Final Excerpt from Nonna the Gnome
May 22, 2009When darkness fell they were still an hour or so from the farm, and they were all beginning to feel tired and depressed about the fact that they would not reach their home tonight either. Nonna felt very helpless as they began looking for somewhere suitable to sleep. She wanted nothing more than to be home, in her mother’s arms, but she would have to wait a few more hours to see her. Home was so close yet so far away and she felt such a frustration that she kicked the nearest tree, pain shooting up into her leg and she jumped around for a while inwardly cursing her own stupidity.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack in the forest not far from where they were standing. Mr. Tomtur and Nigel both instinctively grabbed thick tree branches off the ground to protect themselves. Nonna felt like she couldn’t take much more of this, and stared in panic towards the sound. The noise grew gradually louder, and then they heard a familiar voice grumbling:
“Someone ought to make bigger tracks in the forest. A horse could get injured with all this stuff hanging about!”
Sheridan’s beautiful brown head suddenly appeared between two giant redwoods and Nonna shrieked with joy. The horse was startled for a brief moment, but then recognized the group and bounded forward with happy steps.
