Magic In The African Bush E-Book

Betty Sleep

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Kevin finds his best friend in an orphaned elephant at the South African reserve where his parents work. There’s just one tiny problem. He’s reached the age where he needs to go away to school because his unusual friendship with Nyeleti has shown that Kevin is in fact, a wizard, something his parents hoped they’d never have to tell him. Surprised? You bet he’s surprised! And while this opens a whole new world to him, it takes him away to where Nyeleti can’t follow. As Kevin’s absence lengthens, he may lose his best friend forever.

With the help of a village elder and an interfering Scottish grandmother, the magic of their friendship is restored. Kevin returns, ready to spill all his secrets but accidentally gives Nyeleti access to the wizarding world. A naked giraffe? Dancing cheetahs? In the resulting pandemonium, they discover that real magic comes from the heart.

Leseprobe

Copyright (C) 2022 Betty Sleep

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Edited by Graham (Fading Street Services)

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.

To the many tireless wildlife trusts and volunteers who work not only to conserve the land and ecosystems, but also to preserve the iconic animals of Africa.

And to Lawrence, for the gift of Naleku, and the magic of his friendship.

CONTENTS

1. Nyeleti

2. Kevin

3. Eleven Seasons

4. Granma’s Bombshell

5. Surprise!

6. The Parting

7. The Homecoming

8. Nose Woes

9. Spell Trouble

10. High Jinx

11. Tracking Trouble

12. What Happened Was…

13. Rhino Go-Round

14. Real Magic

The “Magic” Dictionary

About the Author

CHAPTERONE

NYELETI

If only Nyeleti had known what kind of day it was going to be, he wouldn’t have been so eager to welcome it. But as the long, delicate fingers of dawn reached over the Drakensburg Mountains and poked at his eyelids, he remembered—it was today! This was the day his best friend was coming home.

As usual, Nyeleti was the last member of his adopted herd to wake up and start foraging, some from the open plan stables and some that had stayed in the bush. The other elephants were already searching out the freshest grasses and new leaves. If he didn’t hurry, they would eat all the newly ripened marula fruit that had fallen. He was not yet tall enough to pillage the branches that were high up, dangling the glowing yellow fruit just out of his reach. Not like his mother had been.

He rolled onto his knees then lunged to his feet, shaking his head as he went. His memory was sometimes confused and there were times he still panicked when he thought of her. It was a long time ago, and he was very small. He did not remember his herd, or where they were from. Only that he was alone in the bush with his mother, who walked more slowly each day, and then lay down and was still. Nyeleti cried for days. Not with the tears of a human, but with the distressed calls of a baby elephant who was hungry and alone. He was lucky, though. For when he was the weakest, people came and talked softly to him and offered a bottle of milk he didn’t know what to do with. Then he woke up in a whole new world that would become his home.

Farmers from a village not far away had heard his cries and seen him standing by his mother. They contacted an elephant rescue organization who took him back to their orphan nursery, where he was fed, nurtured, and watched over. There was nothing they loved more than a new baby elephant!

Nyeleti became one of their ‘herd’. First, he was a baby elephant and got all the love and attention that babies need when they are scared and hungry. There were caretakers who slept with him, took him for walks, and as he grew, helped him to make friends with other orphans, big and small. Time flew by, and as he learned all about being an elephant, he also learned there was a world outside the nursery where the elephant project existed. He had graduated to an interim unit in the park, where he would learn even more, and eventually live on his own. It was also here, that he met his best friend, Kevin. And today, Kevin would be home!

His tummy growled. Some of those marula fruits would be very good right now. Nyeleti wondered briefly if he could find his way back to the nursery. He was sure that in the distance, he could hear the scrum that took place when the first bottles of milk were brought out in the morning for the older orphans. It was delicious! Perhaps he could nip in and take one of the bottles in the wheelbarrow that wasn’t quite empty. Remembering how he used to do this, made him smile. When he stole a bottle, one of the men would scowl and yell “Go home!” His name was Abraham, but he had to yell so often at the thieving baby elephants, that the other keepers called him GoHome instead. He was really very nice though, because he would always let them have the bottle if they were good and didn’t shove the others.

Now, his favourite keeper was an older man named Joseph, from a nearby village. He was very wise and patient, which he needed to be sometimes when Nyeleti was in a frisky mood. They walked through the park together, and as they went, he would tell stories about his tribe and how his people had lived in Africa for thousands of years. Nyeleti wasn’t sure how much a thousand was, but it sounded like a lot. He would walk along with his stick, which wasn’t very long and never, ever used to hit anything or anyone, but used to lift plants and branches or to point at things and describe them for Nyeleti. Just the other day, he had snapped a branch off a shrub and held it out, saying “This smells like a potato. Po-tay-to,” he repeated, as if Nyeleti would say it in turn. He couldn’t of course, but he could snatch it with his trunk and stuff it in his mouth. If this was a potato, it tasted pretty good.