Benjamin lay crouched on his side, looking through the openings in the branches that covered him. “Hmmpph…a little. I think this big branch above me is stuck.”

“We’ll get it for you, Sire,” the pig said. “Come on, Roscoe. Help me push this thing free.” They made sure they didn’t stand completely over the boy and tried their best to get a good position on the large branch. Roscoe dug his horns in the branch while Clementine backed his rump against the smallest part of it over Benjamin’s head.

“Don’t look up, Your Majesty. It’s not a pretty sight!” Roscoe grunted, putting all his force into his stiff neck. The pig pushed as hard as he could and soon the large tree branch started to move, causing limbs to fall on them. Paco picked them up and stuck them into the walls of their dug-out hole.

Benjamin moved his shoulders a little. “Come on, guys. You’re doing it!”

Pig and goat pushed harder and the branch eased to the side of the hole. “Okay, give His Majesty some breathing room.” Roscoe smiled at Clementine. “Good job. That big rear end of yours does in fact have a purpose.”

Benjamin twisted his waist and pushed his legs out. “Whew! Thanks a million!” He stood, his arms holding the raccoon curled against his chest. Malcolm was crying and wouldn’t look at them.

“Malcolm?” Roscoe asked gently. “You okay?”

“I don’t think he got hurt,” Benjamin said, petting his fur. Malcolm nudged his face deeper into the boy’s shirt, trying to stifle his sobs.

“Goat,” Paco said, “can you get back on top and see if we can cross this dam?”

Roscoe climbed out of the hole and stood on a rotted-out tree trunk. “It shouldn’t be hard to walk over this, Paco.”

“Good. Clementine and I will make our way up. Try to find us a solid path to walk on.” Clementine struggled out of the hole and Paco followed. The pig joined Roscoe but Paco stood at the edge and looked at the boy. “Sire, can you make it up?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be up in a sec.” Paco joined the other two. “Malcolm?”

The raccoon’s teary red eyes looked at him. “Thank you, King Benjamin.”

The boy let the raccoon down softly on the wood. “Are you okay to walk?”

“Yes,” Malcolm replied quietly, looking away.

“Well, they’re waiting for us.” Benjamin grabbed a branch above.

As the others carefully walked across the sorted wood, Benjamin climbed out of the hole trailed by Malcolm. “Thanks for digging us out, fellas.”

“We wouldn’t have had that problem if somebody had stuck to the plan in the first place!” Paco said loudly. Malcolm walked past the four, avoiding eye contact.

“Come on, Paco. He didn’t mean for all that to happen,” Roscoe said.