Chapter 1

Finally, some peace and quiet. A warm, orange light starts to pierce through the window, bathing the room in an epic glow. The two raccoons in bed don't seem to notice, as both of them are sound asleep and sub-consciously are enjoying every second, minute, and sometimes hour that they can take in. The whispers and heresy are true about parenthood; it is one of the most fortunate experiences of adulthood, but is probably the most demanding. At the end of the day, those little sacrifices are worth it when you see your son or daughter's growth, both physically and mentally. Baby's first words. Baby's first steps. Allowing your child to sleep in your room while they are suffering a fever. Your son's first base hit. Your daughter's first girl guides meeting. When the day winds down, you feel exhausted. But when that angel smiles up at you for your attention, it is an instant jolt of adrenaline.

As that low energy bar is getting recharged, another individual has different plans. That perfect piece of stillness is now interrupted by a high-pitched whine of a youngster that doesn't know any better. You just think that they play by their own rules. In the case of infant Justice Raccoon, he is setting the boundaries to his own drummer.

"Bert honey, can you get that?" asked a sleepy Lisa while lying on her side, trying not to open her eyes to instill her leverage on the situation.

After a moment with no response, she asks again.

"Bert, I was up last time at three am. It's your turn."

Another momentary pause comes, and mother has had enough. An elbow to the rib cage of her unsuspecting husband is a rude wake-up call for any raccoon, but it was not without fair warning.

"Oh…ouch!" as Bert temporarily grabbed his ribs. "Okay, okay! I'm going!"

Bert lazily picked himself off the bed and sleepily walked out of the bedroom. Justice's nursery is located two doors past the master bedroom, just across the hall from his older sister Cynthia's room. Fortunately for Bert, Cynthia is a pretty deep sleeper, so Justice's whaling usually goes unnoticed. As Bert enters the nursery, he could see a bright-eyed kit sitting up in his crib, waiting to explore the new day.

"Hey there lil' Jus," said Bert to his son after rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. "Could you have waited for another half hour? Your daddy needs his beauty rest."

Justice looked up at his father with a fondness and a giggle. He knew his parents well; his dad was always the one to rush to his displeasure, and his mother is the bad cop. He lifted his arms and started to whimper after Bert started dozing off against the edging of the crib.

"Okay, let's go," said Bert, snapping out of his haze as he lifted his son out of the crib.

Justice voiced his appreciation and started to laugh as his attention changed at the drop of a hat. As Bert was walking with him out of the room, Justice caught a glimpse of his favourite stuffed bear, which caused Bert to stop.

"Oh boy, we better not forget him!" said Bert as he bent down and picked up Ruffin, Justice's prized stuffed bear and playmate. "He needs his breakfast too, right kiddo?"

After a bubbly laugh, Justice agreed. Even though his circle of friends is very small at his age, Justice knows where his loyalties lie.

Once Bert started the coffee maker, Lisa got up about fifteen minutes later. She was wearing her housecoat, with her shoulder length hair out of its regular ponytail and a little ruffled. After only getting about four hours this past night, this isn't Lisa's greatest hour.

"I see you decided to get up after all," noted her husband with a hint of cockiness. "You're lucky; I was going to unleash my peanut butter waffles once again!"

Lisa's face soured by that thought. Even though she liked peanut butter from time to time, there were also some things about Bert that she could rather go without. "Peanut butter again? I'd swear Bert that you think it's the fifth food group."

"What? I thought there was only one; peanut butter and peanut products!" joked back Bert. "Okay, okay. I've got the coffee started. Is there anything you would like sweetheart?"

"I just need to wake up first. We'll wait until Cynthia gets up."

They didn't need to wait long to find out. About ten minutes later, Cynthia burst out of her bedroom with gusto. Now just about seven, she is starting to gain some independence through playing with her friends and other activities now. With it currently being summer, the whole forest was now her playground. "Good morning Mom and Dad!" boasted Cynthia proudly. She went over to Justice and gave him a playful nuggie on top of his head. "And you too, little brother."

Justice started to whine, but started to smile as he saw who it was.

"Ready for another day of fun kiddo?" Bert asked.

"You bet Dad," said Cynthia. "I'm going with Tyler and Roxy to my new friend Betsy's place today. We'll probably do some swimming and we'll play tag too, it's going to be fun!"

"Sounds like fun dear, but remember to stay in the shallow end of the pool," said Lisa carefully, not to disappoint her.

"We will Mom, and Betsy's older brother Reggie will be there too; he knows CPR and is a friend of Tyler's."

"Don't worry, Mom, Cynthia's in good hands; the Shorthorns are a very good family. I've met their mother at parent interviews once, she's a very nice woman who is thankful for our kids' friendship with their children," replied Bert. The Shorthorns are a cow family that moved to the Forest in the last year or so due to job opportunities. The father, Ross, is an auctioneer for a livestock company and his wife, Allie, is a teacher at Evergreen Elementary, replacing the retired Miss Primrose. They have three children; Milson, Reggie, and, Betsy. Their oldest son is a star football player at Mountainview High; with Reggie just completing Grade four and Betsy the same age as Cynthia.

"I remember running into Mr. Shorthorn once at Mr. Willow's and we started talking about the produce; seems like a nice guy," said Lisa. Then she changed the subject. "What would you like for breakfast sweetie?"

Cynthia looked bright-eyed at her father and stared back at Lisa. Lisa's face frowned as Bert and Cynthia looked at each other again and said together, "peanut butter waffles!"

"Oh no," sighed Lisa. "I guess you really are a Daddy's girl."

Once Bert made his waffles and Lisa made breakfast for Justice, they all sat down and started to chat about the upcoming day.

"What are you going to do today Daddy?" asked Cynthia in between mouthfuls of waffle.

"Well," began Bert, "I haven't given it much thought sweetie. I would usually be going to work today, but your uncle Cedric gave all staff the day off because we've been working so much lately."

"You know Bert," said Lisa, "the lawn needs mowing. And I think that the weeds need to be pulled in the garden, and…"

"I know!" exclaimed Bert before Lisa could finish, "it's been a while since I've seen Herman in the swamp. I don't teach him to read much anymore because I've been so busy lately. Today looks like a good day to visit him," finished Bert while looking outside the front window, showing the brilliant glow to the start of the day outside.

"Well, we do have stuff to do around the house," groaned Lisa, "but you're right. I haven't heard from him in a while, so that sounds like an idea. The weeds can wait another day. Besides, I wouldn't mind getting some sun today, and I could go see Melissa later…"

"I want to come with you!" exclaimed Cynthia.

"But I thought you wanted to go swimming with your friends," reminded Lisa. "The swamp isn't the safest place to be…"

"But Mom…"

"Listen to you mother," said Bert. "I'll show you the swamp when you're older. Go have fun with your friends lil' darlin'."

"Okay," replied Cynthia, not showing much resistance as she began eating her breakfast again.

After playing with his son for a while after breakfast, Bert started on his way towards the swamp. With Cedric having to tend to his own family now and Bentley enjoying most of his summers with Annie, he decided to go alone. After walking nearly five miles, he finally found the outer edge of the swamp, or at least, the smell of the swamp found him, as the heat of the day mixed with the rotting vegetation was coming together to produce a bittersweet aroma. Thankfully, the mosquitoes are staying away because of that same heat.

"Hey, the old raft is still here!" boasted Bert to himself once he got to the swamp's edge. He loaded the raft and was off to the races. The wood was wearing away somewhat, but is still solid enough to at least hold Bert's weight. "This sure beats those swamp shoes," he recalled, thinking back to the times of stumbling across the swamp's surface with mixed results.

The swamp hadn't changed much from what Bert could remember. Cyril and the pigs removed all the memories of oil exploration from it, so it looked just like the first day he and Cedric set out on their journey years ago. A few trees were either more slanted or completely gone in some spots, so the swamp is more wide open now. After about a half hour, Bert could finally see the big house in a tree that is Herman's home. "Great! Not much further now!" he exclaimed.

After ten more minutes, Bert reached the dock of Herman's house and proceeded to tie the raft to it. He climbed the ladder up to the house, and couldn't help but notice that the front porch looked a little…trashed. A few broken jars were strewn along the porch, along with some books. Bert just didn't have a good feeling about what he's going to see inside. "Her, Herman?" spoke Bert tentatively. "Are you here?"

Bert knocked on the door and after three knocks, opened the door. With Herman living so far in the swamp, intruders were non-existent. Or so he thought…

"Herman! Are you okay? Are you here?" asked Bert, starting to panic. The porch outside was just the beginning to what was inside. The table was overturned. The shelving in the kitchen was smashed. The curtains were ripped up in the bedroom. Bert commenced to check the house once he grabbed an iron rod beside the old stove to feel safe. After checking over the house repeatedly for fifteen minutes or so, he couldn't find any traces of Herman.

"This is really weird," said Bert. "Nobody has any problems with Herman. And being tucked away back here, he is hard to find." Bert stood there thinking for a moment. "I wonder if there are any clues to what happened to him somewhere…"

Bert began looking through the books lying everywhere, and found a book in the bedroom that had some pages missing in spots. It was from a book very familiar to Bert, called Jungle Adventure, the first book that Bert gave to Herman. "I wonder where these ripped pages ended up?" wondered Bert, skimming through the book.

With not much else turning up in his search, Bert started to get discouraged. "I better go to the police and tell Zoey about this." As his mind was in a different place, he stumbled on the mat at the doorway of the kitchen and chuckled a little. "It's good that I don't have any peanut butter vodka in me." Then he saw a piece of paper under the mat, which caught his attention.

"Let's see here," he said before he began to read the short note, which was tattered and damp. 'They want what I got. I hope someone find this before it too late.' Bert felt shivers go down his spine as he read it. For all he knew, this note could have been from yesterday, last week, or last month. "I better get going; I sure don't like the sounds of this," said Bert worriedly as he started rafting back towards the shore.