Written & Illustrated by: Laurie Trotman
There are many bodies of water in the world. Some are very large and some are rather small. To Timmy the Ant, a puddle seemed like an ocean! It had been raining a lot near Timmy’s home, which had created a lot of rivers and oceans. Classes were canceled, due to all the water, so Timmy decided it was time to go check out the nearby ocean!
He had learned about the Atlantic Ocean in school, so he decided to name his ocean the ‘Ant-lantic Ocean’! He thought the name was pretty clever.
The sun was shining, finally, when Timmy left the anthill. He had a fun sailor hat on and he also wore his fancy backpack with his parachute inside.
When he arrived at the ‘Ant-lantic Ocean’, he searched around for a suitable boat. He found a large leaf floating nearby, so he jumped onto it.
As he floated, gently at first, he found a stick that he thought could be used to steer his boat. He then imagined that he was a sea captain. In his mind, he saw himself with a captain’s hat and a big wheel to steer his large ship. He also imagined a big sail on his ship.
“All ahead full!” he shouted.
He could feel the breeze blowing his ship across the ocean. The waves were rocking his ship to and fro! He imagined the great adventures he could have exploring faraway lands and meeting new creatures.
Suddenly, his boat stopped, as it had reached dry land. He used all of his strength to pull his boat ashore so that it wouldn’t float away while he was exploring this new land.
Even though he wasn’t really in a new land, he was having fun imagining that it was. He found a blade of grass and pretended that it was a sword and he slid it through his belt.
As he walked around, he saw a large animal sleeping nearby.
He drew his sword and sneaked up on it slowly. “Ahoy there you!” Timmy shouted, “Stand your ground!”
The animal slowly opened one of his eyes and saw Timmy, standing proudly with his sword drawn, like he was going to attack.
“Who do you think you are, waking me from my nap? You know I could just smash you with my paw?” the animal angrily snapped at Timmy.
“Well, no!” Timmy answered. “I’m pretending to be a sea captain and that you were an animal that I could slay. I’m very sorry to have awakened and disturbed you, sir. My name is Timmy the Ant. What’s yours?” Timmy asked.
“My name is Leo the Cat. Now SCRAM!”
Timmy tipped his hat at Leo and went on his way….Quickly!
Walking a little further, he saw a dragonfly sitting on some flowers.
He thought that he had better take a different approach this time, so he didn’t draw his sword. He simply said, “Ahoy there sir, or madame, my name is Captain Timmy from the ‘Ant-lantic Ocean’.”
“Ahoy there, Captain Timmy! My name is Commander Dragon,” he chuckled, “from the Blue Skies Airlines.”
Timmy politely tipped his hat and said, “It’s very nice to meet you, Commander Dragon! How are the Blue Skies today?”
“The ocean was rather windy and it blew me to the shore of this strange land!” Timmy explained. He was hoping that his new acquaintance would enjoy some make-believe, too.
Commander Dragon smiled and said, “The sky was windy too! That’s why I landed early today. Since the wind has subsided now, would you like a ride back to your boat?”
“Well, that would be very nice, kind sir!”
“Then climb aboard and we’ll be off!
Timmy climbed aboard and they took off. Up, up, up they flew. As they flew, Timmy remembered that he wore his parachute backpack, so he yelled up to the Commander, “I’m going to jump now!”
Before the Commander could reply, or slow down…Timmy jumped and then pulled his ripcord of the parachute.
As he was floating down, he realized that he didn’t know where his ocean was and he may have jumped too soon. He was heading for a field of grass. Looking around, he saw his ocean and boat in the distance, but he knew he was too far away to steer his parachute there in time. He was just going to have to explore the grassy area on his way to his boat.
The grass was soft to land on. He folded his parachute, the way Dante had shown him, and returned it to his parachute backpack. He made sure that he still had his sword, then started walking toward the ‘Ant-lantic Ocean’!
Walking through the tall grass was like walking through a jungle for a small ant. He imagined that there might be wild animals in there so he kept one of his hands on his sword, just in case.
Suddenly, he heard a noise and felt a hot breath behind him. Timmy was so frightened, that he just started running as fast as he could!
He didn’t look back! He just ran and ran!
He thought it was a lion, a tiger, or something scary like that!
He kept running until he finally got to his boat. He jumped onto it and it started sailing…
Out of breath, but safely on his boat, he turned around and saw what was chasing him.
It was only a field mouse!
The mouse had stopped at the edge of the ‘Ant-lantic Ocean’ and was waving to Timmy!
It wasn’t a lion or tiger after all!
That was enough adventure for one day. Captain Timmy sailed his boat toward home. This was a fun day, but he was tired. He planned on writing about his adventures when he got home. He wanted to share them with his classmates when he went back to school. He decided he would title his story, ‘The Sea Adventures of Captain Timmy!’