Hazel and Nutmeg - Episode Three by Saralee Sky

Slide-A-Tree

Hazel and Nutmeg lived in a cozy nest in a hollow area high in the big oak tree in the Big Backyard of the Man and the Woman and the Little Girl and the Baby Boy and the Dog and the Cat. Hazel was a black squirrel with a big bushy tail. She was the big sister of Nutmeg. Nutmeg was a gray squirrel (with a big bushy tail) and Hazel’s little brother. Hazel and Nutmeg lived with their mother, Mama Squirrel, and their father, Papa Squirrel.

On this day Hazel and Nutmeg were playing together all along the branches of the big oak tree. They would race to the very end of a branch then leap to the next one until they reached the tiniest branches at the very edge of the tree. Then they would leap onto the branches of the maple tree and do the very same thing. They could go from tree to tree in the Big Back Yard without ever having to touch the ground. It was great fun.

Nutmeg had a hard time keeping up with his big sister Hazel. She could run so fast it almost seemed as though she were flying. And she did this using only three of her little legs. For you see, in her right front paw she held tightly to Silky, a little doll Papa Squirrel had made for her out of corn husks and corn silk. Silky went everywhere with Hazel.

Hazel raced to the end of a maple branch and tried to leap to the tip of a blue spruce limb. With only three legs to grip with, this time she missed her landing and began to slide down the spruce needles. At first she was really scared, but as she continued to slide from branch to branch – cushioned by the spruce needles – she realized she had just invented a brand new game! She landed with a splash on the ground in a pile of oak and maple leaves.

“Wow! That was fun!” she exclaimed.

“Hazel! Where ARE you?” Nutmeg called. He was still high in the branches of the maple tree.

“I’m down here, Nutmeg, on the ground,” answered Hazel. She scampered up the trunk of the maple tree, over the large lower branches and out to the place where Nutmeg sat waiting for her.

“I just made up a new game, Nutmeg. It’s called Slide-A-Tree! Want to try it?” Hazel asked. Without waiting for a response, she raced to the end of the maple tree branch with Nutmeg close behind, and Silky clasped firmly in her right front paw.

Hazel leaped onto the blue spruce and began to slide and tumble down its branches again, this time knowing that she would end up at the bottom of the tree in the soft pile of leaves. Nutmeg was right behind her. Anything Hazel could do, he was willing to try. If he couldn’t do it the first time he would try and try again until he mastered it. This time he was able to slide and tumble along after her - though with more tumbling and less sliding - until he, too, landed in the soft pile of leaves on the ground.

Hazel and Nutmeg spent the next hour playing Slide-A-Tree again and again. As she sat in the pile of leaves after a particularly tumbly slide, Hazel looked around and said, “Where is Silky?” She was no longer tucked safely in her right front paw. “Oh no, I’ve lost Silky!” She began to run here and there, searching among the fallen leaves.

Nutmeg was still up in the maple tree about to leap onto the spruce tree. He didn’t hear Hazel. He was finally getting sort of good at Slide-A-Tree. He made his leap and began to tumble and slide down the spruce branches. A few branches down – though still a long way from the ground – Nutmeg spied something sticking out of the needles of a branch as he slid by. He tried to stop his slide by grabbing hold of the branch beneath the needles. Finally his paws caught the branch and he was able to climb back up to the object he spied. It was Silky!

He retrieved her and tucked her carefully in his right paw, just as he’d seen Hazel do countless times. “OK,” he said to himself. “I can do this.” His little face looking serious and determined, he let go of the branch and allowed himself to start sliding and tumbling toward the ground. It was a lot harder without his right front paw to help keep his balance. He ended up sliding mostly on his back, landing in a big blustery heap in the pile of leaves.

Hazel was still running back and forth looking for Silky. “Look, Hazel, I found Silky,” said Nutmeg, emerging from the heap of leaves, Silky held high in his right paw.

“Oh Silky, I was so worried!” said Hazel grabbing her out of Nutmeg’s paw and hugging her tightly. “Thank you, Nutmeg. You are a good little brother.”

“You’re welcome, Hazel,” said Nutmeg. ” I guess Slide-A-Tree isn’t Silky’s favorite game.”

Saralee Sky is the creator and co-owner of Babynut - an online store featuring natural products for mother and baby, and free online newsletter, Nutsense.