The Adventures of Creech and her Friends Part 1

Chapter 4: Dusty Crophopper's Dream

    Years passed, and Creech grew into a lovely young teenager. She was still a great friend to all the folks of Propwash-especially with Dusty, who was by now 19 years old. Now Dusty had always been interested in air racing, because he had always watched it on TV. And he had always dreamed of racing in the Wings Around The Globe Rally, a racing competition where all the racers, the best of the best, fly all around the world in a single week. One evening, Creech, who was by now 17 years old, found Dusty sitting on the grass in his yard, looking at the stars. Hearing her, the crop duster turned around and saw her.

    "Hey there, Creech," he said. "Funny seeing you out this late at night."

    Creech was a little startled. "Oh! Uh, hey, Dusty. I actually came out here to ask you why you're still outside when it's, like, this dark."

    "Oh, I just like star gazing, that's all," Dusty replied. "Care to join me? I wouldn't mind the company at all."

    "Well, uh...sure," Creech replied as she sat down next to him.

    After a while of silence, Creech turned to Dusty with a curious look on her face. "Hey Dusty, forgive me of you don't mind me asking, but is it true?"

    Dusty was confused for a moment. "What's true?" he asked.

    "That you love racing," Creech said in a regular tone.

    "Oh, that," Dusty replied with a chuckle. "Yes, it's true. And it's not just me, either-Pocahontas, Cinderella, Junior, Kopa, and even Kovu love it."

    Creech chuckled softly, finding it amusing how a group of 6 siblings could love racing at the same time. "We love it so much," Dusty added, brining Creech out of her thoughts, "we would end up daydreaming during work. Of course, that doesn't made Leadbottom happy."

    Creech was confused. She had never seen Leadbottom before, let alone met him. "Who's Leadbottom?" she asked.

    "Our boss," Dusty answered. "He's  always lecturing us pretty much daily about daydreaming, but seriously, that's just coming from a guy who likes the smell of Vinaminimulch."

    " 'Vinaminimulch?' " Creech said with a confused expression on her face.

    "The fertilizer stuff we put on our crops to make them grow better," Dusty replied. "But whatever you do, don't go anywhere near that stuff. The smell itself is so bad, it'll make you reek for a week. And I know that because it happened to me once. Yuck."

    Creech chuckled. She remembered one time when Kovu accidently fell into that stuff during a game of hide-and-seek with Kopa and Junior. That silly cub had reeked of that stuff for about a week straight and had to sleep outside as a result. Deciding to change the subject, Creech asked, "So, have you guys ever traveled around the world?"

    Dusty's gaze turned to Creech, deep blue looking into blue-green. "Not, really," he admitted, "but that's what we've been wanting to do our entire lives-well, me mostly. I've been living here most of my life by now."

    Creech fortunately understood what Dusty was saying. "I've been wanting to see the whole world, to-besides seeing all the wonderful locations in world atlases and books. I've wanted to see it all in person for my entire life."

    Dusty smiled, happy that someone wanted to see the world as much as he did. After a while, he heard a yawn. Turning his head, he saw that Creech was getting a little sleepy. "Come on, Creech," he said. "It's time that we go inside, anyway. It's getting late enough."

    The only reply he got was Creech leaning on him and then falling asleep. She slept so deeply that she didn't move a mussel when Dusty carried her to her room and got her to bed.

......................................................................

    Two days later, Creech was sitting on the front steps of the house, talking to Kovu, who had just waken up from a nap, about her conversation with Dusty. "Well," Kovu said after a while of thinking, "you're born with magical powers. Why can't you just use those to transport yourself around the world?"

    "That's what I'm trying to tell you, Kovu-it's not gonna cut it," said Creech in a stern tone. "Besides, I have to find a different way of seeing the world. Using my magic to do it would just be a big waste of time and energy, anyway."

    "Well, I don't know what to tell ya," Kovu said, "cause I really don't have any-"

    Suddenly, he was interrupted by shouts of excitement that startled the both of them from their talk. Creech, still surprised, turned her head to see that it was just Kopa and Junior, who were both more excited than they usually were. After recovering from her shock, Creech decided to ask. "What's up with you two? You're both more excited than you usually are nowadays."

    "Yeah," Kovu agreed. "What's gotten into you guys?"

    "Well, you're not gonna believe this, guys," said Junior with a big smile, "but it's the Wings Around the Globe Rally! It's less than 10 weeks away and coming up fast!"

    Kopa nodded. "And also, I was just thinking," he added. "What if all 7 of us could enter?"

    Kovu was so surprised, you'd expect him to almost have a heart attack just by his expression. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Are you crazy? That's just the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard of! We'd get laughed at!"

    "First of all, we are crazy," said Kopa matter-of-factly, "but in the best way. Secondly, if we were doing it, it would just be to show that we can be more than just crop dusters."

    While this talk was going on, Creech was lost in her thoughts. Entering a around-the-world race? Maybe that wouldn't be a crazy idea after all. "Well, I don't know about y'all," she said, "but I'm entering this race."

    On hearing that, Kovu was anything but speechless. "Oh, come on," he groaned. "Now you're in this, too, Sis? Seriously?"

    "What's wrong with it?" Creech asked. "I clearly don't see anything wrong with racing."

    "I agree," Cinderella said as she and Pocahontas came by. "We're both entering, to."

    By now getting almost a little ticked off by where this was heading, Kovu glanced at Kopa and Junior-who were still excited. "Let me guess," he said. "You're both entering as well?"

    "Yep, we're entering also," Kopa said with a nod. "Dusty's entering to, so you don't need to ask him."

    Junior just nodded along with Kopa in agreement, too excited to actually answer Kovu's question, making Kovu face-palm himself. "Good grief," he said with a bit of a grumble. Looks like I'm out-voted, he thought.

    "So what about you, Kovu?" Dusty asked suddenly as he came along. "You entering, to?"

    Kovu nearly jumped. He hadn't expected Dusty to come up from behind him. But seeing that he had no other option, he said, "Oh, all right. I guess I'll enter to. But," he said as if in an afterthought, "if we ever get laughed at just for doing this, it'll be your and Junior's fault, Kopa, not mine. Got that?"

    But Kopa was too happy to listen. "Really?! Aw thanks, man!" he exclaimed, licking his brother happily on the cheek. "That'll be totally awesome! I bet you almost never do anything anyway!"

    Creech giggled at the sight. I bet that'll never get old, she thought as she went inside while Kopa and Kovu got into a friendly wrestling match with each other.

    As she began to read a Bible that Esmerelda had once given her in the light of her lamp, she didn't know that God was behind all this-and that one day, everything will change because of her decision.