạn doing up? Last time I checked bạn were asleep,"
"I could ask bạn the same question. Why are bạn up, Eddie?"
"Well, Crash, I had over-heard Ellie and Manny argueing, so I snuck up one of those trees they like to talk about things behind to listen,"
"Oh," Crash said, "Same here, except I must of climbed the other cây that bạn weren't in because I didn't see you,"
"Oh, good! So bạn heard the good news too!"
Crash looked up to see Eddie's eyes shinning with delight.
"And that good news would be...?" Crash questioned him.
"Kate's going to be able to stay with us until she finds her sister of course!" Eddie exclaimed, grinning widely.
"You call that good news?" Crash threw in bluntly.
The joy faded from Eddie's expression at this remark made bởi Crash and a look crossed Eddie's face.
"Yes. Why? What do bạn call it?" Eddie asked.
"Bad luck," Crash muttered firmly, crossing his arms and slightly turning away from Eddie.
"Oh, Crash," Eddie sighed, stepping a little closer to him.
"I know bạn don't particularly like Kate," Eddie began, "but she really is a wonderful person. Please, Crash, give her a chance, for me,"
Crash let his paws drop to his sides and turned to face his brother. He could see through the look on Eddie's face that he was pleading for his acceptence of Kate.
Crash drew out a deep breath.
"Eddie, I saw the way bạn were talking and laughing with her tonight," he brought forth, "I can see already that bạn two are going to get along really well. But, what I'm worried about is, will bạn be able to find time to still be my brother while she's around?"
Eddie laughed aloud into the still night at his brother's words. His laughter rang through the silver moon-lit forest around them, echoing through it's hollows and hills. It was a hearty laugh, but it ceased when Eddie looked up, and reliezed that Crash was being serious.
"Of course I'll still be your brother!" Eddie told him, a smile lingering on his lips.
"I know that," Crash snapped,"... But, will bạn still spend your time with me, hoặc will bạn be too busy with Kate?"
"Crash," Eddie grinned, shaking his head in amusement, "I'll always find time for you. You're my bro, bro. I promise you, even with Kate around, I'll still put time aside just for bạn and me to be together and do whatever,"
Crash's pale blue eyes flashed up to meet Eddie's. They appeared to be a sharp, cold, ice blue color in the ghostly light of the moon.
"You promise?" Crash inquired in a level tone of voice.
Eddie looked his brother in those icy blue eyes and held out his paw.
"I promise," He vowed.
Crash slowly lifted his paw toward Eddie's, but then grasped it quickly as if he was afraid that if he hesitated any longer, Eddie's promise would no longer be valid.
They shook each other's paw firmly before letting go, sealing the deal.
"Now," Eddie directed, putting his paws to his hips in a business like manner, "with that settled, let's get back to camp,"
The two opossums walked back together. This time, Eddie marching ahead happily, and Crash stumbling behind. Despite the fact that they were both with the other however, they walked back to camp once again in silence. Hardly a word past between the two.


The tiếp theo morning did not live up to Eddie's promise from the night before. In fact, the whole week didn't even come close to the promise's criteria.
Crash awoke to find Eddie and Kate already gone. When he had asked Ellie where they had went, she just shrugged, but told him that they had planned to be gone for most of the day.
Crash sighed sharply and went off to find something else to do bởi himself.
At first, Crash didn't know what to do. Usually, Eddie always had the best ideas when it came to what to do with their day. Often, Crash would just go along with it, no matter how dangerous hoặc ridiculous it sounded. But now, with out Eddie, Crash was Mất tích at how to spend his time. And the things he decided he would like to do, involved having Eddie bởi his side to complete.
It was a beautiful day. The sky was all blue with a few whispy, white clouds scattered about. The sun poured down it's warmth onto the earth's snow and soil. For, it was spring time in the ice age, therefore, to find patches of cỏ and dirt was not uncommon as well as clumps of snow here and there.
In the trees and open air surrounding him, cheerful bird songs could be heard, but Crash hardly noticed has he wondered about endlessly.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Crash came across an acorn on his walk.
Bending down, he took it and examined it in his paws, rolling it from side to side.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Crash saw a small, scruffy saber tooth con sóc, sóc sniffing rather hastily at the dirt ground. Crash soon reliezed that he was searching for the acorn! So, with that in mind, Crash closed his grip in on the tiny nut and quickly rushed it behind his back.
Crash smirked has he watched the con sóc, sóc scurry about in tìm kiếm of his treasure. The squirrel's tail twitched and eyes bulged with terror when he saw that the nut was not where he had previously left it. Crash found it amusing to watch has the creature scampered in zig-zag directions in panic. This went on for about ten minutes, until the con sóc, sóc sniffed around Crash in circles at his feet and looked up angerly at him: he had discovered that Crash had his acorn.
The little saber-tooth rodent out-stretched his paws toward Crash and, looking up at him, made a small whimpering sound as if to say, "Please give me my nut."
Crash, a little disappointed now that his entertainment was coming to an end, frowned and held out the acorn.
"You want this?" Crash asked, pointing with his other paw to the nut.
The con sóc, sóc nodded his head.
Crash sneered, "Well then, go and get it!"
Crash threw the acorn at full force and it flew through the air landing somewhere in a near-by field.
The con sóc, sóc shot Crash a quick glare before running off after his desired prize. Like a bullet, he cut through the grass, climbing over rocks and cây roots at high speeds, trying not to let them slow him down.
Crash laughed in delight.
"Look at him go!" He cried.
Sadly, this only lifted up Crash's spirits for a few seconds. Not long later, he was bored out of his mind again. Being bored, he resumed strolling about alone once more.


Crash returned back to camp that evening with a slightly dismayed heart.
The rest of his ngày had been unproductive and dull. Most of it had been spent roaming through the snow-covered wood and country side in attempt to find something to do. Preferably something that would amuse him hoặc bring forth daring risks in the name of adventure. However, Crash was not able to for-fill these wishes of the ngày on his own, and therefore returned back with nothing but a deep sigh of breath has he sat down tiếp theo to the campfire.
"Are bạn alright?" Ellie asked.
"Me? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Crash lied.
"You don't look like it," Ellie noted.
"I'm fine, really. I'm just tired, that's all," Crash faked a smile.
"If bạn say so," Ellie replied.
There was a pause between the two. Crash watched the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy blaze through the darkness like it did the night before. It cracked and popped as it consumed the firewood, sending sparks up into the night. Off in the distance, Crash could hear the soft chorus of crickets chirping their song; it was later then he thought.
"Ellie,"
"Yes?"
"Um, where's Eddie and Kate? Shouldn't they be coming back bởi now?"
"They SHOULD be, but obviously they decided to take their time tonight," Ellie rolled her eyes in a playful matter, "I would think that they're on their way here now,"
Crash got up to his feet.
"I could scout up the trail a few paces and take a quick look for them," He offered.
"That's OK," Ellie told him.
"Let them come on their own," Manny added, settling down tiếp theo to Ellie.
Feeling a bit rejected, Crash sat back down. He had wanted to see Eddie first, to talk to him privately about why he left him on his own this morning and for the rest of today without telling him hardly anything. He wanted to do this before the others could. Apparently though, he wasn't going to get to. Upset bởi this fact, Crash slouched phía trước, chuyển tiếp remotely and crossed his arms.
As if to prove Ellie and Manny's sense correct, a burst of laughter could be heard down the trail leading to their camp a few moments later.
Crash immediately recognized one of the voices to be his brother's. Without hesitation, Crash lept up and ran down the trail to meet his brother. He found them, both Eddie and Kate, half way down the path, laughing and giggling at something.
"Eddie?" Crash called out to him in the cool night air.
"Hey Crash," Eddie grinned at the sight of his brother.
"Oh, Crash!" Kate exclaimed happily, running up to him, "it was so funny! bạn see, Eddie and I played dead in front of a whole bunch of động vật today, and they totally freaked out. They didn't know what to do with our bodies. A few kids began poking us with sticks and others were yelling at them, telling them to stop it and get away because we might have diseases lingering about us hoặc something. Some were even smelling us, taking bets with each other on how long cách đây we died. Either way, they really thought that we were dead! In the end, some adult in the area suggested getting the vultures to clean us up. After Eddie heard this, he suddenly jumped up and said, "Ha ha! I'm not really dead! Just joking!" And then I got up too and he said, "Look! She came back to life! It's a miracle!" bạn should have seen the looks on their faces, Crash! Their eyes were so wide and they looked so pale! You'd think they just saw a ghost! bạn should have been there, Crash. It was hilarious!"
Kate was laughing so hard at the end of her story that tears could be seen in her eyes. Crash, on the other hand, looked less than impressed. He gave Eddie, who had been standing shyly to the side all while Kate had talked, a quick, disapproving glare.
"I thought that playing dead in front of a crowd was a bạn and I thing," Crash criticized to him.
Eddie shrugged.
Kate, meanwhile, was too busy laughing to notice Crash's comment. Eddie watched her for a few moments like this, trying to catch her breath between rounds of giggles. A small smile of amusement played on his lips, and soon, because laughter is contagious, Eddie himself was laughing again with her.
Crash patiently walked back to camp at Eddie and Kate's slow pace. In hope that Eddie would get a hold of himself before they reached camp so that he could talk to him before then.
Gradually, their laughter began to die, much to Crash's relief. It was reduced to a short chuckle until Kate finally sighed, leaning her head slightly against Eddie's shoulder.
"Excuse me for my out burst," She said, " but I have not done an act quite has fun has that one before. bạn must understand, it was an extremely entertaining prank to pull,"
"I know," Crash responded through gritted teeth, "Eddie and I use to do it together,"
"You did?" Kate perked up, "So bạn know how fun it is, then,"
Crash grunted in annoyance. He could see the fire's red stream of flames through the forest bushe's leaves and smell the smoke.
"Kate," He said, turning to her, "Why don't bạn run ahead and wait for us at camp? Eddie and I will be there shortly after attending to some unfinished business between us,"
"Oh... OK," Kate said, walking ahead of them on the trail.
She turned back once to exchange a worried glance to Eddie, but was well along her way when he gave her a reassuring smile.
However, that smile faded from Eddie's lips when he turned to face Crash.
"What's up, Crash? What's this "unfinished business" between us?" He questioned, now serious and concerned.
When Crash knew he had his brother's full, undivided attention, he began,
"Eddie, I thought that last night bạn swore a promise to me that bạn would hang out with me regardless of Kate's presence now in the herd,"
"Yeah, so..." Eddie beckoned Crash to continue.
"Today," Crash informed him, "I woke up to find both bạn and Kate gone already. Never once through-out today did bạn hiển thị up until now to be with me. What about your promise?"
"Oh, Crash!" Eddie exclaimed, "I am SO sorry! I completely forgot. Don't bạn worry though, I'll make it up to you, you'll see. If I find the time, I promise we'll do some prank hoặc something, just bạn and me, tomorrow. I'm sorry, Crash. I really am,"
Crash, at first, had been quite upset that his brother had forgotten about him, but his cold grudge against Eddie soon melted at his apologies and pleads to be forgiven.
"Aww, Eddie, I forgive you. I know that bạn didn't mean to forget. I'll let bạn make up for it tomorrow,"
Eddie's sigh was filled with relief and he smiled, "Thanks, Crash! I thought that you'd be really angery at me. Tomorrow I won't let bạn down,"
Despite himself, Crash smiled back.
"That's the Eddie I know," He cheered.


"There bạn two are!" Kate cried, running up to Crash and Eddie has they entered the camp.
"I was getting worried," She added, her voice drifting thêm toward Eddie than Crash.
Her eyes lit up at an idea inside her head and then suggested it out loud to Eddie,
"Will bạn come and sit tiếp theo to me bởi the warm fire?"
"Sure," Eddie answered.
Before Crash knew it, Kate and Eddie had made their way over to the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy and taken a ghế, chỗ ngồi on the ground.
"Well, are bạn going to sit tiếp theo to them?" Ellie asked him.
"Eh, no. I'm going to go up in a cây to sleep tonight," He told her.
Crash then climbed up a small cây tiếp theo to Ellie and, wrapping his tail around a secure branch, let himself drop. He hung from it there, front to the fire.
Ellie looked surprised.
"Alright," She said, "I just thought you'd want to be with Eddie, that's all,"
When she turned away, Crash muttered under his breath to himself, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind being with Eddie, I just don't want to be tiếp theo to Kate,"
Coincidentally, after saying this, Crash looked up to see Eddie and Kate, already fast asleep, curled tiếp theo to each other. Kate, sleeping quietly on her side, and Eddie, his head resting on her back, using it like a pillow.
Crash shuddered at the sight of them together and soon closed his eyes so that the sight would no longer be visible.
What does Eddie see in Kate that I clearly don't?! Crash thought to himself in flusteration. And what is it about Kate that made him choose her over me today? Oh well, he thought, as soon has Kate finds her sister and leaves us Eddie will begin to act like his old self again and I'll get my brother back.
Crash told himself these things has he began to drift off into sleep. For, he was hoping Eddie would be the same again after Kate was gone, and hopes lead to dreams.
Before Crash was completely taken over be sleep's persuasive daze of black ink though, Crash's hopes were shattered bởi a startling thought: what if Kate never found her sister?


Sunlight spilled across the Nữ hoàng băng giá forest of the ice age. Crash smiled in his sleep at it's warmth on his body, welcoming the morning.
After a moment hoặc so of this, he yawned and stretched. Getting up, he rubbed his eyes open, blinking them in the bright light until they adjusted to it after being closed in the darkness all night.
He looked around, the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy was no more, it's remains were nothing but gray, lifeless ash in the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy pit. Manny was still sleeping a few feet away from him, Crash could see Ellie's large mammoth shape moving between the trees near-by, probably looking for thêm firewood already for tonight.
Crash lept down from the young cây he had slept in and traipsed over to where Kate and Eddie had fallen asleep last night. As he approached, he peered over the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy pit briefly only to find that, like yesterday, both Kate and Eddie were gone.
Crash stopped at this. Suddenly, he felt like something had stabbed cruely at his heart. Like Eddie and Kate had purposely left him behind. He felt crushed and that Eddie had abandoned him, deserted him in the dust while he and Kate had gone off to do better, exciting and new things. Has if he, Crash, was a thing of the past and too old hoặc boring to be bothered with.
Crash shook his head and laughed half-heartedly at himself.
"Eddie wouldn't leave me," He tried to convince himself, "he promised we'd do something today, just me and him. He just obviously wanted to spend some time with Kate first this evening, that's all,"
In spite of his attempt to cheer himself up, Crash still felt his tim, trái tim sinking lower into unhappiness and worry. What if Eddie forgets about his promise again today? Why did Eddie choose to spend his time with Kate first over him again?
To comfort these feelings of doubt and concern, Crash went to Ellie for reassurance.
When Crash dragged himself over to her, Ellie held a pile of thin, dry sticks in her thân cây to serve has firewood later today. She caught Crash coming up behind her from the corner of her eye.
"Hey Crash," She greeted him, "I was wondering when you'd wake up. Want to help me gather some thêm wood for the fire?"
"Eh, no thanks," Crash declined, "But, Ellie?"
"Yes?"
"Um, can bạn please tell me to where and when Eddie and Kate left?"
"Oh, Crash, they left hours ago, very early in the morning. Eddie đã đưa ý kiến something about sliding down a gaint snow hill, but other than that, I don't know where they went,"
"So, he didn't say anything about coming back later hoặc anything about hanging out with me afterwards?"
"No. At least, I don't think so, and I haven't heard from him since,"
"Oh,"
Crash slowly looked down at his cold feet in the snow, Mất tích in thought. The sunlight made the snow's white, crystal-like flakes glisten and shine on the ground around them. Likely making the dark dirt and fresh, green cỏ of spring jealous. Crash, however, was too upset to notice. How could Eddie just run off with Kate, for the một giây time, and leave him with no information?!
"You OK?" Ellie asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
Crash looked up, a little startled bởi her voice.
"Uh, yeah," He answered a little too quickly.
"Are bạn sure?"
"I'm positive!" Crash pretended, flashing a weak smile.
With that, he turned and walked off onto the sun-lit path of the forest. He did not turned back even once to see if Ellie was still watching him go off. For, he knew she was, he felt her pretty green eyes on his back, and did not want his cold, blue ones to meet them. Crash hated lieing to his sister, but he didn't want to worry her. Besides, what else could he say?


For the rest of that day, Crash, similar to yesterday, could be easily found strolling along bởi himself in the thawing wood of the ice age. Icicles melted from cây branches, dripping onto the slushy snow and muddy earth. These droplets of water fell around Crash, appearing to him like tear drops, splattering onto the warming ground. Crash talked to himself thêm than anything else he did that day. All words were used to help restore his confidence in Eddie's promise hoặc lead him to believe that Eddie will return for him today and not just come back late, when the ngày is done and over, for Crash to visit shortly with him.
"Eddie's true to his word," Crash would say while walking along, "he'll prove that to bạn today, Crash. You'll see. Eddie'll come up to you, perhapes later this afternoon, and he'll say, "What's wrong with you, Crash? bạn look pale and worried. Did bạn really think I'd skip up my promise for a một giây time? Oh Crash, you'd think living with me for all these years one would know his brother!" And then he'll laugh and say, "Come on, Crash. Let's do something fun and reckless, just bạn and me." Yes! That's what's going to happen. Then we'll have a grand old time, just like we use to. Get in a couple of good laughs and live to tell the tale! Yes! You'll see, Crash. You're mistaken about Eddie, he hasn't changed one bit,"
Hearing these words, even if they came from his own mouth, made Crash feel a little better about the situation and filled him with hope that these words were to be true.
As the ngày wore on, though, Crash began to doubt morsel bởi morsel. In fact, Crash found this to be one of the longest days of his life. The thêm he doubted, the thêm he hurt inside at the thought that perhapes, Eddie really didn't care about him.
Silently, the sky grew dark. Evening had finally arrived, but Eddie had not. The ngày was ending, and it was time to go back to camp. Crash slowly made his way there.


Weak and weary, Crash watched Kate and Eddie enter into camp bởi the dim firelight.
Kate immediately began telling Ellie about her and Eddie's latest adventure rolling down a wild, snow mountain, using cây bark like snowboards hoặc sleighs to go down at high speeds.
"Once," She raved, "Eddie and I both Mất tích control, smacked into each other, and then plunged into a huge snow pile on a ledge jutting out of the cliff. At first, we kept groaning about our sores and pains from when we slammed against each other going down the hill, but luckily, the snow numbed our pains and we couldn't help but laugh out loud at each other! We were so snow covered!"
Eddie chuckled along with them for a good while, adding pieces of the story as it were told that were first forgotten bởi Kate. Kate didn't seem to mind it when Eddie corrected her on these things, like most might. Instead, she appeared to enjoy it when he did. She would stand patiently to the side when Eddie talked, listening intently, and watching him with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Crash turned away in disgust.
Eddie, after a good deal of time, finally retired to the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy to get warm bởi it's hot flames. He stood, arms out near the fire, turning them and rubbing his hands together to get the chill from them. The bright ngọn lửa, chữa cháy reflected into his brown eyes when he looked up to see Crash opposite of him, sitting down on a rock near the fire, arms crossed.
"Well, hello there," Eddie smiled warmly at him accross the fire.
Crash glared up at him.
"My, you're sulky today," Eddie commented, hoping to make his brother laugh and brighten the mood for him.
Crash could see the reflection of the fire's flames flicker in Eddie's eyes.
"I have a good reason to be sulky," Crash replied coolly.
"Oh yeah? And what could that be?"
"Think. bạn know what it is,"
"I do?" Eddie was confused.
"Yes, yes bạn do. Just think now,"
Eddie thought deeply about this. How could he know what Crash was upset about? He hadn't been with him at all today, so how could he know? Then, it struck him hard and fast, like lightning.
"Crash!" He almost shouted with a stab of realization, " I promised you! Oh, Crash! I'm really sorry! It just escaped me! Went right over my head! Crash, I didn't mean to forget, honest, I didn't! I am sorry,"
"It's OK," Crash said, though his tone and the way he đã đưa ý kiến it told Eddie otherwise.
"No it's not," Eddie confessed, "I'll have to make it up to bạn somehow,"
"You don't HAVE to," Crash told him, glancing at Kate, "besides, at least bạn two seemed to have a good time,"
Eddie's eyes dropped down on the sad image of his brother. He felt terrible about letting him down like he did. He had ment to set time aside to accompany him today, but, it just seemed like everytime he was with Kate, he couldn't get his mind off of her and he enjoyed his time with her just as much as he would let it be Crash.... Maybe even more? Either way, how could he possibly explain his feelings about Kate to Crash? He didn't want to make his brother feel thêm upset.
Taking a deep breath, Eddie consoled, "Listen, Crash. I promise you, sometime, we will get together. We'll do whatever bạn want. I promise, but right now, I'm kind of busy,"
Crash looked up at him. Eddie quickly averted his eyes from his brother's gaze, ashamed that he had đã đưa ý kiến too busy as if he was too busy for his own brother.
"But we will get together again sometime. I promise," Eddie finished.
Crash looked coldly up at his brother. His stare was as cold as ice, but inside of him, hot anger was burning.
"Crash?" Eddie dared speak after a moment of receiving no answer, "are bạn mad at me?"
At this, Crash's hard look suddenly became soft.
"No, of course not," He lied sweetly.
Eddie sighed, "Well, that's good to hear,"
He made his way over to Crash on the other side of the fire.
"We'll get together again one day," He whispered, "I promise,"
Crash only nodded at these familiar words.
Eddie took his brother's nod as a nod of approval, and felt happy and good that things may begin to become right between him and his brother. He was about to hug Crash, hoặc at least pat him on the back, but then, feeling awkward, he just left, slipping through the shadows of the night.
"Yeah," Crash mumbled to himself, "sometime,"


Days went by, adding up to weeks, which made months like this. Everyday, Crash would awake to find that his brother had once again ran off with Kate, leaving him behind to spend the ngày on his own. Then, Crash would head back to camp and wait for Eddie and Kate's return arrival and listen briefly to them reflect how wonderful their ngày was, and next, he'd go back to sleep after another lonely, dark day. This is how it often was for Crash.
For the first few days, Crash pushed away his feelings about life like this to the back of his mind, thinking that Eddie was just in some wierd phase and it would end soon. However, has the days pushed on, he began to become thêm and thêm annoyed at his brother's behavior. Once, when he woke to Kate and Eddie's empty places bởi the ngọn lửa, chữa cháy one morning, Ellie even caught him roll his eyes before storming off into the woods. He would sulk, alone in the shadows each night when Eddie and Kate would return with exciting new tales to tell. Sometimes, when he got the chance, before going to bed, he'd say something small to Eddie like "good night" hoặc "hi". Eddie would then smile and reply in similar greetings such as "hey, Crash" hoặc "good night to bạn too". It was always a rather short conversation though. Crash kept this up has long as he could, hoping that it would help Eddie notice him more. It never did.
As the days rolled on farther and farther from the begining, Crash's hopes that Eddie and him would soon be able to have one full ngày to themselves began to gradually slow down. For, with each ngày that passed, the less likely it appeared to Crash that that desired ngày with his brother would happen. Eventually, Crash's hopes slowed down so much that they stopped, right in the middle of his heart. thêm time passed, and Crash began to realize that Eddie was no longer interested in spending time with Crash, and instead, had only one thing on his mind: Kate. The ngày Crash realized this, was the ngày his dream of Eddie and him re-uniting began to fade away. Leisurely at first, but the thêm Crash saw Eddie with Kate, and the thêm he heard Eddie talk about Kate, and the thêm he saw that clouded look in Kate's eyes when she laid her eyes admiringly on Eddie, the thêm rapidly Crash's hopes began to fade out. And the thêm fleetly those hopes dashed away from the center of Crash's heart, the bigger the hole they left inside of it. Which, was soon filled with a great mass of a cold, black, inky poison of the tim, trái tim and mind known as hatered.
The growing, horrid hatered that burned and fumed in his tim, trái tim was for Kate.
Crash hated Kate. Not because she was mean hoặc anything, in fact, she was actually quite kind to Crash. But because of how much Crash feared Eddie preferred her company over his.
On occasion, while strolling bởi himself in the white forests of the ice age, Crash would spy Kate and Eddie through the trees passing bởi as well. Normally, Kate would be laughing at a joke Eddie told her hoặc Eddie would be listening to some funny story of Kate's and they'd walk carelessly on with-out ever noticing Crash a few yards away. It was in times like these when Crash would pause and watch them walk out-of-sight and think to himself, "That should be ME walking beside Eddie, not Kate!" Crash couldn't help but feel that he was being replaced bởi Kate. He also came to believe that if được trao a choice between him hoặc Kate in a life-or-death situation, Eddie, with hardly any thought, would rather choose to rescue Kate, rather than him, his brother.
"Eddie thinks Kate's just so beautiful. Eddie thinks Kate is so much fun to hang out with. Eddie thinks Kate's this. Eddie thinks Kate's that. I've had enough of what Eddie thinks!" Crash cried out into the dense, frigid wood one afternoon.
His shouts could be heard echoing from miles around, slicing through the still air.
"Eddie thinks I'm not good enough for him anymore!" Crash blustered to himself.
Has the days slipped into weeks, Crash only continued to get thêm annoyed. Thus, becoming inpatient with Eddie to for-fill his already broken promises.
Crash felt cheated bởi his own brother's deals, crushed, ignored, abandoned, and worst of all; replaced.
Most of his days alone were spent wondering around the thawing forest. Water droplets melted off of trees heavy with snow as the sun warmed them to make spring. The air was still cool, however, and small blushing màu hồng, hồng hoa buds had began to appear on trees. Shadows of these numerous trees lay casted on the chilly ground in the afternoon and evening hours. It was here, walking through the shadows, Crash could be found.
Crash had never felt so lonely in his life before. Eddie had always been there for him in the good times and the bad. But now, with-out him, Crash felt like a lock with-out a key. A Mất tích key. A forgotten key that was thrown away and never to be recovered.
It was here too, that Crash built up his feelings of bitterness toward both his brother and Kate. With each passing day, Crash only grew thêm chua than the last.
"This is all Kate's fault!" Crash berated to himself, kicking hard at a small forest stone.
"If it weren't for her, Eddie wouldn't have left me. The idiot!" He fumed.
Crash had become flustered, hostile, and extremely đắng, cay đắng toward the situation. When all he ever wanted was his brother's friendship.


Eddie, on the other hand, felt no were close to Crash's moods.
He enjoyed his days with Kate. They were always filled with excitement and energy, in which he knew he would always remember fondly.
Eddie would have been thêm than happy to invite Crash to tham gia them on these adventures, but he had had no idea how much of an early riser Kate was.
During her first night with the herd, Kate had awaken at almost exactly the same time the sun's first rays of light slid across the Nữ hoàng băng giá land that morning. No one else was even up yet, including Eddie himself. To his surprise, however, shortly after she had woken up, Kate gently nudged him awake.
"Eddie?" She had whispered.
"Yeah?" Eddie breathed, only half awake.
"I think the others have already left for the day; it's so quite around here. Did I sleep in?"
Eddie looked out in the darkness of the morning. He could just make out the out-line of Manny, Ellie, and Crash's bodies, all still sleeping.
"No, it's early morning. Everyone's still asleep. bạn should be too,"
"But Eddie, how can I possibly go back to sleep now? A new ngày awaits us, why not start it?" Kate protested.
She took his arm and pulled him up to his feet.
"Join me," She asked him kindly, "I want to begin my ngày with you,"
Eddie, now thêm awake, gave in to Kate.
"Alright," He agreed.
Looking back on that day, Eddie did not know whether it had been Kate's sweet smile hoặc words that had persuaded him. But it was most likely a combination of both.
Eddie had honestly thought of inviting Crash to tham gia them that morning. He glanced over thoughtfully at his brother, who was curled up on the ground in a deep sleep. Eddie noted his peaceful breathing has he slept. How innocent we all look when asleep.
Kate came up from behind him.
"You can invite your brother to come along with us. I don't mind," She told him, fallowing his gaze with her own.
"No, that's okay, let's leave him. Besides, he looked pretty tired last night, we better let him rest some more," Eddie advised, believing that he was doing his brother a favor.
Since then, Kate and Eddie had decided to wake up early every ngày because it gave them the chance to get away and be alone with each other for the rest of the day. For this reason, Eddie never gave a một giây thought to inviting Crash to come along with them. He felt that these early mornings where his "special moment with Kate", has he called them and thought of them to be a time for only him and her.
As the days wore on, Eddie hardly ever thought of Crash. For, his mind was always stuck on Kate. He liked her kind and fun personality. She was always ready for anything and understood him so well. With each passing day, Eddie only found thêm reasons to tình yêu her. Not to mention she truly was a pretty cute girl, but every time he'd try to tell her this, she'd only blush and shake her head, as if she was afraid to admit it. Kate was alwyas there to comfort him and listen to his views. Never once did these two argue, for there was nothing to argue about. Eddie began to look phía trước, chuyển tiếp to his days with Kate thêm and more, and before he even knew it, Kate occupied a very dear place in his heart. As he did in Kate's. They Mất tích track of the days that went by, for every moment with each other was timeless. Every di chuyển was magic. The cringed at the thought of ever being separated and lived like heaven was on earth. All of the above because both Kate and Eddie were under a deep spell caste bởi the heart: Love.


Over a fortnight has gone bởi now since months have. Eddie and Kate can be found resting under the cool shade of an old oak tree. The shadows of the green oak leaves dance with the wind as the sun casted their patterns onto the opossums' bodies below. They lay side-by-side, enjoying the pleasant breeze and warm sun on a large, high, but sturdy branch Eddie had found when looking up at the cây from the ground.
Eddie smiled at the soft rustle of the leaves has the breeze swept between them. He liked how the wind ruffled his fur. Far from the ground in the gaint oak, he also couldn't help but feel as if he was also far from the earth's troubles. As if he didn't belong to the world being so far above it. He felt free from it all, and it felt good.
Eddie sighed, content with this piece of paradise and put his hands behind his head. He looked over at the angel, as he called her, to his left. The wind smoothed her silky lông, lông thú and the sun glistened off of it in a gorgeous golden light. Her expression was peaceful and her eyes closed in relaxation. Making Kate truly appear to have been a fallen Angel from heaven.
Eddie leaned over closer toward her. Her lips were so close to his, but he wouldn't dare Kiss them. He thought they were too pure to touch his.
The young opossum couldn't help but allow his stare to linger on her beauty. He wondered how on the first ngày they had met her, Crash's eyes missed such rare features.
A một phút slipped past the gates of time, and Eddie began to think that Kate actually may have fallen asleep. Until, then, Kate herself broke the silence of the afternoon,
"Lovely day, isn't it?"
Her breath still smelled sweetly of fresh blue berries she had ate with him earlier that ngày when he took her to Blue-berry Point. Crash and him had discovered the blue-berry bushes deep within the woods two summers ago. Each year, the bushes bursted with the most fresh and ripe blue-berries in the area, making it the blue-berry hot-spot. What luck that the two brothers had stumbled across the spot on accident, let alone be the only two to know it's exact location. Eddie remembered one summer ngày last year, he and Crash had gathered hundreds of these blue berries together and struggled to keep them from tumbling out of their overly filled arm loads has they carried them out through the woods. When they had finally made it back to camp, Eddie had nearly collapsed under his berries' weight! He recalled Ellie and Manny eating the juicy berries and begging him and Crash to tell them where they found them. But Crash and him had only grinned broadly and đã đưa ý kiến nothing, keeping Blue-berry Point a secret only between them.
Eddie, however, wanted Kate to be able to experience the berries' sweet taste with-out having to close her eyes. He didn't think it would be fair if he kept a secret from her, Kate. So he made her be an exception to the hidden place. He was sure Crash wouldn't mind. Why should he? They hardly ever hung out anymore anyways.
"Yes, yes it is lovely," Eddie enunciated in return, taking his eyes off of Kate briefly to take in the clear blue sky above, which he could only see through small patches of the oak's thick leaves.
Kate opened her dark eyes slowly to look upon Eddie. He was bởi far, the sweetest guy she had ever met. He was always so kind and thoughtful towards her, and never raised his voice for anything. In an odd way, she couldn't help but think of him as her hero. He had come when she needed help the most all those days cách đây when she was Mất tích and alone in that damp log in the forest. He had led her out of the darkness and led her into the bright of outside. Now he protected her and guided her. Kate also couldn't help but sense that if it hadn't been for Eddie's pleads, Crash would have never allowed her to come with them to meet their herd. Crash, he was so much darker and sulky than Eddie was. His piercing blue eyes seemed to be made of an unmeltable ice. Not to mention his nose didn't have that cute brown stripe down the middle of it like Eddie did. He was definitely her least yêu thích in the herd, but despite Kate's dislike for Crash she still remained to be nice to him. He was Eddie's brother after all, so maybe he wasn't as bad has she thought.
Just then, a slight breeze came through and a sweet scent drifted over to Kate: blue berries.
"Thanks again for taking me to Blue-berry Point this morning," She thanked Eddie, "You were right. Those berries really are delicious!"
Eddie's eyes dropped back down to Kate.
"You're welcome," he blushed, "it was nothing really,"
"Of course it was," Kate reminded him, "didn't bạn say bạn and Crash use to hang out there all the time?"
Eddie shrugged.
"Yeah, we use to,"
"Speaking of which, do bạn think Crash would be upset if he knew bạn showed me it? I don't want him to be angry with you,"
"He won't get angry at me for sure if he doesn't know,"
"But shouldn't he?"
"He wouldn't care anyhow,"
Pause.
Eddie wheezed out a breath of air has he moved his hands to the hàng đầu, đầu trang of his chest.
"Uh, can we please talk about something else?" Eddie asseverated politely.
"Sure," Kate đã đưa ý kiến back, "what would bạn like to talk about?"
"Eh, hmm," Eddie thought to himself.
"You falter?" Kate laughed.
Eddie grinned, "Hang on, I'll come up with something to talk about, you'll see,"
Kate admired the calculating tension in Eddie's face and the searching look in his light brown eyes as he thought.
"Oh! I know," Eddie exclaimed, sitting up.
But he had misjudged the distance between him and the edge of the branch because when he sat up, Eddie's body weight shifted to the side and he tipped over, falling from the branch.
"Ah!"
"Eddie!!"
Kate sprang to action, trying to grab hold of Eddie before he fell, but it was too late.
Eddie had fallen, crashing through leaves and scrapping against cây bark.
Kate peered down from the ledge of the branch they had been sitting on. She held her breath in hope that Eddie was not badly hurt. Her tim, trái tim drummed against her ribs in fear. Her eyes wide with concern has they searched down the cây only to find Eddie hanging bởi his tail on a lower branch. His eyes met hers and they had a playful spark in them.
"Ha!" He laughed, pointing up at her, "got you, didn't I?"
Kate let out her breath in a deep sigh. She didn't know whether she wanted to drop down herself to hug him because he wasn't injured, hoặc threaten to kill him once she got down there for scaring her like that.
When she saw Eddie however, his happily lit face, Kate knew she couldn't possibly stay mad at him. He had only pulled an excellent prank after all, and part of being pranked means being fooled.
She gazed deeper into those sharp, brown, sparkling eyes of his. Oh, how she loved him!
"Ha! So bạn did, bạn trouble-maker!" She smiled above him.
Eddie smiled back, relieved that Kate had understood it was just a joke. Then again though, Kate seemed to always understand him better than anyone else and seemed to know just what to say.
He continued to smile up at her, and has he did he recognized every detail of the Angel he had seen relaxing up in the cây before. Even how the sunlight caught against the tips of her lông, lông thú and made them appear to be set ablaze like a beautiful golden fire. Oh, how he loved her!
Kate lept down several branches of the cây to get to the one Eddie now occupied.
When she got there she stood, hands on her hips, eyes playfully narrowed.
"Eddie," She pretended to say sternly, "are bạn aware that bạn just about scared me to death?"
Eddie swung leisurely bởi the strength of his tail on the cây limb.
His eyes skidded up to meet hers.
"I might,"
Kate fought back the smile that wanted to creep up onto her lips.
"Do bạn know what we do to creatures who claim they might know about something, but really do know about it in these parts?"
Eddie faked a frightened look.
"No, and I think I don't want to!"
And with that, he scrambled down the cây at lightening speed, Kate not far behind.
They laughed has they raced down to see who would get to the bottom first. Shade. Sunlight. Shade. Sunlight flashed bởi has they went farther down where there was even thêm leaves.
Kate, being so close behind Eddie, reached out and grabbed his tail, pulling him back so that she could sprint ahead. Once this was done, Eddie, being just pulled back bởi this maneuver of Kate's, decided to do it back to be impish. Kate was not expecting Eddie to play the di chuyển back on her however, so when Eddie tugged on her tail, she was caught completely off guard, and therefore Mất tích her balance.
She shrieked and began to plunge straight down, Eddie tumbling behind her, for he had still had a grip on her tail.
Eddie grunted as oak leaves lashed at his face viciously on the way down. He and Kate both groaned has they smacked into cây limbs and twigs.
Gravity pulled them downward fast. Sooner then she knew it, Kate had already slammed down onto the rooty ground beneath the tree. Luckily, the soft cỏ and dirt had helped break the force of her fall.
She turned, Eddie then fell right on hàng đầu, đầu trang of her. Their lips met, and they kissed.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]