Friday
Yet another day with baking sunshine and no rain. The soil of the pastureland
was baked so hard that the earthworms couldn't even get out on to the dry, dusty
surface;
and the ground beetles remained in their secret little holes deep underground.
If it wasn't for that sneaky drink last night; the little cub would have died.
Unless the rain comes, he might die yet.
The bedding from yesterday has been laid out in the woodland all day; and it
seemed to be a lot fresher now. It was carefully rolled up and returned into the
sett, so the badgers had something clean and comfortable to sleep on.
The adult badgers had been through the clearing, and were looking and
listening for any remaining wasps nests. They would be full of juicy grubs right
now; and they'd provide a useful meal if one could be found. That, though, was
the problem, they'd had the big wasps nest a couple of weeks ago; and they just
couldn't find another one. They even toyed with the idea of going into the other
woodland to see if there were any nests in the woods of the "enemy"
clan, who they were always fighting with.
Then there was a huge crash in the woodlands and bright lights. A groups of
drunks had crashed a stolen car down an embankment, and were cavorting about
throwing noisy fireworks and bottles around. There was loud music, and something
was on fire. Noxious fumes and angry sparks showered the woodland.
The badgers dashed back to the safety of the sett. The badgers stayed inside
the sett. They knew something was going on outside. They could smell acrid smoke
as it drifted through their sett; and there was more noise and disturbance.
Sirens and the hint of blue flashing lights.
In the early hours of the morning, the noise died down. Head badger went for
a careful look outside. Part of the clearing had been on fire, caused by the
drunks torching the car. The sett area seemed to be OK, but there was a lot of
mess. There wouldn't be as much to eat in this clearing for a while - for a long
while. The only saving grace were several tiny dirty, muddy puddles of water the
fire brigade had used on the burning car. The water didn't taste nice. In fact
it tasted pretty grim, perhaps even poisonous, but it seemed to be better than nothing.
Another two hours and it would be getting light. There wasn't enough time to
go on a full night-time patrol looking for food. The badgers would be hungry, and thirsty
for yet another day.
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