I Knew a Hippo once...

Yesterday we had a long write, we had to write about or have a hippo in our story. I wanted to share mine.

Here it is:

I Knew a Hippo Once...

I knew a Hippo once, I met him once when I was young. In the center of the dark and dreary woods, there is a slippery slimy lagoon. I had never dared to go close, the stench of old,
sweaty socks and moldy cheese radiated off of it, so no one ever got very close, the thick,
mucky, slime green water looked like soup. One particular incident happened when I was so
little that my grandfather could pick me up above his head, like a crane lifting a crate up.
He could swing me around and a ground and then drop me back down to the ground, then
I would stagger away like I was drunk. Hiding behind my favorite tree in the woods
I looked out onto the lagoon (or as I liked to call it-the massive soup bucket) when
I noticed something not quite right, there was a disturbance in the water, like the wind had
blown a leaf in and it had not shriveled up at the smell. Lurking, as still as a log there was the
head of a hippo subtly-half out-of-the water. I knew how dangerous Hippos could be and in
hindsight, it would have been better for both of us if I had just run right then. But curiosity
is like a lion, it creeps up on you-sits, watches you with hungry eyes until you are weak and then it pounces-bringing you down with its weight.

Slowly the Hippo swaim toward the bank, its eyes shifting from side to side, waiting
for the animals to be quiet and for the world to be safe. Lifting itself out of the water
and breaking the usually smooth surface I saw the monstrosity of the grey body, short
stumpy legs that I knew would be fast and I wouldn't run away from. This would have been
a good time for me to run as well, but you know what they say-Curiosity kills the cat and I was
the cat. It glanced around at me, making eye contact-I should have run but something stopped
me, maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was the fact that running probably would have made things
s worse, or maybe it was the look in its eyes, so calming, safe. Almost like it was saying,
It's ok, I’m not going to hurt you. Follow me. It's that, that made all the difference.

Then, as slowly and as smoothly as it had gotten out of the water it ambled down the forest path
, the sun glinting off the wet grey skin as it went. I followed. Unsure of why I was following, but
then, little kids almost never know why, that's why there always asking. It wasn't hard to follow,
the wet trail of mucky, smelly water it left behind was easy to find. Coming to a stop in a clearing
I left a reasonable distance between me and the hippo. He was sitting, his stumpy back legs
tucked under his large belly. In front of him was a monstrous plant, it was tall and a hissing and
sizzling sound was coming from it, dripping, green slime was running down the stalk and
producing more from the top. The Hippo was in a trance-like state and somehow I knew that
he needed to get away from it. Slowly creeping forward, I picked up a stone from the ground-it
was wet with slippery lake water. Lining up my shot I chucked it, it landed on the plant-a loud
hissing sound erupted from it and shaking like a scared puppy it shriveled back-for a second
I thought it was dead-but only for a second before it lurched back forward-covering us in green
slime. Spitting out a mouthful of it, the bitter taste burning my mouth, I looked around in shock,
what could I do now? Before I could think of what to do next the Hippo stood up, looked
leisurely around and then opened his jaws wide and closed them around the plant.
Chewed it like a clump of grass and then swallowed. I looked at it in complete shock,
not sure what to do next, should I help him? Leave him, run for help? But before I could do
anything in the sort he gave two massive heaves before the plant came back up and out of his
mouth-it was definitely dead. The hippo turned around and walked back out of the woods and
towards the lagoon.

I knew a Hippo once, he was the most amazing hippo I had ever met. We didn't talk because
we didn't need to. I would sit and watch him and he would swim until the sun went down, then
I would walk back home-until the next day.

Did you like it? Leave your thoughts, Ideas and Feedback in the comments and I will try to reply to them as best I can!