T: Tammy the Turtle #AtoZChallenge

So maybe I didn't hit post and just saved this as a draft, though it does have the 23rd as it's schedule. At any rate here is my T post:

Max swung out of his tree and made his way over to the shallows in Mirror Lake. Birds chirped their early morning melody and the crisp cool morning forest air felt fresh on his face.

The air warmed as he reach the lake shore, the sun warming the shore rocks and the trees at the forest edge. One rock near the shore had a green dot. Tammy. Max grinned and swung into the tree closest to the shore. He grabbed a low laying branch with his tail and paused a moment. Tammy had her face in the water. As she started pulling her head out Max relaxed his paws and started falling. "Eeee", he squealed in his drop. His tail held and he stopped about a foot above Tammy.

"Aaah" Tammy jumped and nearly fell off her rock. She snapped playfully at him with her beak as she crawled back onto the flat part of the rock. Max was laughing and she soon joined him.

"Find any good pebbles?" Max asked. He lowered himself out of the tree and sat on the rocky sand near the water's edge.

"Sure," Tammy reached a front leg out and pointed to a small pile of pebbles in the next rock. The rock had a slight low spot in the middle perfect for holding pebbles.

Max grinned and reached for a pebble. He rolled the cool smooth small stone around in his paws. Tammy also picked one up. On Max's count to three they tossed the pebbles into the lake in between two waves. Plunk plunk sounded as the pebbles landed then sunk.

"Mine went farther," Tammy said with a grin on her face.

"Luck my friend," Max replied.

They each picked up another pebble and tossed them again. Plunk plunk. Max's went farther this time and they both laughed. What a way to spend the morning. Chatting with a friend and tossing pebbles in the morning sunlight.

G: Geordie the Giraffe #atozchallenge

Max swung through the trees dodging various branches. He stopped briefly in one tree enjoying the view where the trees thinned out onto the plains.

"Do you mind? I was just about to eat that leaf." Two eyes peered at him through the leaves.

"Sorry," Max said and stepped over. "I'm Max."

"Geordie," the giraffe replied in between bites of the leaf.

Max chatted while Geordie ate, telling him about his favorite parts of the forest to swing through.

Geordie smiled at Max then looked up. A few large leaves on a high branch gleamed in the sunlight. "Those tall leaves are extra tasty, but they are too high even for me."

"But not for me," Max said and swung upwards then scampered up the tree. He plucked the leaves and swung back down the Geordie's head. "Here you are."

"Why thank you." Geordie took the offered leaves and started eating them. While he did Geordie told Max about his heard and some of the best places he liked to eat

F: Farley the Frog #AtoZChallenge

Max the Monkey skipped along the creek shore. The water splashed over rocks and gurgled in little gullies. He laughed seeing a leaf float along.

"Ribbit!"

Max stopped and stepped closer to the creek's edge. In the mud next to the shallows two eyes peeked out at him. The eyes were followed by a light green body as the frog landed on a rock. "Hello I'm Max," Max said. He had heard of frogs before from Tammy his turtle friend. He had even met a few before. Not this one though.

"Farley," The frog introduced himself. "Fine day we are having, no?"

"Fine fine indeed," Monkey replied. "It would be even more fun if we could play. Would you want to?"

"Sure. How about hopscotch?" Farley leaped up to the bank sitting right at Max's paws. He looked up at the monkey.

Max had to ask what that was. The frog croaked again, his call sounding through the trees around them. Farley took a large leap back into the creek. He landed on one rock, then leaped to another. In a few moments he was on the other side of the creek. He paused before returning to Max.

"Like that. Stay on the rocks and don't get wet." Farley smiled at Max.

"I am in," Max replied with a grin of his own. He jumped into the creek, paws landing on rocks. Farley followed finding other rocks to leap onto. They both laughed while jumping around.

(Today was almost F for frazzled - it's one of those days)

B: Bianca the Butterfly #AtoZChallenge

Max sighed and swung past the empty rock. Tammy must be somewhere else this morning, silly turtle. Sometimes he had to wonder. Wanting someone to play with Max swung through the trees for awhile and soon found himself at the edge of the meadow.

The meadow. Shades of red, yellow, orange, purple, and white speckled the green grass. Monkey took a good sniff, it smelled different than his usual forest hangout. He glanced around and had to blink when a speck of orange moved. He watched it grow closer and flutter before landing on a bush near the tree he was in.

"Fine day isn't it," The butterfly spoke, looking up at Max with small eyes. "I'm Bianca."

"Max," he smiled at her. Now that she was closer he could see black lines at the edges of her wings and little yellow spots. The whole wing shimmered in the sunlight. "You have pretty wings."

"Why thank you," Bianca smiled back at him. "I did not always have them you know."

Monkey dropped out of the tree, paws softly hitting the ground. He sat next to the bush so that she was at eye level with him. "Really? Well then how did you get around?"

Bianca laughed. "I crawled. I don't remember it to much because I was young. Us butterflies start as caterpillars and crawl around before we grow our wings."

Max's eyes grew wide as Bianca described what a caterpillar looked like, all long and round and fuzzy. With no wings. Yet here she was now all pretty in the sunlight with wings to carry her to the sky. "Wow," he managed.

"I'm sure you changed to," Bianca said. "Everyone does. When we are little we don't know yet what we can grow to be." She flitted her wings to make her point. "I bet your tail wasn't as strong when you were young."

Max grinned, remembering his childhood. He was so glad now that he could swing through trees with ease. He could go where he wanted and see all sorts of places and creatures. "Ya, and it is fun to swing through the trees."

"Race you to that bush," Bianca said motioning toward one with red flowers farther along the tree line. She started off right as Max nodded and he gladly swung after her.

A: And here we go #AtoZchallenge

Yes, plenty of A animals out there but our story needs an introduction. Even though these are mini interrelated stories.

Once upon a time... because its a fun way to start a story... Once upon a time in a place far away lived a group of special animals. Normal animal rules don't apply in this place. Food chain what's that? The smallest animals can live without fear of being eaten by larger ones. A monkey can be best friends with a turtle.

That's right a monkey and a turtle. On many a fine morning Max the monkey can be found hanging from the tree branches over the shallows of mirror lake chatting away with Tammy the turtle. She likes the morning sun on her rocks don't you know.

Max is a friendly sort of monkey and likes to visit with other animals. From the forest, to the lake shore, to the grassy meadows just wait to see who Max plays with.