
“Why the hurry?” he vocalized, as he waited patiently for Pepper to catch her breath. In the meantime she flicked her magnificent tail in the squirrel’s direction but exuded a little too much hip action, and unceremoniously knocked him over. Nimble and none the worse for wear, Stuart promptly regained his balance, stood upright for a nanosecond and then discretely moved a few steps back.
“Whoops, sorry,” Pepper said, as she paused and stared at him sheepishly with her enormous black eyes. “I’ve missed you while you’ve been away.” She then proceeded to tell him how her tail during his absence had attracted far too much attention from the other squirrels, and they would come up close and try and touch it. And it had frightened her.
“So what did you do?” Stuart asked with a tone that expressed concern and waited for an answer with bated breath and furrowed brow.
“I came up with an idea,” said Pepper. “I told everyone that if they promised to leave my tail alone, we could still hang out together. But it would be on my terms.
“And how’s that working out for you?” asked Stuart, as he puffed out a breath, and then teased his palate with an acorn.
.
Pepper grinned. “If we take a nut or two out of the equation my stockpile now sits at a whopping six thousand, five hundred and twenty two,” she vocalized. “But then who’s counting.”