Recently we had a loss in our family. My sister-in-law passed away due to serious health issues. I have been in this extended family for 39 years from the time she and I were both very young. As a writer I cannot seem to process things completely until I manage to put thoughts and feelings into words. This has helped with some interesting columns throughout the years.
Over those years when I would discuss writing, my sister-in-law would laugh and say she published a book once. She said it was about a squirrel who couldn't climb a tree. I asked her once why she wrote about that, and she said she didn't know. It was just some assignment in school, and she looked out the window to see a squirrel and thought, "What if that squirrel couldn't climb a tree?" We would both laugh.
Cleaning out her things last week I actually came across this story, and I had to give it to her. --- It was good. Staci Foreman of Long Avenue School was the first-place winner in the Washington Parish Young Authors Search. She was in Ms. Breland's sixth grade class.
Her story is titled, "The Squirrel that Couldn't Climb a Tree."
Once upon a time there was a squirrel that could not climb a tree. His friends felt sorry for him because when winter came, he had nowhere to store his acorns. So, he wanted someone to teach him how to climb.
He set out on his journey and stumbled across an old barn and saw a cow. He asked the cow to teach him, but the cow said, "I cannot climb a tree either." So, he walked along.
Next, he saw a dog at the side of a tree resting. He asked the dog to teach him, but the dog said, "I cannot climb a tree any better than you can." So, they both sat down by the tree and began thinking of someone to teach the squirrel.
Meanwhile, back at the other side of the woods, the other animals were having a meeting about the squirrel and trying to think of an idea of how to get him to go up the tree and from then on maybe he would be able to climb a tree.
That night all the other animals were putting on their old costumes they had from last year's Halloween. They walked over to where the squirrel and dog were sitting. They jumped out and scared them so bad that both ran up the tree.
The squirrel was then known as the fastest squirrel climber in the woods.
Reading this story, which had been published in the newspaper in 1978, I could not help but think about the irony it held. Life is about learning to climb, and I thought it fitting to give this story one last print. It is a sweet one.
