Raccoon had spent hours making sure her house was safe from everything Hedgehog said she should worry about. She sat down in her favorite chair and sighed. Then she noticed Beaver’s book on the table beside her chair. The book that had the picture of the tree near Otter’s house.
“Oh, right, that’s what I was going to do,” she said. “I have to solve the mystery of how Sloth got here to the forest. I’ll go see Sloth right away.”
When Raccoon arrived, Sloth was wide awake, which was a bit of a surprise. “Hello, Raccoon,” smiled Sloth. “It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?”
“Hi Sloth,” said Raccoon. “Um, yeah, nice weather. Hey, do you remember what we were talking about the last time I visited?”
“Sure I do,” said Sloth. “That idea of yours about waking up in a place I dreamed about. It’s a great idea, Raccoon. I’ve been using it to travel all over. I dreamed about that ship, woke up there, and got to visit my friends Wharf and Bilge. Then I dreamed about Hare’s house and woke up there just in time to have some tea cakes, right out of the oven.”
Raccoon stared. “REALLY?” she said. “You’ve been…it works and…you woke up in Hare’s house?”
Sloth grinned widely. “No,” she said. “I was just kidding you, Raccoon. Come on, this is a crazy idea.”
“Hmph,” humphed Raccoon. “If it’s so crazy, Sloth, then you explain how you got here.”
“I can’t explain it,” said Sloth, “but things happen all the time that we can’t explain. Have you heard some of Otter’s jokes? Or what about this very forest? How come there’s only one of almost every animal here, so we just call the squirrel ‘Squirrel,’ and we just call the raccoon ‘Raccoon’? Can you explain those things?”
“Um…” began Raccoon. But just then Squirrel, who was hurrying past and had overheard what Sloth was saying, said “Theory of Narrative Causality, Sloth. Explains all that stuff. Sorry, can’t stay, gotta run.” Squirrel launched himself through the air and landed in the next tree.
“Theory of what?” asked Raccoon. But Squirrel was already gone.
“Narrative Causality,” smiled Sloth.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t have the foggiest idea,” said Sloth. “You’ll have to ask Squirrel. But do it privately please. Squirrel’s tail gets all twitchy when he spends much time with me. But excuse me, Raccoon, I think it’s about time for my nap.”
“Oh,” said Raccoon. “Sloth, are you sure you won’t just look at this picture? Just to see if maybe you dream about this tree, and maybe we can find out how you got here?”
“Oh all right,” said Sloth, yawning. “Show me the picture, Raccoon.”
Raccoon leafed through the book until she found the picture of the tree near Otter’s house. Sure enough, you could see Otter’s mudslide in the background. “This tree isn’t all that far away,” explained Raccoon. “It’s over by the river. Take a really good look, Sloth, and try to have a dream about it. Maybe that’s where you’ll wake up.”
Sloth studied the picture. “Got it,” she said. “I’ll TRY to dream about it, whatever it means to try to dream. Now leave me alone, Raccoon, I’m sleepy.”
Raccoon started to say something, but Sloth was already asleep.
“Good,” said Raccoon to herself, closing the book quietly so as not to wake Sloth. “Now I’ll just go to Otter’s and wait for Sloth to appear.” She climbed down and hurried home, where she left Beaver’s book, then set out for Otter’s house.
When Raccoon arrived at Otter’s house, Otter and Muskrat were playing on Otter’s mudslide. “Hey, look, it’s Raccoon!” yelled Muskrat. “Come try the slide, Raccoon!”
“Can’t, thanks,” said Raccoon. “I’m doing an experiment.”
“What’s a ‘speriment?” asked Otter.
“It’s like a test,” said Raccoon. “I’m trying to find out how Sloth got here to the forest.”
“I hate tests,” said Muskrat. “Sliding’s way better.”
“You can’t ‘speriment and slide at the same time?” asked Otter.
“I don’t think so, no,” said Raccoon. “I have to keep watch over that tree just over there. And when Sloth wakes up and appears on one of those branches, my experiment will be a success.”
Otter blinked. “Appears on one of the branches? You mean like appears out of thin air?”
“I guess so,” said Raccoon. “You see, Sloth looked at a picture of that tree before she went to sleep, and she’s going to try to dream about it. Then if everything goes the way I expect it to, she’ll wake up in the place she dreamed about. And I’ll be right here to see it.”
Otter blinked again. Then he started laughing so hard he fell over. Muskrat climbed out of the river and said “what’s so funny?” Otter was laughing too hard to explain. Pretty soon Muskrat started laughing too, because the way Otter laughed made everybody want to laugh.
Raccoon rolled her eyes and stomped toward the tree. “Shows what they know,” she muttered to herself. She found a comfortable place to sit to watch the tree. She knew Sloth’s naps could last a long time, so Raccoon settled in to wait.
