AUTHOR'S NOTE:
As I wait to see how things will ultimately turn out with my job, I figure I should be as productive as possible. So, in doing this, I am working on the true compilation of stories for what will be Adventures In saurral Manor. This book is a series of short stories that lead up to City Of Solitude.

I'd like your thoughts on whether this story, with some major editing, should 'make the cut'? Let me know and I'll use your advice towards building the proper timeline for the last book of Hapo.

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Lucky’s eyes fluttered as he awoke inside his little, wooden bed.
“Morning already?” he moaned as he lifted the sheet that was covering him. He then slipped his legs over the left side of his bed and stretched.
“At least I beat Scuttle this morning.” Lucky commented while slipping out of the bed and running toward his storage box. There, he took a pair of his pants out and slipped them on.
“Maybe he bumped into Bubble again.” Thought Lucky as he continued to dig through the box for stuff. “He has been hanging out with her a lot lately.”
Ducky then came inside the bedroom. “Morning son.”
“Morning daddy.” Lucky answered. He then shut the storage box and ran toward his father for his morning hug.
Ducky let out a brief laugh as he grabbed his oncoming son and lifted him up. “You just keep growing on me.”
“Really?” Lucky asked excitedly as he snuggled against his father’s face and asked, “What about my tail? Is it big enough for me to get pants just like Scuttle’s?”
Ducky took his right arm and felt along his son’s bottom. Upon finishing his check, he stated, “Well, your tail is coming in. But, it isn’t quite big enough yet.”
“Drat.” Pouted Lucky after he heard his father’s response.
In a motion of comfort, Ducky took his free, right hand and gently rubbed his son’s head while he soothingly said, “It’s not a bad thing. Besides, there really is no rush to grow up.”
“I suppose.” Lucky sighed. “I still wish my tail would hurry its way out though.”
The Saurral laughed again before he sat his son back onto the ground. “You’ll be big before you know it.”
“I just wish I was big now.” Stated the young haposaur.
“Oh.” Ducky began while his face grew a wide grin. “If that’s the case. How’d you like to come into the council room today and help me do some paperwork?”
Lucky scooted slowly backwards and replied, “Uh, Umm.”
“Just think!” The Saurral now knew he was quickly changing his son’s mind. “You can sit right beside me and read off the paperwork and aid with internal affairs.” Ducky then paced about and put his hand to the end of his face. “Truent would be just thrilled. I’d be able to give him the day off.”
At this point, the young haposaur decided that being a grown up really wasn’t quite what he wanted to be just yet. So, with a slight giggle in his voice, Lucky began skittering off toward his bedroom door. Upon reaching it, he nervously said, “Uh, I would love to help out. But, um, I promised Cappy I’d show him how to play a new game today and I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Of course.” The Saurral said to his son. He then grinned while he watched Lucky scamper out the bedroom door. “You go have fun. See you at dinnertime.”
Lucky’s voice echoed from the hall, “Will do, daddy!”
Ducky took a moment to look about his son’s room. “Reminds me of when I was a boy.” Upon saying this to himself, he moved over to his son’s unmade bed and began folding the sheets so it would be ready when his son was ready to turn in. As he did, he pondered on whether or not he’d see Binky on this fine day. Lately, she has visited him in the Saurral’s Chamber routinely and, by his own invite, she has been also joining him and Truent for lunch just about everyday now.
“I do very much enjoy her company.” Thought Ducky as he completed putting Lucky’s bed back in order. “I would also like to give Lucky a mother too.”
“Good morning, Ducky.” Truent’s voice interrupted the Saurral’s thoughts as he turned to face his colleague.
“Morning, Truent. How are you on this wonderful morning?” Ducky answered cheerfully.
“Quite fine, thank you.” Truent replied before stating, “A letter has arrived from President Geo.”
Ducky walked toward the bedroom’s entrance where Truent was standing. “You are always straight and to the point, aren’t you?”
“Perhaps.” Truent commented. “But this overly happy lifestyle just isn’t me.”
Ducky laughed and added, “Suppose not.”
The two then exited Lucky’s room and chatted all the way to the Saurral’s Chamber.

At about the same time Truent and Ducky made their way to the Saurral’s Chamber, Lucky had exited Saurral Manor and was now merrily on his way to Cappy’s house.
“I wonder where Scuttle is?” Lucky pondered as he entered the path leading to Cappy’s. “He usually has met me or ambushed me-” He stopped dead in his tracks as he realized that Scuttle was likely hiding somewhere just waiting to scare him.
“Oh, no, Scuttle.” Lucky said with a proud grin. “Not this time.” He then continued merrily down the shrub-laden path.

As Lucky continued cautiously down the path, he became more and more baffled as to where Scuttle was. Each passing second made him more nervous and anxious for one of Scuttle’s infamous little spoofs.
Suddenly, from within the bushes, a voice came. “Hey!”
“Ah!” Lucky screamed in fright as he jumped into the air.
Laughter followed Lucky’s reaction and, soon after, Bubble emerged from the bushes. “Did I scare you?”
“Yes!” Lucky exclaimed as he now was sitting on the path.
“Sorry.” She said with a giggle. “The look on your face was hilarious though.”
“Let me guess, Scuttle told you to do that?” Asked the young, yellow haposaur.
Bubble walked over and helped Lucky up. “Nope. Actually, I saw you coming and I was going to ask you if you saw him yet today.”
“You mean he’s not with you?” Lucky questioned with a bit of worry in his voice.
“Afraid not.” The older, pink haposaur began. “He was supposed to meet me around here today so that we could work out a time when I could go over and help him pick out a backpack.”
“Scuttle is getting a backpack?” Lucky then stared down at himself. Seeing his pants without even a tail hole made him feel very, very little.
“Yeah.” Bubble continued. “After playing yesterday, he told me that he had talked it over with his mom and she thought it was a good time for him to graduate out of pants.” As Bubble said this, she noticed a look of dismay on Lucky’s face. Because of this, she comfortably stated, “You really shouldn’t feel bad about him getting out of pants. After all, he is a year older than you, right?”
“Right,” Lucky sadly replied.
“Your turn will come.” She replied as she began to stare about in all directions. Eventually, she returned her focus to Lucky and asked, “Do you know where Scuttle’s house is?”
“Sure do!” Perked Lucky.
“Great!” Bubble exclaimed. “Perhaps this time he was the sleepyhead and the two of us can wake him up.”
Lucky laughed and replied, “Would be nice to get him for a change.”
“Then let’s go!” With that said, Bubble and Lucky continued down on the path.

After stopping to pick up their friend Cappy, the three headed off to Scuttle’s house.
“Why can’t Fritter play today?” Lucky asked.
“He’s going on a walky with his mommy and daddy today.” Replied Cappy.
“I see.” Said Lucky. He then stopped and pointed. “There’s Scuttle’s house.”
Bubble stopped and looked about. “Wow. He definitely has to still be sleeping. He’s not even outside!”
“That is strange for Scuttle.” Lucky added. “He’s usually a tornado of energy till the end of the day.”
“Let’s go say hi.” Cappy said happily.
“Sounds good to me.” Said Lucky. The three then approached the front door and knocked.
“Just a minute.” Came a female voice.
A few steps were heard and then the door swung upon. “Why good morning, kids.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Charm.” Lucky said. “Is Scuttle home?”
“Oh yes.” She answered. “He was up all last night coughing and sneezing.”
After she finished her statement, a loud cough could be heard echoing out.
“Poor Scuttles.” Cappy sighed.
Scuttle’s mom moved from inside and came outside with the kids. “I know.” She then spotted Bubble. “You must be Scuttle’s new friend, Bubble. It is so nice of you to be helping my son to graduate.”
Bubble blushed and replied, “What are friends for.”
“Regrettably, we’ll probably have to put that off for a few days though.” Mrs. Charm sat down so to better face the kids. “He’s really sick this time. Poor guy is sweating so much that I can’t even put a blanket on him.”
“He must really be sick.” Cappy said. “When I got up, I didn’t want to take my blankey off cause it was cold.”
A short pause ensued until Lucky asked, “Is there anything we can do to help Scuttle get better?”
“Well.” She began. “He’d love to see you guys. But, you could all get sick by being around him.”
Everyone looked sad and distraught.
“Wait!” Her comment made the kids perk up. “Would you run an errand for me?”
“Sure!” Lucky exclaimed.
“Just a second.” Mrs. Charm proceeded quickly back into her home. A moment later, she emerged with a piece of paper.
“Could you take this to the hospital for me?” Scuttle’s light, purple colored mom asked.
Lucky eagerly grabbed the note and replied, “Sure thing!”
“This cold has been going around a bit and I heard they had just created a tincture to help fight it off. I’d go myself, but I don’t want to leave him all alone.” The worried mother stated.
Bubble then spoke, “Very understandable, Mrs. Charm. We’ll go get the medicine for you.”
“Thank you very much.” Scuttle’s mom said with gratitude. She then waved as the kids departed toward the hospital.

Ten minutes of walking passed before they all reached the front of the Saurral Manor hospital. Aside from Saurral Manor itself, the local hospital was the biggest and tallest building in the whole community.
“I haven’t been here for quite a while.” Lucky said staring at the building. “Last time I was here, I was getting shots.”
“Shots?” Cappy inquired. “What are shots?”
Bubble opted to answer, “They are where they inject medicine in your body so you don’t get sick.”
“Perhaps Scuttles just needs one of those.” Cappy replied.
“Perhaps.” Lucky said.
“Shall we go in?” Bubble asked as she approached the entrance and pushed the door open.
Moving in for a closer look, Lucky could clearly see a lot of older haposaurs whom he had never met before in his life. He also could see that every haposaur who was in pants, like him, was crying and turning to their parents for support.
Lucky pulled the note from his pants and glanced at it. “They’ll never take me serious.” He thought as he stared into the hospital. “They’ll see me and just think I’m some lost hatchling and pay me no respect.”
“Coming, Lucky?” Bubble inquired. “You do have the note.”
“Ah.” Lucky jerked. He then thrust the note out and said, “Why don’t you take it in, Bubble?”
Bubble was stunned. “Don’t you want to come in and be a part of making Scuttle better?”
“I do, but.” The young, yellow haposaur stopped as he just spotted Cappy merrily entering through the hospital doors. Here, he began to say hello to all the young patients.
“You’re not afraid of the doctor, are you?” Bubble asked as she took another step into the hospital.
Lucky took the note and stared at it tensely. After a second of thought, which consisted of a sigh while nodding his head downward, he hesitantly replied, “I’m coming.”

The inside of the hospital was noisy and hectic as doctor’s and nurses rushed back and forth to each patient. From Lucky’s perspective, most of the patients were little haposaurs like himself whom had gotten splinters or whom were suffering from a cold. All of which were sitting with teary faces while the doctor or nurse made kind re-assurances that they wouldn’t hurt them and that they’d be all better soon.
Since Cappy was still going around greeting the younger patients in the waiting room, only Bubble and Lucky proceeded toward the front desk.
“Bubble?” Lucky inquired. “You don’t think I’m little, do you?”
Bubble stopped and answered, “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m afraid that, since I’m still in pants without a sign of a tail, the doctor won’t take me seriously.”
Moving closer to her nervous, younger companion, Bubble commented, “Don’t worry about it. Besides, I’ll be with you as you submit the note. They’ll definitely take us seriously.”
“You sure?” Lucky took both his hands and slid them along the sides of his pants.
“Hey.” Bubble said. “It’s not like you’re a human. Kids your age get plenty of respect. Heck, you should be used to talking to grown-ups for being the son of the high Saurral.”
Lucky looked up and pondered to himself, “You know, I am smart and, although I look little, I know what I’m doing. There’s no reason for me to be feeling belittled just because of the way I look and am dressed.”
“You’re right!” Lucky exclaimed happily.
Bubble just lightly giggled.
“May I help you two?” A female voice came. Looking up, the two noticed that they had just walked their way to the front desk.
“Yes!” Lucky proclaimed as he thrust the note upward.
Seizing the note, the nurse gave it a quick glance and said, “Yep! We just finished making another batch of the remedy for that little cold. Please wait here.”
“Okay.” Lucky said proudly.
A moment later the nurse returned with a small, glass bottle filled with a light, blue colored liquid.
“It’s nice of you two to come down here for Mrs. Charm.” The head nurse at the desk said. “Just tell her to give Scuttle a spoonful of this three times a day until he feels better.”
“Thank you.” Bubble said.
“Yes, thank you very much.” Lucky added as he grabbed the bottle.
“It’s my job to help keep everyone happy and healthy.” The nurse chimed. “You two stay healthy and have a great day.”
“You too!” Both Bubble and Lucky said as they waved to the nurse. And, after collecting Cappy from the waiting room, the three proceeded back to Scuttle’s house.

After walking back to Scuttle’s house. Lucky approached and knocked upon the door.
“Just a minute.” Came Mrs. Charm’s voice.
“I met lots of friends.” Cappy said. “They said they were in for shots and I told them they keep you from getting sicky.”
Lucky smiled down at Cappy. “That was very nice of you to help out all those kids and make them feel better.”
Cappy let out a happy whimper before saying, “My mommy tells me saying hello and talking to others is good.”
“How right she is.” Bubble commented.
Just then the door flung open.
“Hello again.” Greeted Mrs. Charm upon spotting the three kids.
Lucky then extended out the glass bottle. “We got it!”
“Thank you very much.” She replied while taking the bottle.
Bubble then added, “The nurse said to give Scuttle a spoonful three times a day until he feels better.”
“Great!” She exclaimed. “You kids are real sweeties to have run this errand for me. When Scuttle gets better, I want you all over for a berry pie.” Scuttle’s mom said with gratitude.
Cappy licked his lips. “Yummy-yummy.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Charm.” Lucky said. As he finished, coughing sounds came from the inside.
“Well, I better go in and help him get all better so he can play with you guys again.” The caring, mother stated. “I Hope to see you all again soon!”
“Later, Mrs. Charm.” Bubble said. “Tell Scuttle we all wish him a speedy recovery!”
“Will do, and goodbye!” She then shut the door and headed in to start administering the medicine.

The three walked down the path for a bit without any conversation. That was, until Lucky stopped and said, “Thank you Bubble.”
Stunned, she replied, “What did I do?”
“You helped me feel proud of who I am.” He replied.
“Awe.” Bubble slightly blushed as she finished with, “Anything for a friend.” She then went toward Lucky and gave him a big hug.
Cappy let out a brief giggle before saying, “What we play today?”
Bubble let go of Lucky and replied, “How about we play in the gardens. I do so love to play in the gardens.”
“Sounds good to me.” Lucky added. And, with that, the three proceeded toward the lush gardens where they played merrily for the remainder of the day.