A Peculiar Garden Visitor

One late summers morning, after the first downpour in weeks, a mound of dirt appeared in the garden. This wasn’t any old mound of dirt, it belonged to a particular and slightly peculiar creature. As the peak of soil began to move, a round head covered in velvety fur began to emerge, followed by two small eyes, and a very wiggly snout.

The little fellow climbed out of his hole and took a look around. “What a nice place,” he thought. The garden was on a hill with a view of the valley, full of shrubs, flowers, bugs, and bees, as well as a few old trees that provided ample shelter from rain and sun, though this wasn’t really of any benefit to a creature who spends most of his time underground. This creature was of course, a mole, whose name was Herbert. Herbert was just a young mole still trying to find a place to call home. He had been on many adventures and made many friends, how he loved to make friends. However, he still hadn’t found the right place to settle down in.

As he paused and took in the crisp morning air, a rustle in the hedges behind caused him a freight. He dove back into his hole, with just his eyes peeking above the dirt and intently watched the twitching branches. The rustling got louder and Herbert receded further into the hole, ready to scamper into his underground tunnel. Just as he was about to disappear, a yellow beak and beady eye appeared in a gap between the leaves.

“Phew”, he said to himself. “I thought you were going to have me for lunch, silly blackbird!” He yelled. The blackbird gave him a look of bewilderment before taking to the skies in dismay.

Herbert retreated back into his hole before popping up in another area of the garden, a flower bed full of bright pink geraniums. This time he was met with the nose of a creature much larger than he. Herbert froze, unknowing if one movement would make him someone’s lunch today. He hadn’t encountered a creature quite like this one before, it was black and white with short legs, it looked a bit like a badger but it definitely wasn’t a badger. After a long sniff and a little lick atop his head, the creature seemed disinterested and wandered off to drink water from a dirty puddle nearby. Herbert liked making friends, but he was a bit unsure of this creature.

As he was observing, as well as a mole could with their poor eyesight, he heard a voice shout a word he had not heard before, “TREAT!” Though he no idea what this meant, the badger-like but not-so-badger-like creature certainly did. Its ears perked up and suddenly off it sprinted to the house at the bottom of the hill. He didn’t realise creatures like that lived in brick houses, curious, he thought. Herbert wasn’t so sure what to make of this place, but he felt sure there were friends to be made here. Though he wasn’t yet sure if this would be the place he called home, he decided it was worth sticking around for a little while longer.