Alfie the Armadillo was a happy little nine-banded armadillo who loved frolicking in the grass while digging for grubs. Grubs were his favorite treat. Night after night Alfie explored, meeting different critters like Robbie the Rabbit, Timmie the Turtle and Petey the Possum and digging up wonderful little tasty grubby vittles.

During one of Alfie's late night excursions, he ran into Robbie and they had a little chat. He told Robbie that he was on his way to another yard that he's never explored before. Robbie warned Alfie not to go into that yard because there lives a hunter who sits outside waiting for little helpless critters to cross his path so he can make a yummy little critter stew.

Alfie sat on the edge of the property line wondering how many little delicious grubs could be found on this untouched turf. He thought that maybe Robbie was being paranoid. Alfie was like Timmie and had armor. He decided that he would wait till morning to ask Timmie his thoughts on Robbie's warning. He returned to his burrow, with a rumbling belly and rested till morning.

At the first sign of light, Alfie crawled out of his burrow and went on the search for Timmie. He found the friendly turtle who was sprawled out soaking up the morning sun next to Petey who, while looking less lively, was also enjoying the bright warm morning. Alfie sat next to Timmie and proceeded to ask about the property where he was sure there were tons of yummy fat grubs for him to eat.

"Stay away from there Alfie, Robbie's right, that hunter will make stew out of you."

"But what about your armor?" Alfie asked.

Timmie turned Alfie, "Look on my right side."

Alfie walked around to his right side and saw a horrible scar on Timmie's shell. "Did that hunter do this to you?"

"Yes, Alfie, I was lucky I got away. You should stay away from there... far away."

"But I'm so hungry! I ate all of the grubs around here that I can find. What about you, Petey? You're fast, Can you please go dig up some yummy delicious grubby vittles for me? You can put me on your back and I will be your armor, my armor is stronger than Timmie's anyway."

Petey lifted his head, looked at Alfie with a crooked smile, snickered and went back to playing dead.

Alfie hung his head and moped back to his burrow with his belly rumbling. He knew that if he didn't eat soon, it wouldn't be long before he would starve. His noisy stomach kept him up all day and he decided that come nightfall, he would take his chances on the hunter's property. He had faith in his armor and knew he could be stealthy.

The sun set and Alfie slowly emerged from his burrow. Nervous and scared he made his way to the edge of the property line and started digging for grubs on the outer edge slowly inching his way on to the hunter's property. He was successful and couldn't believe the number of grubs he dug up in such a short amount of time. He continued digging and eating and filling his belly as much as he could.

Robbie, Timmie and Petey lined up on the edge of the property line and watched Alfie for brief moment. Timmie whispered as loud as he could, "C'mon Alfie, don't be greedy! Get out of there!"

Alfie didn't hear his friend. He kept digging and eating all the yummy grubby vittles he could find. Engrossed in the task at hand, Alfie didn't even hear the click of the gun as the hunter pulled the hammer back. The hunter pulled the trigger. Robbie, Timmie and Petey turned away knowing the fate that their little armadillo friend was about to suffer.

The three critters stood there in disappointment that the hunter was another critter closer to making his critter stew. Timmie says, "Poor little brave Alfie, at least his belly was full."

Petey burst out in hysterical laughter, "Brave? You call that brave? We all warned him! That's not brave, that's just stupid."

The other night while sitting outside, I heard some rustling in the bushes. I turned the light on to find this little guy wondering around and got some video. I was surprised he let me get so close but I've heard that armadillos don't have many natural predators so maybe that is what invoked his sense of bravery. He inspired the story above.