Chapter 17

When Noah and the park community first got to the orphanage, the children and adults were a bit surprised and frightened by all of the animals that were standing with Noah and Rose but Mrs. Scott quickly got over her surprise as she quickly ran up to Noah and hugged the boy.

"Oh Noah, where have you been?" Mrs. Scott asked in a happy voice "When you disappeared from the orphanage I thought that someone might have kidnaped you or you ran away."

Noah laughed nervously "Well... in a way I kind of did, but I was being well taken care of by my animal friends here."

Surly climbed up onto Noah's shoulder and waved a hand at Mrs. Scott, who stared at the purple squirrel in surprise before smiling at him.

"Were you the one that helped look after Noah?" Mrs. Scott asked.

Surly nodded before motioning to Andie and Buddy who also climbed up onto Noah's head and shoulder.

"Thank you," Mrs. Scott said as she smiled at the three animals.

"Mrs. Scott," spoke Noah as a serious look came over his face "I have something that I need to tell you and all of the other kids in the orphanage."

A few moments later, everyone gathered in the courtyard of the orphanage as Noah began to reveal his secret to the kids and adults that stood around him. As he told everyone his secret, the kids were flabbergasted that the boy was able to talk to understand animals, while the adults, minus Mrs. Scott, were a little skeptical about the boy being able to talk to animals. But there was one kid who didn't believe that Noah was able to talk to animals was the bully of the orphanage. The girl was eleven years old with short brown hair and blue eyes that held a lot of anger and frustration. She was wearing blue overalls, a pink shirt with short sleeves and white shoes. This was Amanda, the girl AJ warned and who was rumored to have been abandoned by her parents because they couldn't handle her behavior.

"Yeah right," Amanda said as she stepped forward to glare at Noah "Like I would believe something like that, there's no way you could possibly understand what those rodents are saying."

"Amanda, shush!" one of the staff mumbles shouted angrily "Everyone has had it up to their heads with your so called attitude in this orphanage!"

"Yeah," one of the kids said as he turned to glare at Amanda "And I bet your jealous that Noah is more special then you are."

"I'm not!" Amanda exclaimed as she glared at the boy in anger "I bet he's only fibbing just so he could get attention, besides nobody would want a freak like him for their child!"

Some of the park animals glared at Amanda in anger, but the boy who Amanda was arguing with suddenly hit home when he said the one thing that hurt the bully the most "You mean just like how your parents didn't want you because you're too much of an angry monster to them?"

Amanda flinched back with a hurt look written on her face as she clenched her hands into fists. She held back tears that threatened to come spilling out of her eyes before she shouted "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT WHY MY PARENTS LEFT ME HERE!" And with that she ran away from the group and headed back into the orphanage and slammed the door shut.

Nobody moved as they stared in bewilderment at what had just happened, but soon the kids turned their attention back on Noah and began to ask him questions on what it's like to talk to animals. Noah then told everyone about how Surly and the animals took him in and make him part of their family, all the way down to how they faced off against Raccoon and his gang before putting them away in the animal shelter forever. The adults soon believed that Noah was telling the truth and everyone in the orphanage accepted the boy's gift in animal speech. It wasn't long after that Dr. Noland, his wife and their brand new baby came to the orphanage to adopt Noah as part of their family. Surly and the others were surprised and happy to see Sophie still alive and breathing within the vet's arms. The rabbit was bandaged up around the left back leg and around the ribs, but she was still fine. It wasn't long that Noah had to say good bye to his animal friends.

"Good bye everyone," Noah said with a sad smile "I'll be sure to visit you as soon as I can."

"Be sure that you do." Mole said with a smile.

"And remember to come to me and Andie's wedding." Surly reminded as he grasped Andie's paw.

"I will... Dad." Noah said.

Surly looked at Noah in surprise before smiling at the boy. Noah scooped up Surly, Andie and Buddy as he gave all three of them a gentle hug that lasted a few moments before Noah placed this three family members down on the ground and quickly ran to where Dr. Noland and his family were waiting for him. Surly smiled with pride and joy as he watched his human friend driving away from the orphanage, but his smile soon changed to a frown as he looked up to one of the windows of the orphanage. Surly couldn't help but think about that bully and wondered what she meant by people not understanding her? Andie noticed this and gently squeezed his hand to get his attention.

"Are you okay?" Andie asked in concern.

"Yeah," Surly said as he looked at Andie with a small smile on his face "I'm just thinking about what that girl, Amanda, had said about people not understanding her."

"Funny, I remember someone else who used to say the same thing when he was a small child..." Andie said with a grin "And that same child grew into a certain mastermind who saved our park from our own leader. And he's the same one that i'm going to marry and start a new family with."

Surly blushed when he heard that and scratched his head in embarrassment "Gosh I... it was so long ago... I almost don't remember most of it... do you think Amanda will change one day?"

"If you can change Surly, there's no doubt she will change as well. Just give her time, like I gave you time." Andie said.

"You crazy dame.." Surly said before he said "Now let's go home."

With that everyone started to make their journey back to Liberty Park and to a whole new beginning for all of them.

The End!