By Lilly Miller

“Oh no!” said the squirrel named Sarah. “All my nuts are gone and winter is coming. This is bad.”

“Hi,” said neighbor Maggie. “I heard that you have no nuts. I have a bunch and I don’t think I can eat all of them, so I can give you some nuts if you want?”

“Oh,” said Sarah. “Unfortunately my mother said I can’t accept anything from strangers. Not candy and not nuts.” Sarah looked very sad.

“Are you sure?” the neighbor Maggie asked. “My house is nice and warm. And I have plenty of nuts. I can bring them over if your mom still thinks I’m a stranger, even though I came to this tree thirteen years ago.”

“Mom is a reclusive squirrel. But I’m sure she would appreciate it if you brought some nuts by this afternoon when she gets home from her squirrel job. She should be back by five o’clock. Thank you!”

Maggie had brought over four bags of nuts when it started to snow. “Oh no!” she said, “I can’t give you any more nuts or I’ll be an icicle.” She started to run back to her tree.

Sarah started to cry. But then suddenly, she looked at the bags. They were enormous! She looked up to her tree house. “Uh, oh, our tree house is small. What if it overflows? This is bad.”

Just then, Mom came bouncing back through the snow in her squirrel fur coat. “Guess what? My job asked me to squirrel watch an empty house called “Cozy Corner” for the winter. It’s much bigger than our house and it has an acorn fireplace to keep us toasty. We are moving in this afternoon. Wait…what’s in these giant bags?”

Sarah started to hide the bags. “Just giant…umm…uhhh…giant… acorns, I guess?” Sarah’s mom turned to her and looked at her. “Where did you get all those acorns?” Sarah started to go back to the tree house, but suddenly her mom said, “Sarah, you are a genius! I was about to go to the store and buy acorns for winter. But wait, where DID you get these? There wasn’t enough time in an hour to go to the store and get them?”

Sarah’s eyes were as big as saucers. She knew she needed to tell the truth, her mom could tell when she was lying. “Well, they came from a sort of long lost aunt. Not exactly an aunt. More like a neighbor.” Sarah mumbled.

“Wait, a neighbor? Which neighbor?”

 “Oh, just a long lost neighbor. It really doesn’t matter.” said Sarah.

“Well, ok, if we know them I guess that’s alright” said Mom.

Sarah drew out a big sigh of relief. They got to the other house and there were four big chests they could put the acorns in. Two comfy chairs by the fire (plus a couch) and a ginormous kitchen where they could make nut soup, nut salad, nut everything.

Mom became less reclusive and they even invited their old neighbor over for nut pie and to play Nuttyland (the special squirrel edition of Candyland). And they lived happily ever after.

Cast:

Mom: Susan

Daughter: Sarah

Neighbor: Maggie

About the Author

Lilly miller has blue eyes and chin length blond hair. She loves to wear dresses. She has three cats named Louie, Addie and Louis. Lilly likes to plant lilies. Lilly loves water, and when she touches it she feels like she grows. Lilly loves to look for rainbows. She grows from the sun and she can only find rainbows with the sun.