The Adventures of Keiko Haubjed

Starring Keiko in

Numbats

By Tsunami_Holmes

12-year-old Keiko's eyes opened, all that she could see was blurry, bright, blues and whites. Where am I? She thought. Then, as her vision focused, she saw a TV, and lots of medical tools, and computer screens showing a heartbeat... My heartbeat. Keiko thought as she peered around, she was in a bed, a hospital bed.

Suddenly, her father came in, "Keiko! You're awake!"

"Yessss... Where am I?" Keiko said groggily.

"In a hospital room... But don't worry, you were only in a coma for 3 days, a miracle for someone who was in your type of accident!" Ben exclaimed.

"Coma?! 3 days?!?" Keiko felt lightheaded, I was in a coma for 3 days?!

"Here, lie down, I'll tell you the whole thing, but promise me that you won't get too hyped up, you're supposed to rest," Ben helped the worked up Keiko back onto her pillow, "now, here's what happened...

"You were underwater for a few minutes, luckily the Goonch didn't catch you, he must have gotten away. You were unconscious when I found you, washed upon the shore. I was scared to death, were you dead? No, you were still barely breathing. I called 911 as fast as possible. Soon there was an ambulance there to pick you up, and now, here you are. Three days later."

"Wow... So Nahiri wasn't real?" Keiko asked, mostly to herself.

"Who?" her father questioned.

"No one, it was just a dream. All of it..." Keiko told herself.

"Are you okay?" her father asked.

"Yes... I think... Let me just think... In fact, could I watch a little TV in order to get my mind off of it?" Keiko questioned.

"Sure, I guess," Ben answered as he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The show was called "Miraculous Marsupials", it was on Animal Planet.

"Is this okay?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," Keiko laid back, resting. She was slightly thinking about herself and slightly listening to the TV.

<Today we will be exploring the vast Australian forests in search of a very special creature, the Banded Anteater, or, the Numbat. We will return in just a moment>

Ooo, Keiko thought, a Numbat. It might be interesting. After the commercial break, Keiko was definitely listening.

<The Numbat is a very small, squirrel-like marsupial. It lives in the forests of Australia in little burrows or hollow logs. They have 4 inch tongues that they use to eat termites and other insects. One adult Numbat can eat more than 20,000 termites a day! That's alot! They grow to be about 1 ½ feet long and can have a territory up to 0.1 to 0.2 square miles. Their lives aren't too easy though, they have many predators, including foxes and eagles. The young ones are usually born in litters of about 4 babies and stay clung to the mother's teat, only protected by long fur due to the Numbat's unusual trait: They don't have pouches. Not all Marsupials do, in fact, the Numbat isn't the only one. There are other Marsupials without pouches, one of which being the Short-tailed Opossum. The babies cling to their mother for 6 months before living in the nest/burrow for 10 more. Sadly, these creatures are endangered, there are only 1000 to 1500 left in the world! Please tune in with us next time as we watch the rescue of a baby kangaroo that was found in stuck in a trap. Have a miraculous time marsupial maniacs!>

Keiko scrolled through the channels, there was nothing else on worth watching. Soon, Keiko's dad came back with her little brother, Dean, and her mother, Veronica.

"KIKI!!!" Dean yelled as he ran up to her and jumped on the bed to give her a big hug.

"Dean! Get off from there!" Veronica ordered.

"Okay," Dean said as he sadly climbed down from the bed.

"Honey," Veronica came up to Keiko and slid her hand gently around Keiko's head, "how are you feeling?"

"Great. I feel like I could fly," Keiko said.

"Wonderful, I'm very glad to hear that. The doctor said that you could be out by tomorrow!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Really?" Keiko asked.

"Really," Ben insured.

"Thank you Lord, for everything, for saving me..."