THE SQUIRREL AND THE DOG
This is a story about a little grey squirrel named Squirt. He lived under the back porch of a farmhouse all by himself. He liked living under the porch because it was warm being right next to the house and also he was protected from the rain and snow. Several other squirrels used to live under the porch with Squirt, but they all moved to the woods after the farmer brought a big dog home a few weeks ago. Squirt didn’t want to move. The other squirrels tried to talk him into coming with them, but he told them he was going to stay because he liked living under the porch and that they should stay too. He said if they all were just very careful to stay away from the dog, everything would be okay. “The big dog lives in the barn, so if we just stay away from there, we will be fine. Please stay here where it is warm and dry.” The other squirrels were just too scared to stay with that dog around. They told Squirt, “Everyone knows all dogs are mean and nasty and like to bite, especially squirrels, so we just can’t live in the same place with a dog,” and with that, they left. Squirt was very sad to see them go, but he knew that under the porch was the best place to live, especially with winter coming.
As the days passed, Squirt was having a hard time getting used to being on his own because he had no one to talk to, so one day, he decided to go into the woods to find the other squirrels to visit with them. As he was crossing the backyard, heading for the woods, he heard a noise and when he turned around, he saw the big dog running towards him. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the nearest bush. He crawled into the middle of the bush, crouched down and just sat there shaking like a leaf. The big dog circled the bush several times. He squinted as he tried to see into the middle of the big bush. He said, “I know I saw someone run into this bush. I can even smell you in there. Who are you? Show yourself,” but Squirt stayed perfectly still and quiet. The big dog tried to stick his head inside the bush, but the branches poked at his head, so he gave up and walked away. Squirt waited for a very long time until he was absolutely sure the big dog was gone before he crawled out and very quickly ran back to his home under the porch. When he got there he was still shaking. “Whew,” he said, “that was a close one!”
The big dog’s name was Spot. He belonged to the Brown family who owned the farm. They were very nice people and took good care of Spot. When the Brown family’s kids had time, they would throw a stick for him to run after. Spot never got tired of bringing the stick back. The Brown family loved Spot and he loved them, but he wished they spent more time with him. He felt kind of alone.
One day, a few weeks after the big dog had chased him into the bush, Squirt decided he had to go out to collect some more food. He had not gone back out from under the porch all that time because he was scared of the big dog, but he had eaten all the food he had stored and was getting hungry. He very slowly poked his head out from under the porch and looked back and forth to make sure the big dog was not around. He didn’t see the dog anywhere, so he very slowly tip-toed across the yard and headed for the farmer’s garden. He was so relieved when he finally made it to the garden. He crawled under the garden gate and headed for the carrot patch because carrots were his favorite food. He ate one whole carrot, then headed over to the peas. He ate a pawful of peas, and then put several pawfuls into the little bag he had made out of leaves. He added 2 carrots and figured that was as much as he could carry. He crawled back out under the garden gate, and slowly made his way back to his home.
He got about halfway across the yard when he saw Spot heading towards the yard from the barn. He could feel his little heart beating faster and faster trying to figure out what to do. He noticed a small bush nearby and as quietly as he could, he ran to the bush and wriggled his way through the branches to the middle. He watched as Spot was sniffing the air, then he heard one of the Brown children calling Spot to come play. Spot turned and ran out of the yard. Squirt thought this was his big chance to get back to his house, so he started to wriggle back out of the bush, but his leg got stuck between two branches. He twisted and turned and pulled and pushed and yanked, but he could not get his leg free from the branches. It was really stuck. Squirt didn’t know what to do. He started to cry because not only did his leg hurt, but he was scared too. He laid on the ground with his leg stuck in the branches, crying and trying to figure out what to do when he heard, “Hey squirrel, what’s wrong?” Squirt looked up and saw Spot staring down at him. Squirt couldn’t believe his bad luck and started crying even more because he just knew Spot was going to chew him up, because that’s what all squirrels were told that dogs do. “Hey, it’s okay, don’t cry,” said Spot. Spot got closer to Squirt and he could see that his leg was stuck between two branches. Spot said, “I think I can help,” and he reached in with his paw to push one of the branches down, freeing Squirt’s leg.
Squirt just laid on the ground in fear and pain. Spot came right next to Squirt and lowered himself down to Squirt’s level. “Now this is the part where I get eaten,” thought Squirt, but instead, Spot said, “Hop on my back, I’ll give you a ride back to the porch.” Squirt couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He cautiously crawled onto Spot’s back. Spot stood up and started to walk towards the porch. “Oh wait a second, we forgot your food,” Spot said as he turned around, went back to the bush, and with his teeth, picked up the leaf-bag that had the carrots and peas in it. When he got back to the porch, Spot crouched down again and let Squirt slide off his back. Spot dropped the bag of vegetables next to Squirt and said, “I’ll come back later to check on you to see how your leg is doing,” then he turned and walked back to the barn. Squirt just stood there for a few minutes, not able to move and not believing what just happened. “I’m alive,” thought Squirt. “I was wrong about dogs. He is really very nice.”
Later that evening, Spot came back like he said he would, to check on Squirt to see how his leg was doing. “Hey squirrel, you under there?” Spot yelled from outside the porch. Squirt stuck his head out and said, “Yeah, I’m here.” As he came out from under the porch, Squirt looked at the big dog and said, “I never got a chance to thank you for all that you did for me. That was really very nice of you.” “You’re welcome squirrel. You would do the same for me I’m sure.” Squirt held up his front paw and lovingly pet Spot’s front paw, saying, “My name is Squirt. What’s your name?” “They call me Spot. I belong to the Brown family. I live in the barn. I’ve seen you around before and always wanted to talk to you, but you always ran away.” Squirt looked at Spot and said, “I’m sorry I ran away. I was told bad things about dogs and I was scared.” “Well I’m glad you got the chance to see you don’t have to be scared.”
Squirt asked Spot if he would like a carrot and he said he had never tried one, but he would like to. Squirt went under the porch, then came back out with the carrot and peas. He handed the carrot to Spot and the two of them sat down on the grass to eat. “Look at that full moon,” said Spot. “Wow, that sure is bright,” said Squirt. “Hey did you see those crazy pigs the other day pushing each other over in the mud because they were all trying to get into the pig shed to get out of the pouring rain at the same time?” laughed Spot. “Yes I did!” said Squirt, “And I couldn’t stop laughing! They were all snorting and covered in mud. It was very funny.” And Squirt and Spot talked like that for a couple more hours that night, and every day after that. Spot and Squirt became the best of friends. Squirt was so happy he wasn’t alone anymore.
So remember, it doesn’t matter if you are a squirrel or a dog or a pig or a human or anything else, if you have a good heart and are nice to others, others will be nice back to you and that will make for a happy life!
