THE SECRET ACORNS

Chapter 1

Candy was an inquisitive young squirrel. She would spend most of her days outside playing, exploring, and collecting acorns. Yep that’s right. Now we all know squirrels love acorns and gather them as soon as they start to ripen and fall from the trees. Squirrels collect them and store them in their tree houses for the long cold winters that will come.
Although, this is not why Candy collects them. She collects them because she likes them. She likes how they look. The acorns couldn’t have cracks or missing their shell or even a part of it. The acorns had to be jut right! Candy would collect them as soon as she could start. She would hide them in biug bunches in secret places, that no one else would look for them. It took her all Spring, Summer and part of the Fall to find just the right right and special hiding places.
This was a special thing to do, just for her. Candy didn’t let anyone else help. The other young squirrels would spend the time playing games; like hide and seek, chase, tag, and of course tree climbing races. It was important to be able to get away from anything or anyone that could hurt them or catch them.
Now Candy was a young squirrel too, so she played these same games, but she always took time out of playing to search for her secret hiding places to put her collected acorns in. She had to find just the right places. This meant she had to look for places where no one would think of looking.

CHAPTER 2

Candy’s little sister, Abby also liked to tag along when the young squirrels played. Abby was a little younger than the rest of them, but she liked to be included in the play time. Hide and seek, chase and tag were her favorite games. She could run, hide and catch most of the young squirrels. She was fast.
The one game she didn’t really like was the tree climbing races. Abby didn’t like high places. They scared her. This didn’t make sense because she had to climb the family tree house, and their door was up pretty high up, but this never bothered her because she knew her family was always close and it was home. Plus her older sister, Candy, was always right there with her when it was time to go home each day.
Their home was always nice inside. It was warm and got sunlight through the doorway and two windows further down the hallway. The living room was on the left side of the door and the kitchen was to the right. The bedrooms were down the hallway. Abby’s parents room was first on the left, then hers was next on the left and Candy’s was on the right not far from the back door. There was a big porch outside the back door on a big tree branch.
Sometimes after supper the whole family would sit outside and listen to the night sounds, look up through the tree branches and watch the stars shine. Abby liked these family times together. Candy and Abby would play guessing games or try and think of new games to try out the next day. Their parents would quiet them down and they would take turns reading them a story before bedtime.

Chapter 3

Sunshine and a warm breeze woke Candy up the next morning. It was time to get moving, she had things to accomplish today. Today would be her first scouting of the old hiding areas, plus new ones she knew she could find. Candy always left acorns in each of her old hiding places, this was to see if anyone else had found it and taken the acorns. This way she knew not to use that spot again.
Candy lifted her nose and smelled acorn pancakes, she just loved pancakes! She went to see if Abby was up yet and ready for breakfast. Abby was just finishing up washing when Candy stuck her head into her room. Abby took a long whiff and down the hallway she went, trying to beat Candy as usual, but as usual she made it just before Abby.
Mom was at the stove finishing the pancakes, Dad was reading the local paper,The Woods Press. He liked to keep updated on what was happening in the community. Mom brought the platter of pancakes to the table and took her seat. Dad closed his paper and put it aside. Then he said grace over their meal and asked for blessings on the family.
Everyone dug into their pancakes to soften their hunger, and mom asked what everyone was doing today. Dad of course was off to work. His job was very important. He was the overseer of all acorns and their readiness for harvesting. Mom was going to visit with her Women’s Squirrel Aid group. They had a few projects to work on for later in the year and holidays. They helped out families in need.
Abby planned on hanging out with the younger squirrels to play and practice, especially the tree races. Candy had decided to go exploring, so she told her Mon and dad about her plan to go exploring. She could go as long as she was home by supper time. Candy finished her breakfast and took off to her room to get the supplies she would need.