PeeWee's Tale Page 4

  “Human beings are strange,” I pointed out.

  “You’re right about that,” Lexi agreed. “But I think you’re wrong about reading. After all, if you hadn’t read about the trees being cut down, who knows how many squirrels would have been homeless or even killed when their trees fell down.”

  I nodded. There was some truth in what Lexi said.

  “Wait here,” he told me. I watched as Lexi raced up his new tree to his nest at the very top. I thought I’d seen everything he owned during the move. But somehow, I’d missed seeing one thing. A moment later, Lexi ran down the tree holding a small book inside his mouth.

  “I found this many months ago,” he said. “I’ve kept it just because I kept it. I couldn’t read it. I couldn’t eat it. But still I kept it. And now I know why. You can read it to me.”

  I looked at the cover of the book: The Best-Loved Poems of the English Language.

  “Those words don’t make sense,” I pointed out.

  “Never mind,” said Lexi. “Open it up and read it aloud. Maybe it will be better inside.”

  I turned the pages with my paws. These are the words I read:

  Summer is y-comen in,

  Loude sing, cuckoo!

  Groweth seed and bloweth meed

  And spring’th the woode now—

  Sing cuckoo!

  “What does it mean?” I asked Lexi.

  “I don’t know. But it has a fine sound. Go on. Read some more.”

  I read the whole poem twice over. Lexi repeated the words.

  I listened to him and said, “You know, I think I understand them after all. Summer is here. And we’re happy. The birds are singing.”

  “That’s right,” agreed Lexi. “Cuckoos are birds. And they’re singing loudly.” I turned the pages with my paws and read another poem. And then another and then another.

  I wandered lonely as a cloud

  That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

  When all at once I saw a crowd,

  A host of golden daffodils;

  Beside the lake, beneath the trees

  Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

  For once, Lexi forgot about his stomach and I forgot about mine. I looked up and saw that all around us were sitting other animals, listening.

  “Don’t stop,” said a pigeon. “More. More.”

  Though my tongue was tired and thirsty, my head was full of wonderful words and messages. There was pleasure in reading. It was not just for me, the reader, but for everyone who heard me say the words.

  After that, Lexi and the other squirrels were on the lookout for any books that human beings had abandoned in the park. The birds couldn’t carry books, but they reported whenever they saw one lying on the grass or on a park bench. Soon Lexi had to find still another tree hole just for storing the books.

  Each evening, after the park emptied out, we gathered together. I got to meet many of Lexi’s brothers and sisters, as well as other kinds of animals who wanted to listen to me read. To my horror, one evening the huge bird who had tried to carry me away came with his mate. I shivered with fear when I looked up from my reading and saw him in my audience. But afterward, he thanked me for the experience of listening to the words. I knew I never had to fear him again.

  Just as Lexi marveled at my reading ability, I felt great awe that he knew so much about living in the park. I am sure I would never have managed without him. Not only did he rescue me from danger more than once, but he continued to teach me many wise sayings so that I could take control of my own life. Things like Don’t count your nuts before they are shelled, and Don’t cry over a rotten nut. He talked a lot about nuts, but I quickly learned that these lessons applied to more than just food.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Robbie

  Lexi and I watched from the distance as the work began on the children’s play area. Even through he was safely settled in a new tree, it was a sad moment for Lexi to see his old home destroyed. The noise of the construction work was horrible, so we didn’t stay long. We were lucky that the park was so large that we could run away and ignore what was happening in that small section.

  I loved my new life in the park with its grasses, bushes, space, and color. I was thriving on the delicious and varied sources of food. I’d made many, many new friends—too many to count. Just as important, I’d become skilled at hiding from humans who were not my friends. I’d never be able to run as fast as Lexi and the other squirrels. I’d never be able to climb a tree. But I’d learned how to move quickly by guinea pig standards. I’d learned to dart from one direction to another, which confused anyone who tried to catch me. In fact, it was rare for any human to ever catch a glimpse of me nowadays. And nothing was more fun than my reading sessions with the park creatures listening to me.

  I spent my nights in a comfortable tree hole that Lexi had discovered for me. The tree was enormous, and although the entrance was very small, the space inside was twice the size of any I’d discovered on my own. I had room to store food and dry leaves to keep me cozy. Best of all, the tree was very near to the one where Lexi lived, and so we were neighbors.

  But one thing bothered me every day: my thoughts of my friend Robbie. Not only did he not get a dog for his birthday, he didn’t even have a guinea pig anymore. Was he missing me? Who could he talk to if I wasn’t there for him?

  “Nonsense!” Lexi said to me when I told him how I felt. “Out of sight, out of mind. That kid isn’t worrying about you, so why are you worrying about him?”

  This was one time when I was sure Lexi was wrong, even though he was so wise about so many other things. After all, he’d never even met Robbie! How could he be so certain about how Robbie would behave?

  I still watched for Robbie as I ran around the park. And I described him over and over again to any creature who would listen to me. There was a whole network of birds and squirrels who had promised to look for him. They said they’d tell me if they ever saw him. Maybe Robbie will come to the new play area when it’s completed, I told myself hopefully.

  One day, about six weeks after I arrived in the park, Lexi poked his head into my little home and woke me up.

  “I think I’ve found your Robbie,” he reported.

  “What?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes with my paws.

  “I know I told you that all these children playing in the park look alike, but not only does this boy have spots on his face, I heard someone calling him by name.”

  “Where is he?” I asked excitedly.

  “He’s down near the lake. He was sitting on one of the park benches a few minutes ago. He may still be there,” Lexi said.

  “I must go at once before he’s gone,” I said, darting off quickly.

  “Wait. There’s something else I have to tell you. . . .” Lexi called after me.

  “Not now. I don’t have time. Tell me later,” I shouted back to him.

  Because of all the exercise I’d had in recent weeks, I could move at twice the speed I used to. So it didn’t take nearly as long for me to reach the benches near the lake as you might think.

  Sure enough, I spotted Robbie. He was sitting with another boy, and they were eating sandwiches. I ran toward them until I noticed that resting at their feet was a dog.

  The dog was on a leash that was attached to the back of the park bench. Still, I’d learned never to trust a dog. So instead of running up to Robbie, as I would have liked to do, I backed up. I hid under a nearby bush waiting till the boy took his dog away.

  The boy was talking to Robbie. Even though his mouth was full of food, I could make out his words. “You really are lucky,” he said.

  “You’re right, Evan,” Robbie said. “It all turned out great. But who would’ve believed it?”

  “When did your mom give in?” Evan asked.

  “Well, you know I got a guinea pig for my birthday?” Robbie said. The boy nodded and so did I. Robbie was talking about me. I knew he hadn’t forgotten me. Lexi was wrong.

/>   “He was a neat pet,” Robbie said. “I called him PeeWee because he was small, but even though he was little, he was great.”

  I groomed myself as I stood hiding behind the bush. By taking regular baths in the lake I managed to avoid getting fleas. (I hadn’t yet succeeded in convincing Lexi that if he took a few baths, he wouldn’t have to scratch himself all the time!) I wanted Robbie to think that I was as handsome as ever.

  Robbie kept on talking. “Well, one evening I had a sleepover at my friend Greg’s house. And when I came home, PeeWee was gone.”

  “Where did he go?” Evan asked.

  “I don’t know. The cage door was open, so I thought he must be somewhere in my bedroom. I looked everywhere. I took every book off the bookshelf. I took every single thing out of my closet.”

  “And you couldn’t find him?”

  “Nowhere. Not in my room. Not in the whole apartment.”

  “Gee. Then what?” asked Evan.

  “Well,” Robbie said. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? But I cried a lot. I worried that PeeWee was lost somewhere in the apartment. And I worried that he’d get hungry. So I sprinkled his pellet food all over, inside all the closets, in the cupboards where my mother stored her pots and canned food. Everywhere.”

  “I would have cried too,” Evan admitted. “And you never found him, did you?”

  “Never. My dad said he must have left the apartment building. Maybe he’d gone to live with another family. That really made me stop feeling so sad and made me angry instead. Why would PeeWee want to live with someone else? I thought he like me.”

  “I did. I do,” I called out and, was just about to come out from my hiding place when Robbie said something else.

  “Anyhow, after about a week, my mother said, ‘All right. Stop making such a fuss about that old rodent.’ She always hated PeeWee. She said he reminded her of a hairy rat. And then she said, ‘We’ll get you a dog.’ And that’s how I got Dakota.”

  From my hiding place, I watched as Robbie bent down and petted the dog at his feet. The dog turned his head and licked Robbie’s hand.

  I was stunned. That dog belonged to Robbie, not to his friend. Robbie didn’t need me anymore. He had a new pet. He’d finally gotten the dog he’d dreamed of owning.

  “I wonder what happened to your guinea pig?” Evan said.

  Robbie shrugged his shoulders. “I just hope wherever he is, he’s okay,” he said. “He was a neat pet but he was driving my mother insane. Maybe he found a new home where the mother doesn’t scream whenever she sees him.”

  “Grown-ups are funny,” Evan said. “My dad is terrified of snakes. I brought Cleopatra, my class snake, home over the Easter holidays and he almost had a heart attack.”

  “The snake?” asked Robbie.

  “No. No. My dad,” said Evan.

  The two boys stood up and the dog, Dakota, jumped to his feet too. Robbie took the leash in his hand.

  “Race you to the fountain,” he said to his friend.

  And suddenly they were all off and running, as fast as Lexi goes. Faster than I could ever dream of going.

  I sat in my hiding place and thought about all I’d heard. I couldn’t believe it, but Lexi had been right after all. Robbie didn’t need me.

  Slowly, I made my way back to my home in the tree. I crawled inside and him myself under the leaves.

  “PeeWee,” a voice called to me. It was Lexi.

  I didn’t feel like responding. But then I felt his paw poking me.

  “Come on out,” he said.

  Reluctantly, I left my hole.

  “Look at what I’ve found for you,” said Lexi. He pushed an apple core toward me. “I remembered how much you liked this.”

  Good old Lexi, I thought as I looked at the fruit he’d brought me.

  “Did you find your Robbie?” Lexi asked.

  “Yes.” I said. “He’s got a dog now. A big dog.”

  “I know,” Lexi said to me. “I saw him.”

  I walked over to the apple core and took a small nibble. It suddenly occurred to me that I’d never tasted any apple before I came to the park. I’d never tasted anything except pellets. I’d never done very much of anything living inside that small cage of mine.

  “I just realized something important,” I told Lexi. “Robbie is very happy with his dog. He got what he always wanted, so he doesn’t need me anymore. But I’m really glad. You know why? Because at the same time, I got what I didn’t even know I wanted. I’ve got freedom and friendship. My life here in the park is better than anything I could ever have dreamed of wanting.”

  I pushed the apple toward Lexi. “Come over here,” I invited him. “Share this with me. You’ll like it. It’s very sweet.”

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Johanna Hurwitz was born and raised in New York City. A former children’s librarian, she is now the award-winning author of many popular books for young readers, including Class Clown, Rip-Roaring Russell, Baseball Fever, and Faraway Summer. The recipient of a number of child-chosen state awards, she visits schools around the country to speak to students, teachers and parents about reading and writing. She lives in both Great Neck, New York, and Wilmington, Vermont.

  Patience Brewster has illustrated more than thirty books, including Bear’s Christmas Surprise by Elizabeth Winthrop and Queen of May by Steven Kroll. She lives in Skaneateles, New York.