The area of Backyard known as Garden is where Thor’s family grew all their vegetables. By the time Jumper and Walden reached Garden, Walden realized he was much hungrier than he thought. Jumper encouraged him to try some of the leaves from the tomato plant that he was currently feeding on. Walden wasn’t interested. “I’m sorry, but I don’t eat leaves. I eat something very different.”
Jumper didn’t understand. Walden tried to explain that he needed to find a host soon as fleas feed multiple times a day from a host, and it had been a while since he had eaten. He didn’t really try to explain exactly what he ate. For some reason, he didn’t think Jumper would understand.
“So, what are you going to do?” asked Jumper.
“I don’t know,” said Walden, his face showing the fear and concern that was growing inside of him now. “I guess I’ll just have to wait for Thor to come back.”
“Thor?”
“Thor’s a dog. A big dog, in fact. And he’s carrying my family.”
A confused look came over Jumper as he continued chewing a leaf of a small plant. Walden was about to try and explain that Thor provided food for them, but before he had a chance, a big shadow came over them.
Walden turned quickly. He expected to find the source of the shadow. All he saw behind him, however, was a big brown wall of fur. Thor? That was the flea’s first thought. A closer look told him that it couldn’t be his big, furry host. The animal was a different brown, for starters, and its hair was different too. It was not as long and thick as Thor’s. It appeared to be more fine and delicate.
Walden glanced at Jumper who continued to munch on his leaf. He then looked back at the shadow-casting wall of fur. He had no idea what kind of animal he was looking at, but he quickly realized he was staring at its big, furry foot. Walden wondered what kind of animal the foot belonged to. It was definitely not a dog, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t a cat. After all, he’d seen the big Tabby cat around enough. In any cause, all he knew at the moment was that the animal had exactly what he needed.
Without saying goodbye to Jumper, Walden acted. First, he hurriedly hopped closer to the giant foot. Then, he launched himself. Walden jumped as high and as far as he could, and in the next instant, he landed safely upon the rear foot of the large cottontail rabbit. And just in time, too, for the rabbit turned and hopped away from Garden, leaving Jumper to continue devouring the nutrient-dense leaf of the tomato plant.
The young flea had no idea where the rabbit was going, but he didn’t care. He held on tight and started feeding.
The rabbit hopped and hopped, but Walden hardly noticed as he was too busy eating. The flea ate and ate and ate. Then, he ate some more. He ate until his belly was so full that he felt kind of sick. That’s about when the rabbit stopped moving.
Walden hardly noticed. His belly full and his eyes heavy, he soon closed his eyes and napped.
The rest felt good for the flea.
Until it didn’t.
The first noise made him open his eyes. The second one made him look around. The third one made him gasp.
Walden had never heard any of the strange sounds before. Not the grunting. Not the clucking. And definitely not the squealing.
It took a moment for his eyes to focus. In part this was because his eyes were still heavy with sleep. It also didn’t help, however, that he was now in a semi-dark place. He could see, but not too far and not too much.
Walden scanned his dimly light surroundings. He had no idea where he was, of course, but he wasn’t terribly frightened. Just a bit confused. Everywhere he looked, all he saw was fur—brown fur.
Before he could make any sense of where he was or from what direction the noises were coming, something else happened to the young flea in the semi-darkness.
Something touched him. Or, rather, something nudged him from behind. Walden didn’t have a chance to react, for in the same instant, a loud, angry voice said, “Get up and get out of my space, now!”
The deep voice frightened Walden. Turning, he found himself staring into the face of a significantly larger creature. He couldn’t see much, but in the little bit of light available he saw a small triangular head sticking out from a big round body that was held up by eight long, curving legs.
Walden jumped straight up in the air. By the time he landed, the reddish-brown insect moved even closer. That’s when Walden realized what he was looking at. He had seen a few ticks during his travels on top of Thor. His father had always warned him to stay clear of them as they were very territorial. “They can be pretty feisty when they want to be,” he’d told his son.
The tick, which had been eating for some time and was now quite engorged with rabbit’s blood, began pushing steadily against the young flea. Walden, unable to resist, felt himself moving further and further away from the spot on which he’d been resting.
“Get! Now!” came the threatening voice of the bullying tick. Walden gasped as he got a good view of the insect’s beak-like mouth.
“Okay, okay! I’m going!” cried Walden. “I’m going!”
Walden turned and hopped off the foot of the rabbit at once. As already mentioned, Walden had seen a few ticks before, but this is the first time he had ever met one personally. In that moment he pledged to never meet another—not if he could help it, anyway.
It took the young flea a moment to gather himself on the ground, which he immediately realized was not soft and grassy but hard and dirt-covered. The ground was hardly all that changed for Walden, however. Right away he realized that the place had suddenly grown a bit more lighted, and the source of that light was directly behind him.
He glanced all around and soon discovered something most interesting. The rabbit on which he’d been riding and eating and resting was not alone. In fact, there were quite a few others like it all lying around his rabbit host.
From Walden’s perspective, of course, it appeared that he was standing at the bottom of one great big wall, or ball, of fur. Here and there, however, he could see feet, legs, paws, eyes, and these long, droopy ears.
Walden, of course, had no idea that he’d ridden his rabbit host right into a rabbit den. Had he the inclination to explore, of course, he would have discovered that this den led into a rather deep and complex warren where many other rabbits nested.
At the moment, Walden could hardly be bothered with thinking about such things. All he cared about was getting back to his own home and to his family. And just now, he saw the chance to at least take a big step in that direction. One of the rabbits that been snuggled in with the rest of his family—a different one that Walden had come in on—was suddenly stirring. Then, he started moving. Most importantly, he was moving straight for Walden and the bright light that was coming from behind the flea. Walden didn’t hesitate. The moment the rabbit was close enough, he hopped as high and as far as he had ever hopped before. And in the next instant, he found himself sitting atop the back foot of the rabbit and heading for the den’s well-lit exit.
The flea held on tight as the rabbit hopped and hopped and hopped some more. The hopping continued for quite some time. To Walden, it felt like a lifetime. But eventually, the four-legged, floppy-eared creature stopped, and Walden found himself staring across the bright blue waters of Pond.