Sometimes, a fable can sneak into our heads in a way that cold, hard reality doesnt.  That’s why I like writing stories like this.

Jeremy was not a bad squirrel, at least not in the sense that he deliberately tried to harm anyone.  But he was selfish, looking out for himself whenever he had the chance.  He lived in a nest made of oak leaves high above the place called Five Oaks, where the ancient oak trees grow so tightly together that a cool darkness sat on the forest floor all day.

Here, as fall settled in low and foggy around him, Jeremy gathered more acorns than any squirrel could possibly need for a winter.  He became so fat that the climb to his nest, paw over paw, became almost impossible.  But Jeremy did it, minute after minute, storing the nuts high above in the oldest, craggiest oak tree of them all.  It was what squirrels did, after all, but Jeremy did it with a special passion.  He loved nothing more than being fat and fluffy and fully prepared for the winter that was coming.

Other squirrels bounded through the Five Oaks to see what they could find.  Every time this happened, Jeremy would hop over with his rounded squirrel form looking dangerous and immense.  The noise was amazing, “Chee!” and “Hiss!” and other terrible calls that sound as though the mean a lot but mean only one thing.  “This is mine!” was what Jeremy was saying in his squirrelly way, and the others came to understand him.  They stayed away from the busy hopping mound of grey fur that worked day and night.

By the time the air filled with snow and the cold held the land in a silent sleep, Jeremy was proud of what he’d done.  He was fat and full and stocked up far more than any squirrel could possibly need for the winter – especially one already so rounded with squirrel fat and settled into a deep nest of oak leaves.  Jeremy felt he had done everything he could, checked every possibility, and he was ready.

It didn’t scare him too much when a big winter storm came up.  The tree swayed in a sickening way, but Jeremy knew he was in the oldest tree of all.  The wind started to howl and scream in a way that almost sounded like squirrel chatter, but it wasn’t a language Jeremy understood. Finally, the howl turned into a smack and then the slow deep groan of wood falling apart from itself.  The tree was blowing over!  It swayed far more than ever before and in a moment it was all buried deep in the snow.  The nest, the acorns, everything, were completely buried!

Jeremy was pinned between two branches, but managed to pull himself loose.  A long time passed as he worked to pull himself free, and gradually the storm slowed.  When Jeremy finally poked his head out of the top of the snow, there was blinding daylight and a sense that everything was perfectly calm.  He was alive, as fat as ever, but he had lost everything he worked so hard to save.  The Five Oaks themselves now caught just a bit of daylight at their roots.  There was nothing here for him.

Jeremy bounded around to see what he could find.  There was no reason to stay, now that his house was gone, and the long struggle to get out of the wreckage made him weak with hunger.   He hopped and popped through the snowy world, and after a short while he saw the bushy tail of one of the other squirrels he had kept away all through the harvest.  He called out in a friendly way to see what would happen.

“Hello!”
“Hello!  Are you the one who lost your house?”
“Yes – yes I am.  I wasn’t sure you could talk … I mean, I never heard …”
“You never listened to us before?”
“Yeah.  That’s it.”
“Well, you’re listening now.  You lost your home?”
“Yeah, I lost … everything …”
“Your stash, too?”
“I’ve got nothing.  I was … I mean …”
“I have plenty to share over here.  Come with me.  What’s your name?”
“Jeremy.  And yours is?”
“Irene.  Come with me, Jeremy.”

So Jeremy followed the grey bush tail and in a moment they were at a hollow place at the base of a tree.  The snow was kept clear by the constant digging of squirrel paws, but it was safe no matter what.  Jeremy followed the tail into the hollow and saw a stash of a few acorns and some berries, nothing much.

“This is what you have?”
“It’s not much, but it’ll do.”
“You can’t get through the Winter on this!”
“No, but you can if you forage.  Have some, if you like.”
“I can’t take this from you, it’s … you don’t have enough as it is  …”
“Don’t worry about a thing.  I have a better chance with you around.”
“How is that?”
“You’re good at finding acorns.  I’ll bet you already found more than enough for both of us once.  Just do it again.”

Jeremy at enough to feel refreshed after his terrible ordeal, and then looked up at Irene.  So he lost everything.  The only thing to do was to get it back.  There was only one difference this time around.

“Irene?”
“Yes, Jeremy?”
“Thank you.  Now let me get you our next meal!”