Story #28: Fred the Toucan

Fred the Toucan

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Fred the toucan, was a very simple bird. He liked Flying, cawing, pecking at stuff, and most importantly Cheerios. His love for all these things are what led 

to him being best friends with Bert the mouse. 

The story begins with Fred flying high above the jungle, looking for a place to rest. While Fred was flying around, Bert was scurrying away from a very fat, angry wild boar, named Henry. Henry was chasing Bert because he had been stealing Henry’s fruit from the watering hole. 

While events on the ground were taking place, Fred saw what was going on and being the toucan that he was, decided to go and help Bert. So Fred swooped down and snatched Bert up in his beak, but while doing so Henry had bit Fred in the leg. After dropping Bert off at his home, which was in a tree trunk, Fred decided to go to the local watering hole. He was here for one reason, to find Vernon the Crocodile, because he knew this was the one person who could take care of Henry.

In the days to come Bert and Fred had become close friends, Fred sometimes flew Bert around the jungle so Bert could find himself a new tree to make home in, since Henry was out to get him. Fred didn’t have to worry about Henry, he had bigger problems like Jerome the jaguar, who had once lived in Fred’s tree, had just gotten out of captivity and wanted his tree back. Fred had no idea what to do about Jerome since he already had Vernon taking care of Henry. 

One day Fred and Bert were flying around and had come across a plane that had wrecked in the jungles long ago, so Bert and Fred decided to search it. They came across this box full of round loop shaped things, so Bert took a nibble of one and loved it. So Fred decided to try one too and loved it, and there were hundreds of boxes on the plane. Bert and Fred didn’t know what they were but they had the word Cheerios on the front, so Fred and Bert decide to take three boxes home.

Later that day Jerome had come by the tree and requested to talk to Fred. Fred was reluctant to talk to Jerome, cause he thought he would for sure get eaten. Bert and Fred showed Jerome the cheerios and told him he could have a box if he let Fred have the tree. Jerome agreed to this deal, since everyone loves cheerios, and then he went to find his own tree. Little to Bert and Fred know that someone was watching them, and they knew that they had cheerios.

About a week or so later, Fred and Bert ran out of cheerios and went to get more, but when they got there, they were gone. Bert and Fred went home depressed and in the weeks to follow had sugar withdraws. Fred became bitter and eager to get cheerios and Bert had gotten lonely and sad without Fred to keep him company. Then one day when Bert was walking around town he saw Henry carrying a box of cheerios, he instantly knew that these weeks had been payback.

Bert waited and waited outside Henrys house for hours waiting to see where he hid the cheerios, then Bert noticed that Henry was no longer home, where had he gone? Bert looked all over then realized Henry didn’t leave the house above ground. So Bert went to work finding where the tunnel came out at. He found it about a mile or so away near the plane.

He found the stash of cheerios back at the plane, and went to town to get Vernon. So with Vernon behind Bert went to the plane and found Henry there eating the cheerios. Henry tried attacking Bert but Vernon slapped Henry with his tail, then ran him out of the jungle, Henry was never seen again. 

Bert had gone back to town to find Fred to tell him that he had found the cheerios, and when he did Fred didn’t believe it. Fred followed Bert back to the plane and when he saw the cheerios he couldn’t believe it. Fred apologized to Bert for being so mean the last few weeks and they went back to being friends, in fact they were now best friends.