SHELBY DOES A GOOD DEED
It was a clear evening and the F. Squirrel family was sitting on a pine branch not far from the nest. They were contentedly munching on some lichen they had stripped off a nearby tree trunk. Suddenly their senses came to full alert, when there was scuffling down below them, and deep male voices.
A few seconds later a sort of parade appeared in the open space between the tall trees. There were three men carrying what looked like boxes, but the sides of them weren’t solid. Shelby thought he caught a glimpse of movement in one of them.
Mother signalled him and Darby to stay still and keep quiet, so they watched as the strange scene unfolded.
There was a bit of discussion between the three men and after some moments, the three boxes were placed on the ground in the middle of the little clearing. Each man fiddled with the end of his particular box and stood back, making a quick visual check on the surroundings.
“They should be safe here,” one of them said. “Looks pretty quiet right now.” With that they all trooped out of the glade and disappeared from view.
Shelby held his breath, knowing he had to prevent a hiccup attack! Who knew what was in those boxes? All three flying squirrels stayed absolutely still, eyes glued to the forest floor.
After some rattling noises, with the boxes being shaken about quite a bit, the end of one of them dropped open and a sharp nose poked out into the night. It was followed by a head with two bright, glittering eyes that were wearing a mask!
When the rest came out, it appeared as a round grayish animal, with a fluffy tail that had wide black rings around it. The unusual creature quickly moved to one of the other cages, which was actually what the boxes were, and juggled and wiggled and uttered little squeaks, until the end of the cage dropped down and out came another one that was just the same, but a bit smaller.
The two of them now hurried to the third cage and opened the end with no trouble. They were fast learners, that was obvious. Out of the last cage emerged two roly-poly miniature versions of the others. They snuffled each others’ faces and necks for a few seconds, seeming glad to be together, safe and sound. Then they waddled off a bit awkwardly, slipping into the darkness of the evening.
Shelby and his family darted back to their nest, wondering about what they had witnessed. They settled in for a snooze to be ready for the next hunt through the trees for food.
“Hey!” a rather gruff voice shook all three of them awake. “Come up here and take a look, this would be a good nest!” And then a sharp nose poked its way into the opening of the old woodpecker hole, eyes quickly darting around.
Mother F. Squirrel answered calmly, “I’m sorry to say, but this is our nest. You have to find another place!”
By then there were two masked faces filling the doorway, whiskers quivering.
“Oh, my!! Excuse my bad manners! I am Ringtail Raccoon and this is my mate, Lottie. We had a nice place to live in the city but were trapped and brought here. We’re just looking for a new place to live. Our twins are Molly and Polly. Come and say hello, you two!”
Two miniatures of Ringtail and Lottie appeared in the nest opening, whereupon the F. Squirrel family was properly introduced. And Shelby broke in eagerly, with a hiccup, “I know a place! I know a place! (Hic!)”
So began an eerie procession through the forest, the three flying squirrels gliding from branch to branch, Shelby in the lead, with the whole raccoon family trying hard to keep up as they trotted along on the ground. Shelby led them to a huge fallen oak tree that was mostly hollow and sat back while the strangers wandered into the opening, pushing this way and that, with little happy squeaks from all four of them.
Just then one of the little raccoons suddenly jumped off the end of the nearest branch, and landed with a plop on the ground. She lay sniffling loudly and woefully.
“Whatever made you do that?” said Ringtail, running to help. “Are you okay, Molly? Speak to me!!”
“Oh, Papa, I was just trying to fly like Shelby and Darby and their mother. I want to do that, too! It looks like tons of fun!”
With great patience, that surprised the F. Squirrels, Ringtail explained to Molly, “You can’t fly because you are a raccoon! Raccoons don’t fly! Birds, bees, butterflies and flying squirrels fly but raccoons don’t fly, Molly!”
He continued, “There’s nothing wrong with being what you are, you know. You are a perfectly fine raccoon and Shelby is a perfectly fine flying squirrel. You can still be friends. You don’t have to be exactly the same to do that!”
“Am I ever glad you didn’t try that from higher up, Molly!!” hiccupped Shelby happily. “We’ll have lots of fun playing in the forest, don’t worry about that!”
And all four youngsters were soon romping around, both in the trees and on the ground.
Mother F. Squirrel smiled warmly at Ringtail and Lottie and said, “Welcome to our little corner of the woods. I’m so glad Shelby noticed this old fallen tree and remembered where it was. Good for you, Shelby!”
Oh, Shelby literally glowed as they all joined in to agree with her. He thought, I could get a real swelled head after this!
(I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I like it for a few reasons -1) it’s a good thing that the family of raccoons has been moved from the city instead of being poisoned. 2) Shelby’s mother is very polite when Ringtail’s face appears in their nest hole, because she knows they will need a safe home as soon as possible. So three lessons there: a) helping to teach about a new wild animal, b) the politeness intead of being rude to Ringtail who is probably desperate to find a home, and c) Shelby’s immediated eagerness to help – another gentle point for a child to hear and remember, be willing to help others! I still love the bit where Molly jumps into thin air, hoping to fly like Shelby, and hits the ground with a nasty bump; I like how concerned Ringtail is, worried she has hurt herself and asking her why she did it. This certainly helps the youngsters to become friends., and d) even though they are different from each other they know they will be friends.)
Set of 3 books, The SHELBY F. SQUIRREL Series, is $45 with postage extra. I have a good supply with me, so please contact me directly if you are interested in having these books for your family or as a gift to another family. Please use the CONTACTS page on this website. My email and Messenger info is known to many friends, and those are also excellent ways to reach me.
Meanwhile, please browse through the other pages; lots of info about me, the books, samples, and more. The blog posts go back a long way, I’m sorry only the dates show. If I can find a way to include the titles on that list I will!
Eleanor Lawrie, Author 