Squirrel World Read Free

with the park world, and he now has a family of his own to watch over. I am happy to know we will be friends forever. However, now that he’s got a mate, I know I’m not the number-one creature in his life. And it was just because I no longer had the enormous responsibility of protecting PeeWee that I could go off with Lenox.

    “You will return here, won’t you?” asked PeeWee.
    “Of course,” I reassured him. “My mother always said,
‘East, west, one’s nest is best.’
”
    “You will have many good stories to tell us when you come home,” commented Plush, looking up from the apple core she was holding in her paws.
    “You may find another world that you like better,” PeeWee pointed out.
    “Impossible,” I insisted.
    I reminded myself that unlike all the other rodents in the park, PeeWee had not been born here. He was born in a pet shop and had for a brief time been the pet of a young human. So he’d already seen other worlds. In fact, it had taken him time to adjust to this life, with its freedom and its dangers.
    I didn’t know much about Lexington Avenue, but I knew that even if I liked it better than the park, I’d come back. I’d tell my stories to PeeWee and Plush and their children. And I had promised Lenox that we’d go in search of Lenox Avenue, too. I had a lot of adventures ahead of me.
    I turned to Lenox, who had joined the guinea pigs at their meal and was busily chewing on one of the seeds we’d gathered.
    “We leave at dawn,” I announced to him and to the others.
    Lenox swallowed the seed and let out a cheer. “It’s about time,” he grumbled, as if I’d been keeping him waiting for weeks.

CHAPTER FOUR
I Leave Home

    Now here’s the truth of the matter: There had to be a reason why I’d never gone off to see this Lexington Avenue place before. After all, you’d think I’d have been curious. And the fact is, I was. But I was not so curious that I’d have deserted my wonderful home and my enormous family and set off on my own. So when Lenox suggested we go together, I realized that this was my chance.But there was another part to the truth: I was scared.
    In the park, there are thousands of trees that I can climb for safety. There are bushes to hide behind, holes to slip into, and enough brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins to confuse anyone trying to find me. Out on the city streets, who knew where a squirrel could find safety? Still, I was determined to go through with the plan.
    I crawled into my hole for the night and curled up, making room for my visitor. After complaining briefly that he felt cramped, Lenox fell fast asleep. I remained awake. I lay quietly and savored the familiar smell of my nest. I stuck out a paw and touched each of my treasures that was close by. They were all things that I had found in the park.I had two unmatched mittens lost by small humans. I had several metal disks called coins that humans exchange for ice cream, bags of peanuts, or balloons in warm weather, when the vendors come into the park.
    My newest and most favorite possession was a woolen cap with a funny top called a pom-pom that I’d watched a man remove from his head on an unseasonably warm day. He had stuffed this human head covering into his pocket, but from my perch on a tree branch I had noticed that the cap was sticking halfway in and halfway out. I had a feeling that it might come all the way out if I waited patiently. Sure enough, as the man walked, the cap worked its way free of the pocket. It landed softly on the ground, and instantly I pounced on it, picked it up inmy teeth, and climbed with it up the nearest tree. The man never noticed at all.
    However, old Uncle Ninety-nine happened to observe me. “That’s not edible, you know,” he called out.
    But unlike my uncle, I think of more than just my stomach. I knew that the cap would make a warm, cozy lining for my nest. I removed the cap from my mouth just long enough to call out to him, “A nut this large