The final installment of this thrilling adventure of Maple the gray squirrel! 

“Goodness, child, you know I don’t eat nuts,” Shelby exclaimed as I presented my gift.

I realized my mistake. “Well–they’ll look pretty anyways. That’s what they’re for, actually. Display nuts.”

“How old are you today, Shelby?” asked Footprint.

“Two years old. I’m as old as the hills now,” Shelby replied. She looked though the trees up towards the sky. We were deep in the weeds and unwelcome vegetation of a vacant lot, in case any humans thought that two squirrels, a possum, and a raccoon together would be weird.

“Remember the time we went in the house?” Stringy asked after a moment.

“Don’t remind me,” groaned Shelby.

“I think it was fun,” Footprint said cheerfully. “Only Stringy couldn’t make a big enough hole in the screen for me to get through all the way, and I couldn’t see much.”

“I’m not used to making raccoon-sized holes,” protested Stringy.

“I couldn’t see much either,” Shelby sighed. “I was playing dead.”

“And when the human came, I went in and got you out,” I added.

Shelby said nothing but sighed again.

I felt happy. “I just did what I had to do,” I said. And I looked up at the sky through the trees, and wanted nothing else at that moment.