New Story Whale Chapter: A Mango Meeting 🥭
A new chapter in the story of a fruit bat named Bruce and a guinea pig named Ginny…
Howdy!
Very happy to be back today with a new chapter in the newest little Story Whale series. It’s been a bigger break than I would have liked, but Bruce the fruit bat and Ginny the guinea pig are back!
Funnily enough, I don’t actually have a series title just yet, but I will get on to that shortly!
If you missed it, here’s a link back to chapter one:
And here’s a link to chapter two:
If you’re new here, welcome! Please do feel free to subscribe to stay tuned (it’s freeeee!).
Now, please enjoy! 😊
The tumbling black bat landed with a big plomp and a wet squish, smack bang on top of a particularly rotten piece of forest floor mango.
Ginny leapt back out of the way. She dug her little claws into the ground, set to pounce like a fierce tiger. Whatever this creature from the sky was, they had no idea who they were messing with.
Bruce, meanwhile, was in a very different stance. A quite upside down and back-to-front stance.
His head was buzzing. He’d never taken a fall like that before. He was dazed and a little shaky.
It took a moment, but he gradually realised he was okay. And then he realised he was covered in rotten mango. Both of these pieces of information were equally great news.
Somehow, Bruce had found himself lying down on top of a perfectly foul open-splattered mango. In essence, he felt like the luckiest fruit bat in the world.
Without hesitation, he started feasting on the stinky stringy flesh and slurping up the pungent sludge.
Ginny watched on slightly mortified as this all unfolded. Flying creatures were fierce enemies of guinea pigs. Ginny had grown up hearing stories and warnings about swooping birds from the sky who could pluck up guinea pigs as if they were loose little feathers in a breeze. She had been raised to avoid big open spaces for that very reason and to always keep one eye skywards, just in case.
Eventually, finally, Bruce spotted Ginny. When he saw her, he froze, his heart racing from all of the sugar in the mangoes.
The two of them stared at each other for a long silent moment, neither moving an inch.
As the moment stretched on, Ginny’s instincts decided to take over.
Suddenly she leapt into action and struck like a snake, launching into the air, flying right at the mango-soaked fruit bat before her.
Bruce’s reflexes were slow and Ginny knocked him onto his back before he could so much as blink. Ginny was rapidly beating him with her paws like a prizefight boxer. Except in this case her boxing gloves may as well have been made of cotton candy.
Bruce lifted up his wing to shield himself. The strikes weren’t hurting him, but it was enough to make him feel very overwhelmed.
“Can you please stop that?” he asked finally, his voice polite.
Ginny kept going at him.
“I’m not trying to hurt you or anything,” Bruce pleaded. “I just want to eat this mango.”
Ginny wasn’t budging, instead continuing to whale on Bruce.
“We can share if you like?” Bruce added. “It’s a really good mango.”
Finally, Ginny stopped hitting him for a moment.
“You’re not going to fly off with me?” she asked hesitantly.
“Goodness no,” said Bruce.
“Promise?” Ginny insisted.
“I promise,” said Bruce.
Ginny got off from on top of him and took a step back, struggling to catch her breath.
“Why do you want to eat that anyway?” said Ginny. “It smells disgusting.”
“What? It smells amazing!” said Bruce.
With that Bruce took his chance and had another big bite of mango.
“My name’s Bruce by the way,” he said, speaking with his mouth full.
“I’m Ginny,” said Ginny.
She was looking up at the ripe mangoes still attached to the trees up above, shining now in the moonlight. She’d had a breakthrough.
“You know, I think we could actually work together,” she told Bruce.
Bruce wasn’t budging, still chomping down rotten mango like his life depended on it.
“Oh yeah?” he said, dribbling between bites. “If I’m being honest, I could use a new friend.”
In that moment their conversation was cut short by a rustle of leaves just behind them.
And so a new creature entered the fray…