Once upon a time there was a little squirrel named Whiskers that lived in a vast forest. He was admired by all of the other squirrels, had a great tree, was very efficient at finding nuts, wasn’t afraid of predators, and enjoyed just being a frolicking squirrel. One day while out searching for nuts, another little squirrel named Blossom came romping by and to Whisker’s utmost surprise he found himself befuddled. His heart started pounding harder th-thump, th-thump, his little paws started sweating so much he dropped his pecan, and he was so enraptured with an overwhelming excitement, he thought he may even faint. Blossom looked up with her big brown eyes, blinked them a few times, flickered her tail, then skipped along the trail out of sight. Well, that day changed Whiskers forever. He knew that he must be with Blossom from then on.
The next few months Whiskers and Blossom played in the meadow, climbed trees, and searched for nuts together. They thought they had to be with each other every minute or they wouldn’t be able to make it. They talked about what trees they’d like to live in one day, where they’ll stash their nuts, and even when they’ll have little baby squirrels. Whiskers spent every minute thinking about how to arrange the future so they could have the best time together possible. He pondered whether he should gather as many nuts as possible right now, spend as much time with Blossom as possible now, delay gathering nuts to find the perfect tree, or spend a little time thinking about nuts and the best tree but scout out the condition of all the trees that may bear nuts this year and plan around that. In the middle of all this planning, Whiskers looked toward the meadow to see Blossom sitting next to Floppy. She looked at Floppy with her big brown eyes, blinked them a few times, flickered her tail, and even gave him some of the nuts she’d been gathering, then she skipped along the trail out of sight.
Whiskers couldn’t believe what he saw. All of the time spent together, games they played, trees they climbed, nuts they gathered, and all of the talk about little baby squirrels just to end up like this. Because of all the distraction, Whiskers had a hard time remembering where to find nuts, concentrating on where he kept the nuts, knowing where to search for a tree, or even studying which trees will bear fruit this year. “What does it matter without Blossom” Whiskers said. Just when Whiskers thought he couldn’t make it, Blossom came to him, apologized for all the trouble she’d caused him, and promised that if he’d stay with her, she’d do everything she could to help get their future back on schedule with all of their plans. Whiskers was so happy that he cried and cried. He thought he’d lost Blossom for sure, but now some of his dreams were already coming true and Blossom was going to stay with him.
Well, all of the commotion of seeing how Blossom acted around Floppy caused Whiskers to get behind in gathering nuts, choosing the best tree, and studying which trees will bear nuts. He knew that he was getting behind, but also knew that he had so much experience finding nuts that he’d run upon an old storehouse full of nuts soon. While Whisker’s searched for the storehouse of nuts, his family offered to share their nuts with him until his storehouse was found, then Whiskers diligently went off searching. Whiskers talked to Blossom about both of them moving closer to plentiful nuts, or about him spending more time around the bearing trees, but she didn’t want to move and didn’t want him away gathering nuts from the bearing trees. Time was drawing near when Whiskers knew he must do something about finding nuts, but before he and Blossom could discuss further what was best for both of them, Blossom gathered half of their nuts and left Whisker’s tree leaving him all alone. Whiskers said “maybe I should have insisted both of us move to a tree closer to the nuts anyway, maybe I should have spent more time near the bearing nuts anyway, maybe I should have searched more for the storehouse of nuts” but he was still alone. Blossom, the squirrel that made Whisker’s heart go th-thump, th-thump, made his little paws sweat, and made him enraptured with excitement was nowhere to be found. “We could have found the storehouse, we could have moved closer to the bearing trees, I could have spent more time at the bearing trees bringing nuts home, we could have used my family’s nuts, we could have soon found the storehouse of nuts” Whiskers cried out.
Blossom talked with other squirrels in the forest and soon found out that it would be easier for her to store nuts if she worked together with Whiskers and for both of them to decide together what was the best way to get nuts. From other squirrels with experience, she also found out that two squirrels had a much higher chance of making it safely through the winter if they were together. Since she missed being with Whiskers anyway, Blossom decided to go to Whiskers and say “Whiskers, I know we’ve had a tough time lately, but if we work together and get help from others, although we’re behind right now, we can make it through the winter and start fresh with the springtime.” You guessed it…Whisker’s heart started pounding harder th-thump, th-thump, his little paws started sweating so much he dropped his pecan, and he was so enraptured with an overwhelming excitement, he thought he may even faint. Although Whiskers and Blossom had to work hard and get help from others, they made it through the winter, are happier together than they’ve ever been, are the envy of all the other squirrels in the forest, and even have a tree full of little baby squirrels. The end.
by Dana Lumley
dana@danalumley.com© 2003 Dana Lumley