CATNIP

Early one morning, while the rest of the herd was still asleep, Manny got woken up by his stomach (once again) and got up to look for food.

For a few minutes, he walked through the forest not far from the den, looking at all the trees in search of fruit, when he came across this funny-smelling plant.

What the… he thought. He leaned in to observe the plant more closely, when a hedgehog popped out of the ground.

"That's catnip" he said.

"What?" the surprised mammoth asked.

"That plant. It's called catnip."

"Why's it called catnip?"

"Makes cats all goofy or somethin' " said the hedgehog. "Just wanted to tell ya 'cause you looked curious. I'm goin' back in my hole." So he turned around and tunneled back in his hole.

Manny stared at the catnip for a while, wondering what exactly cats did when they got near the plant.

I wonder what Diego would do… he thought. Then, with a devious look on his face, grabbed a small trunkful of the catnip and headed back to the den.

The herd was just waking up when Manny returned, except for Sid, of course, who was snoring loudly on his rock-bed.

"Morning, Manny!" Ellie said.

"Morning, Ellie." Manny said, smiling. He glanced at Diego, who was lying down and licking his paws.

"What do you have in your trunk?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, just a little present for Diego," Manny whispered.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you!" Ellie said, grinning.

Manny smiled back at her, and turned toward Diego.

Diego stopped licking his paws. "Hey Manny." He said.

"Hi, Diego," Manny said back.

After an awkward silence, Manny spoke up.

"So… I was out looking for food today, and I found this plant."

More awkward silence.

"And….?" Diego asked.

"And I was wondering how you would react to it." Manny said, dumping his trunkful of catnip on the ground around Diego.

Diego dug his claws into the ground, and looked at the plant.

"Do you feel… weird?" he asked after a few seconds.

"No…" Manny said.

Then, Diego started sweating. Ellie eyed him suspiciously. "You okay?" she asked.

"I just feel kinda funny" he said.

Peaches came over to watch. "Uncle Diego look funny." She said, looking up at Ellie.

Then, Diego started rubbing his head on the ground. This made Manny chuckle.

"What's he doing?" Eddie asked as he and Crash walked up.

Crash started cracking up, which made Eddie and Peaches burst into laughing, too.

Ellie smiled, trying to hold in her laughter.

"W-What's going on?" Sid asked as he woke up, rubbing his eyes.

"Sid, look at Diego!" Crash said, laughing.

Diego then started purring loudly.

Everyone was laughing their heads off at this point.

"M-Manny! I feel so weird! W-What is this stuff?" Diego asked.

Manny was laughing too hard to answer.

Diego slowly stood up, his legs shaking uncontrollably. He had a goofy look on his face.

"It's so hot in here!" he said. "W-What's so funny?"

He was still purring, which was hilarious, so no one answered because they were laughing too hard.

After a few minutes of nothing else happening, the laughter slowly stopped.

"Okay, let's get Mr. Purrs-a-lot away from here so he'll act normal again" Ellie said as she wiped tears of laughter away from her eyes.

"Fine," Manny said, still chuckling. He grabbed Diego, who was still purring and shaking with that goofy look on his face, with his truck, and carried him outside the den.

Diego slowly returned back to normal. "Manny—do that again, and I'll kill you!" Diego said playfully. Manny smiled at him. Then, he walked back to Ellie. "We are so doing that again," he said.