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Want to the know the back story on Walter? Click HERE.

Want to read Part 1 of this story? Click HERE. Part 2, HERE. And 3, HERE. Otherwise, enjoy…

Walter must have turned around 20 times to wave goodbye to Sonny. As he headed to Central Park and Sonny got smaller in the distance, the clouds above began to arrive. It had gone from a bright sunny day to an afternoon headed for showers. Walter picked up the pace a little and the wheels on his big, heavy suitcase turned and turned and squeaked and squeaked. He sped across intersections, ducked behind a cab and narrowly avoided a bunch of dogs and a dog walker. And finally, as he entered the beautiful and enormous Central Park, the first rain appeared. A big, round wet raindrop crashed onto the sidewalk.  “Uh oh,” Walter gulped. This time Walter pushed his big, heavy, noisy suitcase like a shopping cart and headed to the closest wooded area of the park. The large raindrops multiplied and Walter entered an area of trees to find a small but dirty pond.  Only a few drops got into Walter’s area, much to his relief. The trees were thick and their branches helped form a protective canopy, almost like an umbrella.  A shy skunk walked by and whispered “hello.” A brother and sister frog leapt into the pond and started doing the backstroke. A small goldfish leapt out of the pond, spun in the air, and yelled “Hey you over there!”

“Me?” Walter thought. “Yes” the excited, but poorly looking fish said, leaping out of the water once again. Walter walked to the edge of the pond and the fish swam to the ledge and rested its head on a lily pad. “What are you doing in the park?” the fish wondered. This day had taken another twist, but Walter explained his odd journey to this point, including the people he had met and his quest to make it to his hotel. At the end of his description, Walter extended his hand and said, “I’m Walter the Warthog, pleased to meet you.”  The little fish extended its tiny fin and replied, “It’s a pleasure, my name is Frankie the Fish.”  The rain continued to fall outside of the tree canopy. The occasional drop of rain snuck past the branches creating little circles in the little pond. Walter sat down to rest his feet and Frankie just stared at him.

A couple of minutes passed and Walter felt a little uncomfortable with a fish staring at him. “Are you okay?” Walter asked. “Not really,” said the now depressed fish.  “Not many people come to visit me anymore.” Walter the Warthog and Frankie the Fish talked for sometime. In fact, they talked for so long that the storm vanished and the sun reappeared. Big rays of light came through the canopy and big drops on big leaves glistened.

Walter learned that recently, Frankie’s home had become polluted by visitors in the park throwing trash into the pond. Frankie started to experience headaches and some of Frankie’s friends who would used to drink from the pond, now drank elsewhere. No one wanted to drink dirty water.  This was Frankie’s home and it made him feel ill. Frankie was sick, alone and out of ideas. Walter pondered this. There had to be a solution. Walter thought about this further, until a large racket interrupted both he and Frankie’s thinking.

A large school group was coming through the park on a nature tour. The kids must have been 8-9 years old and there were probably 50 of them. About 8 adults made up of teachers and parents were circling the kids as if they were trying to herd cattle. An idea struck Walter like a bolt of lightening. “I’ve got it,” he said to Frankie. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Frankie didn’t argue, he had very little strength to do so. “Okay” he feebly mumbled. And Walter bolted away, leaving his big old suitcase safely under the canopy of trees.

Frankie sort of just floated in the polluted pond and hoped Walter’s idea was good.  His head was pounding and he just wanted his water restored to what it used to be.  So Frankie just hung out for a bit, hoping for the best – keeping his fins crossed.
Walter’s journey was short. As he left the canopy of trees and Frankie in the pond, he immediately encountered the very excited school children. He approached one of the adults who seemed to be in charge. “Good Afternoon” Walter said. “Hi there, Warthog,” the woman replied. “I was wondering what class this is?” Walter questioned. The woman responded that this was a variety of grades, mostly 3rd and 4th graders that were here to explore the nature of Central Park. “That sounds very exciting” Walter replied.  “It is,” the woman said, “We try to get these city kids to understand that there is more to the Big Apple than just buildings, cars and lots of people.” Walter smiled at this, he knew he was on to something.  He took the teacher aside and made more of formal introduction. The teacher’s name was Mrs. Kelly. She was a 4th grade teacher – her favorite subjects to teach were science and geography. “Kids today need to understand the importance of our environment,” she concluded. Walter chimed in, “I want you and your students to meet a friend of mine.  He’s in trouble and could use your help.”

Mrs. Kelly quickly organized all of the students with the help of the other teachers.  It was an amazing thing to watch – Mrs. Kelly herded all of the students into a quiet, organized group. She was obviously a great teacher. The students all stood in a line, very well behaved.  Walter led them to the pond. Every now and then Walter would let out a snort he was so excited.

The parents, students and our Warthog made the walk very quickly. They entered the canopy to find the pond with the lone, sick fish swimming around.  The kids were excited to see the fish, but Frankie couldn’t give much of a welcome. He managed a quiet “Hello everyone.” The kids roared “HELLO MR. FISH!!!!” It was so loud that it created ripples in the pond.  Walter chimed in, “You can call him Frankie.”  The kids roared “HELLO FRANKIE THE FISH!!!!”  Frankie couldn’t hide his smile and more ripples traveled across the pond’s surface.

Mrs. Kelly gathered everyone around the pond. The kids sat on the ground in rows and looked up at their teacher.  Walter stood next to Mrs. Kelly and Frankie swam to the edge of the pond and again rested his chin on his favorite lily pad.  “We have an important job to do,” she told the students.  “Because of pollution, Frankie the Fish has become very sick.”  Some of the students looked confused. One of them raised a hand and asked what pollution is.  Mrs. Kelly praised the student for such a good question and explained that pollution is a process in which our natural environment is harmed.  “Look at all the trash scattered everywhere, this is no place for a fish or anyone to live.” The students became very sad.  “But we can do something about this,” Mrs. Kelly said.  All of the students looked up with big, wide grins.  Walter predictably snorted.

The plan was simple.  Mrs. Kelly sent a couple of parents to buy some rakes, trash bags, gloves and so on.  The rest of the afternoon Walter, Mrs. Kelly, parents and teachers, and 50 little kids cleaned up Frankie’s habitat. They filled over 30 trash bags with cans, potato chip bags, candy bar wrappers and other junk.  They even took time to separate items that could be recycled again.  At the end of the day, the area was spotless and beautiful.  Frankie was overwhelmed and incredibly grateful. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said to all.  “We’re not quite done,” said Mrs. Kelly. “When we get back to the classroom, all of us are going to write letters to the Environmental Protection Agency and State Senators urging them to clean the water in your pond. “No one can resist 4th graders,” she added.  Frankie did an underwater somersault, leapt into the air and yelled “Thank you everyone!”  The children with massive grins, took a deep breath and yelled, “You’re welcome Frankie the Fish!” Frankie laid on his back and let the ripples carry him across the pond.

Mrs. Kelly came back to shake Frankie’s fin and hugged Walter. Walter let out one of the loudest snorts since his arrival in NYC. All of the kids hugged Walter – as you can imagine, it was a snort fest. It got so loud, Frankie swam to the bottom of the pond. The kids eventually left and Frankie came back up to the surface. He couldn’t stop thanking Walter. In fact he thanked Walter so much that Walter turned red with embarrassment. “I’m happy to help a friend,” Walter said.

It was late in the afternoon and Walter still needed to check in to the hotel.  It wasn’t far now. “I’ve got to get going Frankie.” “I understand,” Frankie said.    The fish and warthog said their goodbyes and Walter promised to visit from time to time. “You’ll be better soon Frankie.” And with that, Walter left the pond and canopy and headed back into the city. Walter’s stomach started to grumble, he was hungry, again.

Filed under: Walter the Warthog by Daniel
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Want to the know the back story on Walter? Click HERE.

Want to read Part 1 of this story? Click HERE. Part 2, HERE. Otherwise, enjoy…

New York City was a little overwhelming for a young warthog that had grown up in the English countryside. Even Oxford, where he lived when completing his studies, hadn’t prepared him for this. There were people in every direction.  In fact, Walter had never seen so many people in his life. He kept asking himself, “Where are all the animals?” Taxi cabs zoomed around everywhere, honking, crossing in and out of lanes and picking and dropping off people. Walter stayed on track, heading in the direction the man had pointed. It was a very hot day and after about a mile or so, Walter was getting a little frustrated.  “The Crown Plaza should appear any minute,” he thought.  “It must.” And with the crazy notion that the Crown Plaza would appear any minute, Walter kept going.

If you know anything about Warthogs, you know this – aside from snorting, one of their favorite activities is eating. Warthogs have incredible appetites and about this time Walter started hearing is stomach growl. “Ooh, food sounds pretty good at the moment.” He figured he had plenty of time. “I’ll make it to the hotel shortly after lunch.” He looked around the huge city and saw restaurants, cafes, and diners everywhere. It was a little confusing to a new visitor. “Oh my goodness,” Walter said to himself.  And then, out of the corner of his eye, Walter saw a man with a cart selling ice cream.  On the side of the cart it read “Faltanelli Brothers Ice Cream.”

Walter loved ice cream more than anything.  He dragged himself and the suitcase up to the ice cream vendor and proclaimed, “I’ll take two scoops of vanilla ice cream please.”  “No problem buddy, hey, where are you from little fella?”  “I’m from a small village in southern England,” Walter responded wiping his brow. The man handed Walter the two scoops on a waffle cone and said, “Welcome to the Big Apple.” Walter smiled and thanked him and the man asked, “What are you by the way?”  Walter finished a mouthful of ice cream, swallowed and responded, “I’m a warthog, the name’s Walter the Warthog.”  And with that, whilst holding the big cone in one hand, Walter shook the man’s hand – “My name is Sonny Faltanelli, my family has been in the ice cream business for three generations.”  Walter let out a large snort and laughed – “I do love ice cream,” he said.  The two of them chatted as Walter ate his vanilla ice cream. Sonny told him how much he loved New York City and how much he loved selling ice cream but hesitated slightly.  “The ice cream business isn’t going so well these days.” Walter asked him why not?  “I guess ice cream isn’t really that popular at the moment.” Walter changed the subject, after all, he knew nothing about running an ice cream business.  “What do you like about your job?” Walter asked. He told Walter that he always met the most interesting people from all over the world.  “Thousands of people pass me each day,” he said.  Walter just snorted and licked his remaining scoop.  “You are the first warthog I have ever met though,” Sonny said.  Sonny asked Walter what he was doing in the city.  “I’m supposed to start work tomorrow at the United Nations and I’m on my way to the Crown Plaza Hotel.” There was a long pause, where Sonny and Walter just stared at one another. After a while, Sonny said “What on earth are you doing on this side of town?” Walter just stared at Mr. Faltanelli and thought for a moment. After what seemed like a minute, he spoke: “The nice man at the limousine company said it was over here,” and with that, Walter pointed.  Sonny gave Walter a little smile – “I guess the Crown Plaza is in that direction, but it’s a all the way over there.” “You know you’re still a few miles away, right?”

Walter stood at that busy, noisy intersection a very disappointed warthog.  “What am I going to do now?” he sighed. Cars kept zooming by, tons of people passed him on the sidewalk and Walter was becoming frustrated with New York City. “Maybe I should have taken a job in England.” And for the first time on this incredible journey, with his spirit in trouble, Walter’s head dropped down.  At this point, Walter was very homesick.

Sonny looked at Walter. He knew that New York City could be an intimidating place at times. Sonny grabbed another waffle cone out of his cart, placed two more scoops of vanilla ice cream in it and handed it over to Walter. “Here you go Walter, put this in your stomach. When you’re done, I’ll tell you a short cut that will get you to your hotel in no time at all.”

Walter lifted his head and could not hide his smile. A free ice cream cone and a short cut – Walter could not believe his luck!  Walter gobbled down his ice cream as Sonny told him about a short cut through Central Park, and Walter listened with all of his concentration only stopping because of an ice cream headache.  And when Sonny was done, Walter hugged him really tight and snorted uncontrollably in his ear. Sonny giggled until tears were streaming down his cheeks and said, “In all my years living in this great city, no person or animal has ever snorted in my ear.” Walter was about to leave but stopped.   An idea popped into his head.  “Do you sell organic ice cream?” he asked. Sonny gave him a crazy look and said “No.” Walter explained an article he read on the plane (when he wasn’t snoring that is) that discussed the growing popularity of healthier, natural food items.  Sonny was impressed, very impressed.  “I’ll call my Brothers immediately” he responded.  “They’re the one’s that make the ice cream, perhaps we can offer some healthier flavors.”  They were both happy – Sonny had what he thought was an excellent solution to his business problem and Walter had a shortcut to the hotel and now four scoops of vanilla ice cream in his stomach.

Filed under: Walter the Warthog by Daniel
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Want to the know the back story on Walter? Click HERE. Otherwise, read on…

Walter is the hero of this story. He was born in the south of England. It was far from the city and was tucked away in the quiet countryside amongst old trees and rolling farmland where youngsters could explore. His home was an old stone farmhouse with a pond in the garden. On top of the house sat a thatched roof. During the summer Walter would climb onto the roof, stare at the stars and fall asleep, snoring away. He dreamed of flying across the sky and looking down on other thatched roofs.

Just down the country road, after a couple of bends and past a tiny waterfall was his school, the Tall Hedges Academy. His school was very small but had a very diverse group of students. Aside from a few humans, some of the other students were frogs, tortoises, horses, badgers, slugs and so on. In fact, Walter’s best friend at school was a crab named Carlos. Carlos’ family had moved to the south of England from Mexico when he was little. Why would a Crab family travel all the way to England you ask? Carlos’ parents were members of the Mexican government and had important business in England’s capital, London.

What type of animal was Walter you might ask? Walter was a Warthog. His teachers called him, Walter the Warthog. His best friend Carlos, was addressed as, Carlos the Crab. In fact, most people in the village had names like this. For instance, there was a Tilda the Tortoise, Sammy the Slug, Horris the Hedgehog and Betty the Butterfly. Humans do the same thing with a first and last name. Like George Washington, Nelson Mandela or Hermione Granger.

Walter the Warthog was a fun loving warthog. He cared about everyone he came across in life, it’s one of the reasons he was so popular. His favorite thing to do when meeting someone was to hug them really tight. He would be so happy to meet them, he would snort uncontrollably. Usually he directed the snorts into someone’s ear. This would make them laugh. Most of the time, everyone around him would be laughing.

Walter the Warthog was the youngest of three Warthogs. Winston, his father, was a famous chess player and could beat any computer at chess. His mother Winnie was a tremendous gardener. Winnie grew the biggest carrots in the south of England. Walter’s older siblings were Willie and Woslo. Willie and Woslo were twins and became chefs. They lived in Paris, France and co-owned a restaurant called La Snort-Snort. Walter the Warthog loved his family. Willie and Woslo would call home and tell Walter jokes over the phone. This would make Walter snort loudly into the phone. Eventually the entire family would be snorting. It was a snort fest.

Well as time passed in Walter’s world in the south of England, it became clear to everyone that he was very good student. He was always at the top of this class and excelled at every test he took. The Headmaster of the school, Dr. Oliver the Owl, recommended that Walter attend the University of Oxford, one of the best universities in the world! Walter’s friends and family were incredibly happy for him. They threw a big party at the farmhouse where everyone in the small village attended and his mother even made Walter’s favorite soup, carrot-berry. At the party, Walter made Carlos the Crab laugh so much that the carrot-berry soup came out of his nose! Walter was so excited about his new opportunity that he must have hugged everyone at that party three or four times each! There was a lot of snorting and laughing to be had.

It was both a sad and exciting day when Walter said goodbye to the village. He was a little down because he was leaving his family and friends. BUT, he was the first Warthog ever accepted to Oxford, so Walter was also extremely excited. Walter’s four years at Oxford, flew by. His favorite subjects were politics and anthropology. Politics studies with how countries setup their governments. Anthropology is the study of all human beings. Walter always loved people – of any shape, size, or color. He loved to hug and snort in their ears. The mix of politics and anthropology was a perfect match for Walter. Walter was very smart in other areas as well. He became very fond of art and through many of his courses became quite good at foreign languages. He of course already knew English and had learned Spanish from his best friend, Carlos the Crab. But because Walter was such a serious student, he suddenly found himself speaking French very well, as well as Portuguese, German and Dutch! He even surprised himself, but no one back at the village seemed shocked. Walter had been the smartest student in school, ever. So it came as no surprise to the people in the village, that Walter had many job offers when he graduated from Oxford. The British government desperately wanted Walter to work for its immigration department. There was an animal rights group that were very eager to hire Walter. In fact there were several other companies and agencies interested in hiring Walter the Warthog – all had been pursuing him during his last year of studies. In the eyes of Walter, only one job offer stood out. It was from the United Nations working as an advisor to the Secretary General. Walter accepted their offer and thus began a new chapter in his life. A new start that would take him all the way to New York City.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2.

Filed under: Walter the Warthog by Daniel
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This morning, Rick Liebling on Twitter inspired me. He asked his followers whether he should get a breakfast skillet or breakfast burrito. Fortunately he selected the burrito. I’m a strong, strong advocate of the breakfast burrito. 12 hours later, while running this evening, his crowd source concept hit me. I don’t know Rick at all. I like the tie he chose to wear in his avatar. And I respect his breakfast choices. Thank you Rick.

Five or six years ago I wrote a children’s story. Then I put it away. Then every 6, 12, 18 or 24 months, I would reopen the file and reread the story, make new edits and then save. Now it’s 2011. It’s been complete for some time.

The story is very much inspired by the England I know. The England I love. It’s inspired by the way I was reared. Whatever happened to me as a kid that has allowed me to think the way I do, is reflected in this story.

Possibly the most British photo I have ever taken

My story is about a Warthog named Walter. Walter is from the south of England. Attended the University of Oxford. Snores in his sleep. Is best friends with a Crab. And as the story tells, lands a job with the United Nations in New York City. He leaves his village in England for the Big Apple – that’s where the story begins.

I’ve often thought about this story and finally doing something with it. Sending it to a publisher. Attending a Children’s Lit conference. Talking to a library. You name it. I’ve always been too scared or intimidated. For some reason tonight, I lost that trepidation.

This weekend I will reopen this story, reread one more time, make some edits and then actually share it with a couple of people close to me. Then, after their feedback, I’m going to release this story, chapter by chapter for you to review, as blog posts. It will finally be out there.

You can make fun of me. You can critique. You can offer edits. You can offer praise. You can simply read. You can ask questions. I only ask that you don’t make fun of Walter. He never did anything to you.

It’s late and I’m off to bed. Guess what I’m having for breakfast?

You can now read Part 1, HERE.

Filed under: Walter the Warthog by Daniel
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Remember Ted the airline? It was a sub-brand of United Airlines several years ago. It was eliminated in 2008 because of high fuel costs and the general problems most US Airline carriers have in running a profitable business. I feel sorry for the airlines. What ever happened to the romance, the thrill of flying? It’s gone. I wish I had been around during the glory days of Pan Am.

TED offices

But, I’m actually writing about TED today. You know, the Ideas worth sharing people.

(more…)

Filed under: Random by Daniel
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