The Bravest Squirrel Ever Page 6

Chapter 6

  SCAREDY-RAT

  Pippi and Max stared at each other for a long time. Then he stuck his tail in the air and trotted to his special corner. He picked up a seed and started eating.

  She crawled slowly up the rafter while he stuffed his mouth with seeds, ignoring her. She jumped to the ceiling and clung there, looking down. She might never see her brother again. Would the humans take him to the same place they took Uncle Louie after he flopped? Or would he be all alone surrounded by mean, hungry animals?

  Pippi might be a scaredy-rat, but she wasn’t stupid enough to end up flopped. “Goodbye, Max,” she whispered.

  He didn’t answer, so she crawled along the ceiling, wiggled under the wire and up the pipe. She blinked into the sunlight and waited for her eyes to adjust to the brightness. Then she jumped onto the roof.

  “Pippi, are you okay?” Lana called from the tree branch where she crouched against the trunk, hugging her tail.

  “I’m okay.” She ran across the roof and jumped onto the end of the branch.

  “Is Max coming?”

  Thinking about her brother made her mad and sad and scared again. “He says he’s not afraid of the humans. Since we are, he won’t let us in the nest with him.”

  “I’m never going back in that awful place, anyway,” Lana sobbed. “I wish we’d never discovered it.”

  Pippi hugged her sister, afraid for Max and relieved they’d gotten out without flopping.

  Lana wiped her tears with her tail. “Stay in my nest with me. I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Me either.” They crawled to Lana’s tree and curled next to each other.

  “You can share my home all winter if you help me hunt for acorns and seeds.” Lana sniffled.

  “Okay.” Pippi wrapped her tail around her until her sister fell asleep. She stared through the hole in the side of the nest at the bright, sunny day. Their cousins chattered as they played Red Rover in the next yard.

  But the light and noise didn’t keep her awake. From this high up, she could see the human building and all the machines driving down the street. Every time a truck rumbled by, she jumped with fear that Fred had arrived to flop Max.

  For the rest of the day and all of the next, only Mother-Honey and Daddy-Dean parked their machines at the house. Lana stopped crying, and Pippi stopped panicking every time a truck drove by.

  Together they began gathering food for the winter. Pippi was carrying an acorn up the tree when she heard a rattling, banging sound. She dashed to her lookout hole between the sticks in the nest.

  “Give me the acorn,” Lana said.

  Without glancing away from the truck rolling to a stop in front of the building, Pippi dropped the food.

  “Hey. Watch what you’re doing.”

  The acorn rolled along the edge of the nest. Lana lunged for it, but it fell to the ground before she could catch it.

  Through the peephole, the door to the noisy truck opened. A human with an angry face and big brown boots stepped out. He covered his hands with big, thick gloves and then marched toward the house.

  Pippi’s stomach churned like she’d eaten a rotten acorn. The horrible, scariest-of-all human she’d hoped would never come had arrived. Fred had come to make Max flop.

  “Stop dropping the acorns. We don’t have nearly enough to last the winter,” Lana said.

  “Who cares about acorns? I have to get Max to safety before it’s too late.” She scampered down the tree as fast as she could.

  As she ran along the fence and across the yard, Mama peeked out of the hole in her hollow tree. “Pippi, have you made your own nest yet?”

  At any other time, she would have been overcome with excitement and given Mama a big hug, but she was on a serious mission. “I can’t talk now.”

  Mama came all the way out of the hole and blocked her path. “You have to stop playing. You’re a big girl. You have to gather food and make a home before winter.”

  “I have to save Max first. He’s in trouble. Can you help me?”

  Crying and whimpering came from the hole. Mama sighed, looking tired and lonely. “The babies are always hungry, and they never sleep. Whatever trouble Max is in, he can take care of himself. I have enough to worry about with the babies, but I worry about you too.”

  Mama disappeared into her hole, too busy with the babies to help. It was up to Pippi to warn Max before Fred got him. She dashed to the tree near the building, past the birdfeeder, and up to the branch that went over the roof. She scampered out and jumped on the roof, running to the pipe. Cautiously, she crawled down and poked her head under the wire.

  “Nothing’s in here now.” A deep human voice echoed across the nest. “I’ll check the roof and seal up any holes so nothing can get in again.”

  Pippi peeked her head inside. A faint light glowed from the hole in the floor, then vanished. The human had left and sealed the hole, making it safe for her to enter.

  He’d been wrong about nothing being in the nest. Max was the best hider she knew. He was here somewhere. Even if he’d stayed in plain sight, Fred probably would have missed him, just like Daddy-Dean had missed Lana.

  “Pippi, what are you doing?” Lana called through the top of the pipe.

  She turned and wiggled up to the outside. Her sister sat on the branch over the roof, munching on an acorn and trembling.

  “I need to find Max.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t go down there again.”

  “This is different. It’s a rescue mission. A human is going to do something to the pipe. I heard him say so. Max has to get out before Fred comes. You keep watch and tell me when they get close.”

  Pippi slipped down the hole and wiggled under the wire before Lana could complain she was too scared for lookout duty. “Max, where are you? Didn’t you hear what the human said? You have to get out of here.”

  He popped his head out of the insulation. Even with his cheeks puffed out with an acorn in his mouth, he still managed to grin. “Told you they wouldn’t find me.”

  “Mama says we can’t talk with our mouth full.” She jumped onto the floor.

  “Try and make me,” he taunted. “Besides, you can’t come in here anymore. No scaredy-rats allowed.”

  How dare he make fun of her when she’d come to save him. She marched along one of the boards. “Fred is here. I saw him get out of his truck. He’ll trap you and take you away in a bag like Uncle Louie.”

  “He’ll have to catch me first.”

  Pippi stomped her paw. Max was in danger. Why couldn’t he get scared and run away like a normal squirrel? “You don’t have to stay out forever, just until we’re sure it’s safe.”

  He flipped his tail, fluffing her face. “I’m sure it’s safe, scaredy-rat.”

  “Fine, let them flop you. See if I care.” Of course, she cared. But she was so angry she almost convinced herself she didn’t. She jumped onto the ramp that went up to the ceiling.

  “The humans are coming. The humans are coming.” Lana scurried down the hole and jumped to the floor. “Pippi, Max, hurry! You have to get out of here. I saw them—Daddy-Dean and big, bad Fred. They have a huge wooden thing with long branches and steps, and they’re using it to climb on the roof.”

  “It’s called a ladder,” Max said.

  “Whatever. You have to get out of here.”

  “He won’t come.” Pippi’s eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t let her brother flop. If only Mama had come with her. He would listen to her. But she cared more about her new babies than helping her other kids.

  “Did you see that? One went down this pipe,” Fred said from up above.

  Lana’s eyes grew huge with fear. She stood frozen on the insulation.

  Pippi was so scared she accidentally peed a tiny bit. She squeezed her back legs together to stop herself, but it was too late. She jumped off the rafter away from the wet spot.

  Max looked from the dark stain on the board to her and laughed. “Scaredy-rat, scaredy-rat,” he sang. “Thos
e dumb humans are nothing to be scared of. Watch this.”

  He scampered onto the rafter, jumped over the pee spot, and crawled to the ceiling.

  “What are you doing? They’ll catch you,” Pippi screamed.

  Max wedged himself under the wire and wiggled into the pipe.

  “A-ha! I got you now,” Fred shouted.