PeeWee's Tale (6 page)

“Let me go!” I squeaked in a weak voice, terrified of my captor.

The bird ignored me and, what's worse, he began to fly higher and higher.

I squirmed about in his talons as best I
could, but he held me tight. When I looked down, everything looked small and far away. I closed my eyes with fright. But then I opened them again and saw that I was above the treetops, higher then Lexi had ever gone.

Below me I saw something shining brightly. It was the lake. I knew that this was my only chance. I moved my head and took a fierce bite of the bird's leg. I guess I surprised him, because he let go of me and I began falling, falling, falling.

Had I landed on the ground, my story would be over. But because we had been flying over the lake, I landed with a tremendous splash in the water. My eyes and mouth filled with the lake water. I raised my head, spit out the water, and blinked my eyes so I could see. And then I swam toward the shore.

“It's a water rat!” I heard someone scream. But luckily, I made it safely to a crevice of a nearby tree. I sat there catching my breath for several minutes. What an adventure I would have to report to Lexi—if I ever made it back to Lexi, I thought.

I remained in hiding for quite a long while. I had forgotten, once again, that life outside a cage was full of dangers. From one moment to the next, anything could happen to me. But as soon as I caught my breath and dried up a bit from my second bath of the morning, I began to feel better. It was my own fault. Lexi had warned me to watch where I was going.

As I retraced the route I had taken earlier, I saw a group of pigeons flocking around a bench. I knew I didn't have to worry about pigeons. But a human was throwing something
to them and I didn't want her to see me. Cautiously, I crept past. Suddenly, I felt myself hit by something small and hard. It was a nut that the human was throwing to the birds. I picked it up with my teeth and then hid under the bench as I ate it. If only I could manage to take some of these nuts to Lexi. Boldly, I snatched a couple more from the ground, just as a pigeon was about to pounce on them.

“Food. Food,” he grumbled, but there were so many nuts around that he had no reason to complain.

I kept the nuts gently inside my mouth so I could bring them to Lexi. I wished I could take still more, but my mouth was not large enough.

I ran through the longer grass and weeds, hoping that I was going in the right direction.
And finally, my efforts were rewarded. A voice called out to me.

“So, you're back again!”

“Lexi!” I called, spitting out the nuts that I had been carrying. “I brought you a couple nuts.”

“Why, so you have! Peanuts,” Lexi exclaimed delightedly.

“I wanted to bring more, but I couldn't carry them,” I said apologetically.

“A nut in the jaw is worth two in the paw,”
Lexi responded.

“I have something very important to tell you,” I said. “I read a newspaper story about a new play area for children that's going to be built right here. I'm pretty sure your tree is going to be cut down. You've got to find a new home and move all of your nuts.”

“It doesn't make sense,” Lexi said. “Squirrels have been climbing trees since time began. If children need something to do, why don't they climb the trees too?”

“Children
do
climb trees. But they like to do other things too. Besides, it's already been decided. The trees are coming down. So if you want to rescue your nuts, you'd better get them now, before it's too late.”

“There have been lots of men walking about
here lately,” Lexi admitted. “I didn't take much notice. In fact, I was dumb enough to be proud when they pointed to my tree,” he said. “I thought they were noticing what a wonderful tree I'd selected for my home.”

Lexi stopped talking and scampered up his tree. He returned a moment later with his mouth full of nuts. I watched as he ran off with them. I was tired after my morning's adventures, so I sat under a nearby bush and waited to see what was going to happen next.

“I found a new home,” a voice said in my ear. I'd been asleep, but Lexi had spotted me and come to give me the news.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“It's about five hundred paws away,” he told me.

“Is that far?” I wondered aloud.

“Far enough away to be safe,” he said. “But near enough to feel like I'm still on my own turf. I'm sure glad that you warned me so I can take all the nuts I've stored away. It would be a terrible waste to lose them all.”

“The saddest thing is to lose a home,” I told him, thinking about Robbie. “But it's good to find another home that you like. That's the way I feel about the park.”

Lexi looked at me and scratched himself thoughtfully. “PeeWee,” he said, “you may not have a tail, and you may not be much of a climber, but you have a good head.
A good head is worth two tails
,” he observed.

By dark, Lexi had transferred all of his possessions to his new home. Since I own nothing, I was amazed at how much Lexi had. I helped as well as I could by dragging a piece of cloth and later by carrying one or two nuts. I wish I could have helped him more, but I moved so slowly that Lexi made a dozen trips in the time it took me to complete just one.

Other squirrels were busy rushing about and moving their possessions too. Two of the doomed trees were the homes of families with very young squirrels. Their mothers carried them to safety. We all knew that without enough warning, those little squirrels would not have survived when their homes were destroyed.

“How did you mange to warn all your relatives?” I asked Lexi when I saw all the activity around us. By now I'd been in the park long enough to realize that there were as many squirrels running up and down the trees as there were people walking around during daylight.

“I told every squirrel I saw to tell every squirrel they saw to tell every squirrel
they saw to tell every squirrel they saw to tell—”

“Stop,” I said. “I understand.”

“Anyhow, they all heard your story. And they all admitted that they'd seen too many men walking around here lately.” Lexi looked at me. “There's just one thing I've been wondering about,” he said.

“What's that?” I asked.

“Tell me again, how did you discover that these trees were going to be cut down?”

“It's very simple,” I explained. “When I was looking for Robbie, I found a newspaper. I read all about the plan for the new play area in the paper.”

“That's what I thought you said,” Lexi responded. “But how did you know how to read?”

“My mother taught me,” I told him proudly.

“You actually know how to read?” Lexi asked me with amazement. “I've never heard of an animal who could read.”

“Well, I can do it. I always thought reading would be fun. But I didn't get any pleasure from reading that newspaper. Half of it was filled with words that held no meaning whatsoever. And the other half had bad news that upset me.”

“I've been watching people read ever since I was a young squirrel,” Lexi said. “They read newspapers and magazines. They read big books and small books. And it holds their attention for hours. It must make sense, and it must be fun.”

“Human beings are strange,” I pointed out.

“You're right about that,” Lexi agreed. “But
I think you're wrong about reading. After all, if you hadn't read about the trees being cut down, who knows how many squirrels would have been homeless or even killed when their trees fell down.”

I nodded. There was some truth in what Lexi said.

“Wait here,” he told me. I watched as Lexi raced up his new tree to his nest at the very top. I thought I'd seen everything he owned during the move. But somehow, I'd missed seeing one thing. A moment later, Lexi ran down the tree holding a small book inside his mouth.

“I found this many months ago,” he said. “I've kept it just because I kept it. I couldn't read it. I couldn't eat it. But still I kept it. And now I know why. You can read it to me.”

I looked at the cover of the book:
The Best-Loved Poems of the English Languag
e.

“Those words don't make sense,” I pointed out.

“Never mind,” said Lexi. “Open it up and read it aloud. Maybe it will be better inside.”

I turned the pages with my paws. These are the words I read:

Summer is y-comen in
,

Loude sing, cuckoo!

Groweth seed and bloweth meed

And spring'th the woode now—

Sing cuckoo!

“What does it mean?” I asked Lexi.

“I don't know. But it has a fine sound. Go on. Read some more.”

I read the whole poem twice over. Lexi repeated the words.

I listened to him and said, “You know, I think I understand them after all. Summer is here. And we're happy. The birds are singing.”

“That's right,” agreed Lexi. “Cuckoos are birds. And they're singing loudly.” I turned the pages with my paws and read another poem. And then another and then another.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills
,

When all at once I saw a crowd
,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
.

For once, Lexi forgot about his stomach and I forgot about mine. I looked up and saw that all around us were sitting other animals, listening.

“Don't stop,” said a pigeon. “More. More.”

Though my tongue was tired and thirsty, my head was full of wonderful words and messages. There
was
pleasure in reading. It was not just for me, the reader, but for everyone who heard me say the words.

After that, Lexi and the other squirrels were on the lookout for any books that human beings had abandoned in the park. The birds couldn't carry books, but they reported whenever they saw one lying on the grass or on a park bench. Soon Lexi had to find still another tree hole just for storing the books.

Each evening, after the park emptied out, we gathered together. I got to meet many of Lexi's brothers and sisters, as well as other kinds of animals who wanted to listen to me read. To my horror, one evening the huge bird who had tried to carry me away came with his mate. I shivered with fear when I looked up from my reading and saw him in my audience. But afterward, he thanked me for the experience of listening to the words. I knew I never had to fear him again.

Just as Lexi marveled at my reading ability, I felt great awe that he knew so much about living in the park. I am sure I would never have managed without him. Not only did he rescue me from danger more than once, but he continued to teach me many wise sayings so that I could take control of my own life. Things like
Don't count your nuts before they are shelled
, and
Don't cry over a rotten nut
. He talked a lot about nuts, but I quickly learned that these lessons applied to more than just food.