Alfred the squirrel

ALFRED THE SQUIRREL AND THE BIG BLUE BOX

By James E. Gray 

Alfred lived at Tall Pine Apartments. Well, not in an apartment but in a tree in front of the apartment buildings. Well, not inside the tree but in a nest his mother had made. It was high in the tree. From his nest he could see for a long way away. He was not allowed to go to all the places he could see. He was not allowed to even go across the street. His mother always said, “Alfred the street is no place for a squirrel.”

            Sometimes he would go down and sit by the street and watch the cars speed past. They went very fast. One day he thought he would see if he could run as fast as the cars. He waited until they were stopped at the traffic light. He was on the sidewalk and when the light changed he ran down the sidewalk beside the cars as fast as he could go. It was no use they were much faster than he. He would just stay on his side of the street.

Alfred knew everything and everybody in his block. He even knew the Rat family who lived under the air conditioner behind the apartment house. They slept most of the day and didn’t come outside until almost dark. Mr. Rat was always grumpy and had very bad breath. Mrs. Rat was very nice. Alfred also had made friends with two pigeons Bertha and Betty. They came to his block almost every day looking for food. They made these cooing noises that Alfred thought was neat. He didn’t know where they lived.

He didn’t know the names of the people who lived in the apartments. He just watched them come and go. They left at the same time every morning. He just stayed in his tree when they were leaving in the mornings. The parking lot was a dangerous place for a squirrel at that time of day. They didn’t all come back at the same time of the evening. The parking lot was not so dangerous during the evenings.

One day Alfred saw smoke coming out an apartment window. At first he didn’t know what it was. He heard a siren. He had heard a lot of sirens while living here, this time the siren got closer and closer. Alfred rushed up his tree to see what was going to happen. He saw a large red truck speeding down the street. It had lights flashing and men standing on the sides of the truck. The truck stopped right in front Alfred’s tree. The men jumped off and ran inside the apartment building. Other men pulled a long hose off the truck and hooked it to the red fire hydrant down at the corner.

The smoke quit coming out of the window. The men from the truck started coming out of the apartment building. They rolled the long hose up in a big roll and placed it on the truck. They stood around talking. One of the men was talking to the people that lived in the apartment building. They got on their truck and left. Alfred went down to see if they left anything lying on the ground. He went around behind the apartment building. The Rat family was still asleep.

Alfred was awakened the next morning by a scraping and banging noise. When he looked outside he saw a big truck leaving a big blue box in front of the apartment where the smoke had come out of the window. The truck left after leaving the big blue box sitting on the ground. Alfred came down from his tree to look at the box. He walked around it twice. Bertha and Betty flew in and sit on the edge of the big blue box making their cooing sounds looking down inside. When they left Alfred climbed up the end and looked over inside. He didn’t see anything.  He wondered what the big blue box was for. And why that truck had left it here?

Later that day some men came and made a ramp, from the window where the smoke had come out, down to the big blue box. Alfred wondered what the ramp was for. Well the next morning he found his answer when he awoke to banging sounds. When he looked out men were throwing things out of the window onto the ramp, and they were sliding down and crashing into the big blue box. Alfred stayed away from the big blue box all that day.  When he climbed up to look in the box after the men were gone, there was a lot broken stuff in the big blue box that smelled smoky.

Alfred was afraid to get inside the big blue box but climbed up to look and see what was inside. There was the stuff the men threw out the window and things that the people who lived in the apartments threw into the big blue box when they walked past. One evening Mr. Rat asked him “What’s in that thing?” Alfred told him about the smoky smelling stuff the men threw out the window and the things the people that lived in the apartments threw in.  Any food in there Mr. Rat asked?  Alfred said he had seen the men throw things down the ramp when they were eating their lunch. Sounds good to me said Mr. Rat! Mr. Rat always had bad breath.

That evening Mr. Rat climbed up the end of the big blue box and went down inside. He came out carrying as much stuff as he could. He made several trips that night from the big blue box to where he lived under the air conditioner behind the apartments. Mr. Rat always had bad breath. When Alfred saw that Mr. Rat could go to and from the big blue box safely he decided he would go inside the big blue box. He climbed up the end and walked along on the edge from one end to the other before he got enough courage to go inside. It was pretty neat in the big blue box there were many hiding places and interesting things. Alfred was having fun exploring the inside of the box.

The next day the men came and took away the ramp that went from the window down to the big blue box Alfred felt safe playing in the big blue box now that the ramp was gone. Alfred would play for hours in the big blue box. Alfred would pretend he was an explorer looking for hidden treasure. Sometimes he would see how many places he could hide and not be seen by Betty and Bertha. Betty and Bertha would perch on the edge of the big blue box looking down inside, Alfred could see them from his hiding place, but they could not see him.

One day Alfred was hiding from Betty and Bertha and they flew away quickly. Alfred wondered why they left so quickly. Alfred thought they might be trying to trick into coming out of his hiding place. So, he just sits quietly waiting for them to return. Then it started to get dark inside the big blue box. Alfred was getting scared. The big blue box began to shake and move. Alfred was really getting scared now. The stuff in the big blue box was moving and falling.  Alfred leaped from his hiding place. He could see some light up in one corner of the blue box the rest of the big blue box was covered with a tarp. Alfred rushed toward the light and poked his head out. Oh no! The big blue box was on the back of a truck moving down the street. Alfred didn’t know what to do. He just wanted to be at home in his bed. The truck stopped at a traffic light. Alfred jumped with all his might toward the sidewalk. He landed with a thud skinning his nose. He got up and ran as fast as he could to his tree and climbed up to his nest leaped in bed and closed his eyes and thought to himself I WILL NEVER EVER AGAIN PLAY IN A BIG BLUE BOX!

Copyrighted September 3  2013 TXu1-878-937