15

Do you like stories? Do you? Me too. And my grandchildren like them too. I will tell you a story how my friends and I saved the forest.

It was a long, long time ago, back in 1965. I was 14 years old then. I used to spend every summer with my grandmother who lived in a big forest on the outskirts of Rijeka. One day I received a disturbing letter with a map. Foxy, my old friend, wrote to me. She asked me to come as soon as possible because the trees in their forest were cut down and disappearing.

A crazy scientist, Doctor Test, who lived in a nearby castle, was very busy inventing new things. He was drawing up his plans on paper, lots of paper. His castle was full of paper and his failed experiments. He needed more wood from the forest to make more paper. So he ordered to cut down the trees. Shocked as I was, I immediately packed and hurried to my grandmother's house as fast as I could.

My loyal friends welcomed me there: Lisa, a 13 year old girl with straight black hair and big dark eyes, Barry the brown bear, Roger the white rabbit and Squishy the fast squirrel.

We investigated the situation. Indeed, the machines were cutting down the trees and the forest was shrinking at an incredible speed. Poor animals, scared, escaped leaving their homes. "We have to do something!", we concluded. "Fast!"

We made a plan. Early in the morning we ran upstairs to my grandmother’s attic. In the old, dusty chest we found exactly what we needed. I disguised myself into a big fire spitting dragon. Lisa became a scary Indian. Barry put on a dangerous pirate costume. Roger was a knight in armour and Squishy a masked avenger. We decided to wait until the night.

We wore our costumes and waited impatiently. Time was passing slowly. At midnight, we entered the castle. It was silent and dark. We only heard an owl and the beating of our frightened hearts.

We sneaked into the castle and waited for the right moment. "Now!“ I shouted. "Attack!" We all started to shout and throb in one voice. We created deafening noise. Doctor Test was so horrified when he heard the noise and saw our shadows on the wall. He thought he was attacked by a terrible monster and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

Finally, the forest was free! After a while, the trees grew again, the animals came back and built new homes. And me? My friends and I were back every summer playing in our beautiful forest.

Oh, I didn´t tell you what happened to Doctor Test! To be honest, I don´t know. For some time we were trying to find out where he went. But we never did. His castle was turned into a museum and the ticket money was spent on preserving the forest.