Okay, chapter one of Nuts to You, the Squirrel Who Cried Wolf. It’s true that there was a wolf, or wolves. There may have been more than one. Maybe they were actually coyotes, who knows. They all look pretty much the same to a squirrel. Huge, shaggy, terrible yellow eyes, red slobbery mouth with big sharp pointy teeth.
And it’s true that if you’re a squirrel on the ground and a wolf or a coyote strolls into the neighborhood, running up a tree is the best plan. No one is going to argue with that. The problem was the squirrel called Jib. He kept yelling wolf just to see everyone run. He’d been doing it all day, he thought it was funny. And a little bit, it made him feel important because most of the time no one listened or paid any attention to him.
But when he shouted wolf, up the trees they all went. Except for Judd. Jib looked at him annoyed. Wolf, he shouted again, but Judd stayed put. He was busy, he had nuts to bury, winter was coming. The first frost was long gone and the air felt cooler with each passing day. Leaves were falling into crispy yellow piles on the ground.
Any day now there would be snow. Just a little at first, but then mountains of it. Wolf, wolf, wolf, Judd said irritably. Is that the only word he knows? Judd did look around to see if there was a wolf, because he was irritated, but you just never know. Sure enough, no wolf in sight. He shook his head and went back to his work, muttering and nattering.
Wolf shrieked Jib. Wolf, wolf, wolf, Judd muttered. There is no wolf. And then the foolish Jib saw something. Not a wolf, but something very real, something dangerous. In his fright, he blurted out the first word that popped into his head, the one he’d been saying all day. Wolf? Muttering and digging, Judd did not notice until the very last instant how the air above him had gone suddenly still and silent.
Oh, he said in surprise, as a set of talons tightened around him and lifted him up, up, up, past every whorl of branches, up above the treetops into the vast reaches of the sky. Cold air rushed over his face, forced his eyes to squeeze shut. Every muscle in his body tensed up. He may have peed a little bit, who wouldn’t?
All four of his paws curled and clinched, his mind raced, a light wave of fear rolled in and filled him up. And somehow even through the roaring of the fear and the rushing of the air he could hear a small voice inside him saying this is it then. Jib watched the fearsome bird swoop down, snatch his cousin Judd, and swoop back up. Hawk he said correcting himself, I should have cried hawk, so he did it now.
Hawk he cried, hawk, hawk. End of chapter one.
