A Squirrel Named Larry

Larry wanted to have a doggone good life. Why couldn't he?

“Nuts,” said Larry the squirrel. “That’s the biggest walnut on the smallest branch I’ve ever seen.” He’d really be going out on a limb trying to get it. Larry didn’t want to fall for that idea.

“Maybe one of my animal friends will help.” Farmer Brown’s horse, Pet, would just horse around when asked. “Besides, all he’d probably do is say neigh.”

“Let me see.” When Larry checked with Oink, his friend was busy making a pig of himself digging his snout in muck and eating worms. “No use asking him,” and Larry rolled his eyes in another direction.

“Wait a second. Who do I hear?” It was Amos the rooster, crowing about his latest conquest. “No use bothering him.”

Larry stopped to check but all of Amos’ lady friends were too chicken to be willing to help him.. All this time, the walnut in Larry’s imagination was growing bigger and bigger. He had to have it, by cracky. “Who else of my animal friends can I ask?”

Meow was being too catty hissing at Bowser. The dog was barking up the wrong tree Meow had climbed that had no nuts on it at all.

Larry the squirrel was running out of friends to ask. Owl was just a fly by night kind of guest at the farm and could not be found. “What to do?” He couldn’t pull the wool over Alice’s eyes. When asked to climb the oaktree she said it was a Baa idea and was too sheepish to try.

Larry would have to do it himself. He went back to the big oak tree and craned his neck looking up. The big walnut was gone! It had to be there. Maybe he was searching the wrong branch.

He scampered around, hoping things would look up a little better from a different angle. Larry took a trip he didn’t expect to take. “To think I fell for it.” There was that big walnut right under his nose.

It had been so heavy, that with the smallest cool morning breeze, the walnut had wiggled, dropped, and cracked itself open.

It was a feast for more than Larry’s eyes and a lesson to be remembered. If given a little extra time, some problems solve themselves. Still, not just waiting around, had meant he’d been able to visit almost all of his animal friends in one morning.

Larry chewed on that thought for a while before curling up and taking a dreamy after breakfast nap.