Penny the Piglet's Perfect Puddle

SPLAAAAAT! Penny had just found the perfect spot in the mud puddle. She'd closed her eyes. She'd let out a long, happy sigh. And then her brother Hank landed on her. "CANNONBALL!" SPLOOOSH! Mud went up Penny's nose. Mud went in Penny's ears. Mud went in places mud should NEVER go. "HANK!" But Hank was already gone — wrestling with the twins, Chip and Chuck, in the middle of the puddle. Penny wiped her face and tried to shuffle to a new spot. SQUISH. Her sister Dot shoved past her. "That's MY corner." SQUELCH. Two more brothers belly-slid right through her legs. SQUEAK! Someone stepped on her tail. Again. "OW!" "Sorry, Penny!" Five brothers. Six sisters. One puddle. Every. Single. Day. "RIGHT," said Penny, climbing out with mud dripping off her snout. "I'm finding my OWN puddle." Nobody heard her. They were too busy oinking. Penny trotted off past the chicken coop, past the horse stable, past Farmer Pete's veggie patch. And there — just behind the old tractor — a puddle! Penny stepped in. SPLISH. The mud barely covered her trotters. She lay down anyway. She was going to MAKE this work. She wriggled. She squished. She tried to roll. Her whole belly was sticking out in the sun. The flies found her immediately. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. One landed right on her nose. "Oh COME ON," Penny groaned. Proper mud keeps the flies off. But you need ENOUGH mud for that. This was not enough mud. This was a puddle for ANTS. Penny hauled herself up and kept going. Over the little hill. Around the big oak tree. And there — a PROPER puddle! Big. Deep. Shiny in the sun. "NOW we're talking," Penny whispered. She took one step forward. A big white duck rose up from the middle like a feathery submarine. QUACK. Penny froze. "Um," she said. "Room for one more?" The duck puffed its feathers up until it looked twice its size. QUACK. QUACK. QUACK. "Okay, okay," Penny said, backing away. "Your puddle. Got it." The duck stepped out of the puddle. "Wait — why are you getting out —" The duck waddled straight at her. QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! "OKAY I'M GOING! I'M GOING!" Penny ran until she couldn't hear quacking anymore. She was hot. She was tired. Her pink skin was starting to prickle in the sun. She needed mud. SOON. Then she spotted it. Down the slope, under the big willow tree. A huge, deep, beautiful puddle. "FINALLY," Penny said, and charged straight in. SPLOOSH! Cold. SO cold. Goosebumps exploded all over her skin. Her teeth chattered. Her tail curled up tight. She tried to tough it out. She lasted about four seconds. "N-n-n-NOPE!" She scrambled out, shivering from snout to tail. Penny sat in the grass, muddy and grumpy and covered in goosebumps. "There are NO good puddles on this whole silly farm." Then she saw it. Just over the next fence. A puddle she'd never noticed before. Golden brown. Warm and shiny in the afternoon sun. Big enough for a proper wallow. No ducks. No shade. No siblings. Penny squeezed through the fence and walked over slowly. One trotter in. Warm. Two trotters in. Squishy. She sank all the way down until the mud came right up to her chin. Ohhhhhhh. The flies buzzed past but didn't land — the mud kept every single one away. The sun warmed her back but didn't burn — the mud was like sunscreen all over her skin. No splashing. No wrestling. No one stepping on her tail. Just Penny. In the perfect puddle. She grinned. She wriggled down deeper. She decided to do a bellyflop. Just a little one. To celebrate. She climbed out, backed up, and launched herself in. SPLAT. Mud went up. Mud came down. And nobody saw it. Nobody cheered. Nobody laughed. Nobody yelled "DO IT AGAIN!" She made herself a mud crown and balanced it on her head. It was a GREAT mud crown. Nobody saw that either. Penny sank back down into her perfect, warm, sunny, quiet puddle. And for the first time all day, she missed the chaos. She missed Hank's cannonballs. She missed Dot shoving for the best corner. She missed Chip and Chuck's dumb wrestling matches. She even missed getting her tail stepped on. "Well THIS is boring," Penny said to nobody. She climbed out and started running. Back through the fence. Up the slope. Past the cold puddle. Past the grumpy duck — QUAAAACK! — past the sad little puddle for ants. And she could hear it before she could even see it. Getting louder with every step. SPLAT! SQUISH! SQUELCH! OINK! OINK! OINK! The most beautiful sound in the world. Penny came flying over the hill and there it was. Her big, loud, overcrowded, wonderful family puddle. "PENNY'S BACK!" someone squealed. Every single piglet turned around. And then they all charged at once. Penny didn't even make it to the puddle. They tackled her in the grass — THUD! — and rolled her down the slope — WHEEE! — and the whole pile of them tumbled into the mud together. MEGA SPLOOOOOSH! Mud went EVERYWHERE. Hank did a victory cannonball — SPLAAAAAT! Dot made room in the best corner. Chip and Chuck splashed her right in the face. And someone — SOMEONE — stepped on her tail. "OW!" "Sorry, Penny!" Penny wiped the mud off her snout. She looked at the madness all around her. Loud. Messy. Squishy. Squelchy. Absolutely, completely chaotic. She grinned the biggest grin. Because the best mud puddle in the world isn't the biggest or the warmest or the quietest. It's the one with your whole family in it. THE END.