Squirrels In The Attic

Squirrels In The Attic  

   A family of squirrels live in an attic, in a new apartment. This new apartment is rented by a lady named Dotty. Dotty is not aware at first of the Squirrel family living in the crawl space of the attic. Later in time, she will hear them and know all that they have done!   

    There is a crawl space,in the attic of this apartment building and in it, lives a family of squirrels. The Daddy Squirrel’s name is Earl, the Mother Squirrel’s name is Elaine, and their little children squirrel’s names are Maria and Tony.

   They have just in fact moved into this attic from the house next door. The house next door had burnt down, and the squirrels had thankfully escaped with their lives!  

   “Oh, Earl, I just love our new space!”, the Mother Squirrel says, smiling. “Oh yes, dear, and so do I”, Earl, the Daddy Squirrel replies. This Squirrel family often gets to see the human, Dotty, who lives there.  

   “Hey Earl, look at this!”, Elaine says.“Yes dear, what is it?”, Earl asks his wife.

 “Just look!”, She repeats, as she crawls out from inside of the container in Dotty’s crawl space. “Wow!”, Earl says, as he takes a peek inside the container. “Hey kids!”, Daddy squirrel shouts.

    Maria and Tony come running to see what Mother and Daddy squirrel are all excited about. “Yes, Daddy?”, both kid squirrels say together. “Right in here”, Daddy squirrel says, pointing into the big container, he has just crawled out of.  

   “Oh, Wow and Neat-o!, I’ll bet the family of those photos has a big, long story to tell!”, Maria said to her brother, Tony. “Yeah!”, Tony said.  

   Then Mother squirrel said, “Well, my little ones, I have a most wonderful idea! I am going to look all of these photos over and make up a story! I will have bedtime stories to tell you both for a couple of years!”  

    Earl the Squirrel spoke next, saying, “Oh my dear yes, because from what I see so far, there are three or four generations of photos of Dotty’s family here!” 

    Mother Squirrel suddenly says, “Hush!” Earl asks, “What is it Elaine?”

“Dotty has just returned. I heard the door to her bedroom click just now!”, Elaine replied. “Oh, okay“, Tony and Maria say together.  

    They all watch Dotty then, through a hole in the bottom of the crawl space door. Dotty has just come in from her outside work and is preparing to sit at her computer to write her books. As she is doing this, her cat Grace is sniffing around the hole in the attic crawl space door with her little cat nose.  

     Then Daddy Squirrel says, “Get back kids and stay safe! Dotty’s cat, is very close! If Dotty would ever come in here, Grace might follow her and have us for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack!” “Oh, Earl, now you are scaring the children!”, Mother Squirrel says, and she is frightened herself!  “Well my dear Elaine, they need to be aware of the danger. For all of time cats have been known to chase us!”, Earl says to his wife.

   “Yes Earl, that is true. Do we have a safety plan though, for if Dotty does ever come in here and her cat follows her ?”, Elaine asks. “Well, now is a good time to think of one Elaine”, says Earl.

     “Oh Daddy, I know something that we can do!”, Maria squirrel says excitedly. “Me too Dad, but only because Maria just whispered it to me, while you and Mom were chattering away!”, Tony Squirrel chimes in. “And what is the plan, my little Maria?”, Daddy asks.

     “If we ever hear Dotty turn the knob on this door, we will all scatter to that window over there and close it behind us on our way out. It has a latch that will lock so the cat cannot get to us, and then there is a handle on the outside that we can push down on, to get back inside, when it is safe again”, Maria says excitedly.

   “That is a most wonderful plan Maria!” , Mother Squirrel says, and claps her paws together. “Yes, our little Maria, you have done your homework for sure!” Daddy squirrel says.  

    Just as the Squirrel family agreed on their safety plan for keeping their distance from Dotty’s cat, Dotty walked slowly over to the crawl space door. As she had been working on typing her stories, she had the idea to go to her container of photographs in the attic space, and begin to make copies of them for her books.

    Earl, Elaine, Maria, and Tony ran quickly to the window and made their escape! They found out, only later, that they would not have had to, because Dotty had put Grace in the hallway. Dotty did this because she knew the squirrels were there in the attic crawl space. She had often heard them chattering and crawling around in there. She also knew the danger of letting Grace see them, so she was always careful not to let Grace in the room at times when she needed to go into the crawl space.  

   The squirrels did not know that Dotty knew they were there. The squirrels soon returned to their home when they heard and saw from just outside of the safety window, that Dotty had finished her task of getting some of her photographs, and she had gone back to her desk after closing the crawl space door securely. 

    “I wonder why the cat didn’t follow her in!”, said Mother Squirrel, upon their return. “Well, Mother”, said Tony Squirrel, “I think I heard the cat meowing out in the hallway! “

   “Yes, I believe I also did”, Maria Squirrel said. “And do you know, I believe that Dotty knows we live here!”, Daddy squirrel chattered. “How Daddy, could she know?”, Tony asked. “Well, look over there my son and do you see those walnuts?”, Daddy said. “Oh, okay, I see them Dad”, replied Tony. “Yep, she knows, because those nuts were not there before and since our first safety escape, she has placed them there for us”, Daddy Earl the squirrel said, smiling from his puffy cheeks full of walnuts. Then he laughed and, said to his wife, “Oh, my dear Elaine, you do know what they say, that one Lady’s trash is another’s treasure.” “Whatever do you mean Earl?”, Elaine asks. “Well, all of these things that Dotty has put in here, say like that banana box over there, we can use that for our dinner table and the old towel there, we can use for a table cloth!”, Earl said to his wife. “Oh yes, I understand Earl. You have good thinking”, Elaine replied.

   “And as for the family photographs in Dotty’s big container, Mother Squirrel says, “I am going to put them together and tell you bedtime stories about the human’s lives!”

    Little yet, does Mother Squirrel know, that as Dotty sits at her desk, with the photos she had just taken from the container in the crawl space, she is placing them in order among the writings of her books. Mother squirrel is in the midst of looking through Dotty’s photos, when her daughter, Maria comes to her and says, “Mother, I have a great idea!” “What would that be, my dear Maria?”, Mother asks. “Well, I was just peeping out through the hole in the crawl space door, and I saw Dotty working on her books and Mother, she is already writing about the things you are trying to put together. So, I was thinking …”, Maria Squirrel said, trailing off of her sentence when Mother chattered in to say, “Oh, my dear little Maria you sure do have a smart mind for things!” “Oh, thank you Mother, I knew that you would understand!”, says Maria, happily! “If Dotty leaves her papers lay on the desk, I will be able to read them, just a little bit each day while she is at work. She never leaves the cat in there when she is away. It is so perfect and I will be able to relay to you and Tony, of what I memorize in the evenings, at your bedtimes, and for a couple of years to come!”, Mother says excitedly. “Yea! Yea!”, Maria and Tony cheer together in their chattering squirrel language, just before Daddy Squirrel, came in from outside and says, “It is time for bed, our little squirrels!” “Oh but Earl, would you just first listen to the newest news from our little ones, before they do lie down?” Elaine asks her husband. “Oh sure, what is all this excited chatter about dear? It must be good!”, Daddy Squirrel says.  

    Maria and Tony are permitted to tell their father about how Mother will get the bedtime stories from the photographs and Dotty’s writing. “And hopefully tomorrow night will be the first of those stories for you both, my little ones. Now goodnight, we love you both and sleep tight!”, Mother squirrel says to their children and gives them each a kiss goodnight!

    Dotty is aware of the goings on of the Squirrel family, because she does have a sixth-sense about these things. She can tell what goes on in her bedroom, where her desk is. For each day when she returns home from work, she sees squirrel paw prints from when they run quickly back to the attic's crawl space, across the carpet! They are so cute!, Dotty thinks to herself, before sitting down at her desk, each evening, to work on her books!  

The End