The sun rose over the mountain top sending its beams into the pig’s living room lighting the room, and waking up Bobby and Billy who slept in their chairs all night.  Bobby was the first to wake-up, rubbing his eyes he called to Billy to wake up and start breakfast. Billy responded by telling Bobby it was his turn to cook breakfast.  Agreeing that it was his turn, Bobby got dressed and went into the kitchen.  Just as he was getting a pot to make some oatmeal there was a knock on the door.  Looking out the window he saw Amanda standing on the porch, with a picnic basket in her hand.  Bobby opened the door and invited Amanda in.

“What’s in the basket?” he asked hoping Amanda brought them breakfast.

Smiling, Amanda told him that he and Billy had worked so hard on the pool, she thought it would be nice if they didn’t have to make their own breakfast, so she brought them waffles, blueberry muffins, ice cold milk and orange juice.

Bobby thanked her for thinking of them and thought to himself that because of Amanda’s generosity he wasn’t going to have to make breakfast.

Billy walked into the kitchen and saw Amanda placing everything on the table. Smiling he said good morning to Amanda.  Then turned to Bobby and told him that he sees that he lucked out again and didn’t have to make breakfast. Laughing, Bobby said he didn’t know Amanda was coming over and he was willing to make breakfast.  To that Billy replied, that he’s glad Amanda brought breakfast because Bobby wasn’t that good at cooking.  

Amanda laughing at Billy’s statement told the boys to sit down and eat so they can go down and check-out the pool.  The boys were really excited about getting down to the pool so they ate breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen. Ready to go they lock the door and headed down the trail to the swimming pool.

As they came down the trail towards the pool they could see Randy and Raymond standing by the pool.  Raymond was scratching his head as they walked up.

Bobby asked him what was wrong.

“Look,” Raymond said, “Look at the pool,”

“What’s wrong with the pool?” Billy asked.  

Amanda stood there staring. “There’s no water in the pool” she said in disbelief.

Just then Brownie and Marvin came walking out of the woods, “Is everyone ready to go swimming” Marvin asked.

“We’re all ready to go swimming,” Randy replied, “but there’s no water in the pool,”

“Where did the water go?” Brownie asked, “Is there a leak in the pool?”

“No” Raymond replied, “I checked the liner and there are no holes in it,”

“Then where did all the water go?” Brownie asked.

“No one knows,” said Amanda.

“Maybe we should go tell Professor Fir,” Billy added to the conversation.

They all agreed and headed up the trail to The Professors house.  When they got there The Professor was just coming out and was surprised to see so many of his Woodland friends standing outside his house.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We have a mystery,” Bobby replied, “There’s no water in the pool and there are no leaks in the liner.”

“Well that does sound like a mystery,” The Professor agreed, “and I think we should go down to the swimming pool and investigate.”

Everyone agreed and they took off down the trail following The Professor. When they got to the pool, The Professor started to look around and found some very large footprints by the far edge of the pool near the tree line.  He turned to the group gathered around him and told them that he thinks someone came and took the water the night before.

“What should we do?” Billy asked The Professor.

The Professor tells Billy that they’re going to fill the pool again and then watch it at night to see who’s taking the water.  Everyone agreed that The Professor had a good idea.

They refill the pool which took almost the rest of the day. Once the pool was filled The Professor told everyone to go home and have dinner and meet him back at the pool at sunset.  Bobby asked Amanda If she would like to have dinner at their house.

“I’d like that very much,” she replies.

Bobby tells her to call her mother and tell her she’s eating over their house so she doesn’t worry.

Billy turns to Bobby and asks him if he’s trying to get Amanda to cook diner for them.

“No,” Bobby replies, “I’ll be a gentleman and cook diner.”

Bobby asks Professor Fir if he’d like to come for dinner, and he tells Bobby that he would love to have dinner with them.  

By the time they finished dinner and cleaned up the dishes the sun was going down.  Billy locked the door to the cabin and they walked down the trail to the swimming pool. When they got there Brownie and Marvin were waiting for them.

“What’s the plan?” Marvin asked The Professor.

“Well,” The Professor replied, “I think we should all find good hiding spots around the pool and wait and see what happens.”

They all spread out finding hiding places in bushes, and behind rocks and trees, where quietly they waited.  Billy and Amanda were on the right side of The Professor and Bobby was to his left. The Professor whispered to everyone to keep their flashlights off so they don’t scare away who ever is taking the water.

A little while had passed when Bobby whispered to everyone to be very quiet, that he hears something coming through the woods.  Billy and Amanda moved closer to The Professor.

“What is it?” she asked The Professor, “it sounds very big.”

The Professor turned toward Amanda, but before he could speak Bobby popped up between them. “I’m not staying over there in the dark by myself,” he blurted out.

“What a sissy,” Billy said laughing at Bobby.

“I’m not a sissy,” Bobby replied, “and if your so brave why don’t you go over there in the dark.”

Laughing Billy said, “I may not be that brave, but I’m not that stupid.” Adding that whatever was coming thru the woods was very big and it sounded like it was dragging chains.

As they watched they could see the trees being pushed back by what ever was coming towards them.  Bobby tugged on The Professors’ sleeve, and whispered that what ever it is there are two more of them just as big behind it. Amanda moved closer to Billy.

“This is getting very scary,” she whispered to him.

“I’m glad Brownie and Marvin are here, because they’re big and strong,” Billy answered back.

Just then three big shadows came out of the dark and moved up to the pool. The sound of the dragging chains even made The Professor nervous; he had never seen anything like this in all his years in the Woodland.  They could see the large shadows moving around by the pool and they could hear water splashing. The Professor whispered to everyone that on the count of three they should all turn on their flashlights. Softly they could hear The Professor counting down three…. two….one, and with that all the flashlights were turned on.

They all stood there in amazement as their flashlights lit up three huge elephants drinking the water out of the swimming pool.  The elephants were scared just as much as everyone was else. No-one had ever seen elephants in the Woodland before.  The Professor told everyone to lower their flashlights as he walked up to the elephants.

“We didn’t mean to startle you” The Professor explained to the largest of the three elephants,” but we had to find out what was happening to the water in the swimming pool.”

As everyone gathered around, the elephant introduced himself and the others to everyone.

“My name is Edward” he told them, “and these are my very close friends, Edmond and Elizabeth.”

“Where did you come from?” The Professor asked, “and why are you drinking the water from the swimming pool?”

“We are with the circus that’s passing thru this way, and we’re sorry for drinking your water, but we were very, very thirsty.”

“Don’t you have water to drink at the circus?” The Professor asked.

“Well there’s a young man that works for the circus, and he’s supposed to tend to our needs,” Edmond replied, “but he’s always to busy fooling around and talking to his friends.”

“So you had to break your chains to find your own water,” The Professor interrupted.

“Yes!” Edward Replied, “And your swimming pool was the closest water near the circus.”  

Professor Fir explained to Edward that no harm was done and the swimming pool was already starting to refill.  The Professor was very up-set that the elephants had to go searching for water because some young man wasn’t doing his job.

The Professor asked Edward what was the name of the young man and how old he was?

Edmond replied to The Professors’ question and told him that the boy was twelve years old and his name was Timmy.

The Professor asked the elephants if it would be alright if he came back to the circus with them, that he’d like to talk to Timmy.  Edward told The Professor that he would welcome any help that The Professor and his friends could offer.

When they got to the circus Elizabeth pointed out Timmy. He was hanging out with his friends by the snack bar, and was holding a cold bottle of juice and eating chips from a plastic bag.

The Professor walked up to the group and introduced himself, and asked if anyone could tell him who was in charge.

Timmy responded, telling The Professor that he worked for the circus and the other kids were just his friends.

The Professor asked Timmy if he could speak to him away from his friends and they walked over to the side of the snack bar.  

Timmy was very polite and asked The Professor if he could help him with something.

The Professor replied, asking Timmy if he could ask him a question.

Timmy asked The Professor what he wanted to know.  The Professor asked if the cold juice he was drinking and the chips he was eating were refreshing.

“Yes,” Timmy answered, “I couldn’t make it through the day without taking lots of breaks in this heat.”

“You know Timmy I have three friends that feel the same way, you might know them, their names are Edward, Edmond and Elizabeth,” The Professor replied.

Timmy lowered his head for a minute, and then looked up at The Professor. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I was so busy with my friends that I forgot my responsibilities.”

The Professor explained to Timmy that elephants have very good memories and they always remember kindness.

Timmy asked The Professor to excuse him for a minute and walked over to Edward, Edmond and Elizabeth and told them how very sorry he was and asked if they could forgive him.  Edmond came up to Timmy and wrapped his trunk around him and gave him a very gentle hug.

“We all forgive you,” Edmond replied.

It was getting very late so the Professor, Billy, Bobby and Amanda said good night, but before leaving The Professor told Edward, Edmond and Elizabeth that they were welcome to come and use the swimming pool whenever they want. Edward thanked him, and asked if they could bring a good friend.

“Of course,” The Professor replied, “Is it someone I know?”

“Timmy,” Edward answered back.

The Professor just smiled and waved as he walked off into the dark.  When they reached the fork in the trail The Professor said goodnight to Amanda and Billy and Bobby.  The boys walked Amanda home then headed up the hill to their cabin.  The boys showered and cleaned up and put on their pajamas and made themselves a snack. After eating Billy and Bobby sat and talked for awhile about all the things that happened today. Starting to fall asleep in their chairs they got up and went to bed for a much needed rest.