WEB QUEST FOR A HEART OF GOLD
Published by Colette Brown at Smashwords
Cover Art
Illustrated by award winning artist - Margo Gracey
Bramblewood Studio
http://www.bramblewoodstudio.com/
Copyright © 2010 Colette Brown
This ebook is a Smashwords Edition licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold, reproduced or transmitted by any means in any form or given away to other people without specific permission from the author and/or publisher. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to the living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - Web Tumble
Chapter 2 - Turtlepad
Chapter 3 - Turtleman
Chapter 4 - Battling the Spiderbats
Chapter 5 - Fub Caves
Character dedication:
The Unicorn is named Bidou in memory of my loving dad: Dorima Fortier
A dedication to my mother: Cecile nee Frappier Fortier and her special love for the Christmas cactus and to my grandma Eleonore Frappier.
Turtleman, my hubby and best friend: Alistair James Brown a heroic wise survivor, photographer, animal whisperer and my personal chef.
Iancycle, a solar propelled turtle shell in honour of my first born, Ian James Brown, the writer, and computer router expert.
Davie, the polar bear dedicated to my youngest son: David Glenn Brown a cuddly bear still searching for his path in life.
The evergreen teddy bear tree is dedicated to “Bear” our loyal family friend Barry Hartford and his girls Laura and Lisa.
Dolphinbull’s character was created by my eldest grandson Dalton McPherson Brown the versatile Rescuer and Protector.
Major Ebud ‘s character was created by my grandson: Ethan McKenzie Brown: the Brain, the Warrior and creative thinker.
Fairy Molly’s character was created by my grand daughter: Darby Alexandra Brown, the poetic dancer with smiling dimples and a heart of gold in memory of her first dog Molly. Robin who is Darby’s best friend created Bobbin’s character. Both their moms Susan and Lisa and their moms were childhood best friends. History repeats itself.
Sharpish is the word, my youngest grandson Garrett Edward James Knudsen Brown used to refer to sharks and fish. He faces life with mild autism.
Fairy Sascha is dedicated to my husband’s new found family: Margaret Erma Baldwin, his birth mom: her favourite niece: Heather MacMurray and her three daughters: Georgia, Dallas and Jessica who has a daughter Sascha both are bravely battling Lymes disease.
Kathy, the golden Albino Leopard Gecko depicts my true friend Kathy Joyner’s battle to the end. Also dedicated to Cathy Carr and her mom Marilyn a great mom and daughter team.
The world of Shep Lizards to acknowledge Shep, our golden retriever, a special skills dog trained to assist my husband who is confined to a wheelchair.
The flowers daisies are my favourite flowers dedicated to Samantha and her girls Abbigail and Barbara
Special thanks to my sisters: Rachel Weeda, Madeleine Boznar and Lina Crawford who contributed childhood stories to be included in this book.
Darling Daisy puppy to our Morky puppy named Daisy, a hearing dog.
The Fub Caves is dedicated to our rescued African Sulcata tortoise named: Fub.
The Jackpad is dedicated to Jack Daniel, our yellow Labrador retriever, Jim’s retired service dog.
Moose Bay is dedicated to my totem animal and to Ginger Snap.
Chapter 1 - Web Tumble
On this Thanksgiving weekend, Dimples invites her best friend Bobbin for a sleepover in the Pink Princess room. Dimples’ older brother, Ebud invites their cousins Dbagel and Sharpish who loves to wear a red tuque, to sleep in the black, white and silver Warrior room.
The boys and the girls argue over everything: a cap, a scooter, an ipod, and ipad, a PS3 computer game. But today it is about who will sleep with their morky puppy named Daisy. They share a bathroom between the two rooms and eventually agree to let the dog decide. They agree to leave the doors open, at each end of the washroom. Darling Daisy goes back and forth and eventually settles with the girls and cuddles with them in bed!
Bobbin and Dimples are blood sisters. Bobbin is one year older than Dimples. On this night, before falling asleep, Dimples argues with Bobbin that she is older. She remembers Fairy Molly teaching her wish magic: Dimples, sing a magic wish. “If you will it hard enough what you wish will come to you! Close your eyes with a soft touch…wish magic will come to you!” If Dimples wills it hard enough, she magically will wake up in the morning, three years older. That means she will be one year older than her brother Ebud. Now she will have power over him and over her blood sister Bobbin. “They are not the boss of me anymore! I am the boss of me!” With a heroic smile, she kisses her puppy goodnight and falls fast asleep.
The boys overhear this conflict and snicker. They want to be as far away from the girls, as they can. They are having fun playing computer games and talking about ways to be together, forever! The oldest one, Dbagel, thinks they can transform themselves into web characters, in a game, meet at level one of the game and start their adventure together. This way, he can live forever with his young stepbrother Sharpish, instead of being separated by thousands of miles. Sharpish and Dbagel share the same dad but are raised by different moms. “How often do your see each other?” asks cousin Ebud. ”One long weekend at Christmas and one week in the summer!” “Not fair, I see my sister every day of the year; except for one week overnight camp in the summer! I have to always watch over her. I need some time away and we need more time together!” On this note, the trio agreed. They need to build their own raft and float away for an adventure of a lifetime.
Ebud, the brain, comes up with a great idea: together they will tumble into a web site, create their own characters away from his sister, the girls and be forever linked to his cousins Dbagel and Sharpish. No more rules! No early hockey practices! No more teary goodbyes! Yippee! “The web is a perfect hiding place with a hole in the middle; who will tumble into the hole and who will be trapped in the web?” asks Dbagel. Ebud says: “I want to be a warrior, named Major Ebud!” Dbagel says: “I want to be your sidekick, Dolphinbull. I will transport you over land and sea and protect you and the little one, Sharpish, his autistic brother.“Just think of the adventures we can have together.” Ebud then says: “We will fly and swim away to a place called, Quantum Turtleweb. “What about the girls?” “They are fast asleep…” says Dbagel. “What about our puppy Daisy?” Sharpish asks. “Once we are sure the girls are asleep, I will crawl to the Princess room and bring Daisy, our puppy with us.” When they no longer hear any giggles from the Princess room, they call Daisy to their room with the promise of a treat. Together, the boys tumble into the web with Darling Daisy, leaving the girls caught in the web of their dreams.
Chapter 2 - Turtlepad
Daisy, the puppy, Major Ebud and Sharpish, on the back of Dolphinbull enter a dense forest, in the land of Turtlepad, to find the heart of stones in the middle of the lake where turtles usually swim. For a week or two, the stones remain undisturbed, in a perfectly shaped heart pattern! How will they get to the bottom of the lake to access the buried treasure in the middle of the heart of stone? Major Ebud cannot dive that deep, even though he swims like a fish. Dolphinbull can dive to that depth but he is clumsy, a lefty and too powerful. He would disrupt the stones and they would loose their marker. Sharpish is small enough, agile enough, skilled enough that while he travels to the bottom of the lake, he will not make a ripple.
Sharpish ventures to the bottom of the lake; he finds a key buried in the middle of the heart of stones. He grabs the key, and puts it in his mouth, and swims back to Ebud and Dolphinbull and together they try to figure out what treasure this key will open. With this key, they can now enter level two of this game and continue their adventure together they enter the world of Shep Lizards. They notice a golden leopard gecko, six inches in total length, with small claws good for digging. So they invite Kathy, the gecko, to help them find the lock that matches their special key. They encounter many scary dinosaurs and cave creatures that prowl this land during the day. They decide to travel during the night with very little light except for the sparkling stars and the magical lanterns of the fireflies.
At night, Major Ebud battles the giant Spiderbats with his mighty sword and protects Daisy and Sharpish while Dolphinbull lies down on a bed of wild daisies and remembers that Fairies teach a magic wish.
“If you will it hard enough
What you wish will come to you!
Close your eyes with a soft touch
Wish magic will come to you.”
Major Ebud looks up at the sky and sees a metal bronze netting structure surfing in the sky. Dolphinbull sees a wild frantic Unicorn trapped inside calling for help! Then he notices a spiked collar with a lock around the unicorn’s neck. Maybe the special key will free the Unicorn. Bidou is his name. How can we access this lock? Dolphinbull and his buddies cannot fly. Who can help them reach Bidou the Unicorn? “What we need is a bird lizard dragon or wave power to transport us to rescue the Unicorn.” Sharpish pipes up and whispers: “Maybe we need to tame the Spiderbats and climb on their backs and fly to the trapped Unicorn.” Major Ebud has an idea. He approaches Kathy, the leopard gecko and asks her to become bait for the Spiderbats. When frightened the leopard gecko can drop its tail. The detached wriggling tail distracts the predator, and the lizard can escape and hide in the hairs of the spiderbat and fly to the unicorn. If the key fits the lock, Kathy the leopard gecko can hitch a ride back to Major Ebud and his buddies. The plan sounds possible but if the key does not fit the lock, the leopard gecko and the Unicorn will be trapped in the metal netting structure, up in the sky. Who else can they call on? While they continue to brainstorm, Daisy the puppy starts barking! She hears in the distance faint, frantic calls, “Daisy, Daisy where are you? All they can see in an upside down green turtle shell gliding in the sky.
Chapter 3 – Turtleman
What a dream! The girls transform into twin fairies! Dimple magically blossoms into Fairy Molly; her blonde, sandy hair has pink and blue streaks. She is wearing a blue, pink and yellow dress with light green straps of turtle designs. She wears purple lipstick and has sparkling wings and lives in the prettiest and grandest glass house in the shape of a hummingbird feeder. Fairy Molly loves poetry, rhymes and teaches wish magic.
“I dream my dreams of you too long.
To only sit and watch them fade
To keep the world from all their wrong
I will just play this new charade!
Bobbin transforms into Fairy Sascha, her long brown, wavy hair with bangs has green streaks. She is wearing pink lipstick and multi-coloured lashes. She models a green, yellow and pink dress, velvet petals for her bottom skirt and a turtleneck top with a variety of dancing flowers. Her home is made of an upside down turtle shell umbrella open to the whole world. She has rescued a polar bear called Davie. Together they are floating on a cloud, making snow angels and giving refuge to all the endangered polar bears displaced from planet earth.
On this weekend the twin Fairies meet Turtleman and Turtlette. They have a web site: http://www.turtlehouse.ca/
The twin fairies offer to help them rake pretty coloured leaves. They jump, twirl, dance and tumble freely in the leaf piles. They collect the most glamorous ones and decide to go from house to house on Turtlepad to sell them for a penny each. With their wish magic, they plan to turn the pennies into a pot of gold. Together, they want to solve the secret code that will help them find the flower with the heart of gold. “What flower can it be? I remember observing earthlings playing with daisies, removing one petal after another chanting: “He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! Maybe that is the flower, with the heart of gold. You sure can find the love of your life!” says Turtlette. “It’s a flower to brighten your Spring-like day! ”In contrast, the Christmas cactus needs thirteen hours of uninterrupted darkness to bloom. Turtleman interjects, “have you thought of a native flower in South Africa known as “crane” flower, also known as Bird of Paradise, this is Turtleman’s favourite flower. This flower means happiness and hopes that all creatures of the universe always smile!” “What about Popie, the Parrot flower of Thailand? It is so rare, only found in small part of north Thailand, in Burma and in one territory of Eastern India!” exclaims Fairy Molly. “Or my very unique flower, the Delphi, the blue rose?” asks Fairy Molly. “It has been genetically engineered in the 20th century with a change in the measure of the acid of the solution in the rose flower cell. Now Fairy Molly sings: