PROLOGUE
“How
did we get this information?”
A
rather corpulent gray squirrel turned away from a screen and stared at the six
other squirrels who were attending the secret meeting.
Christopher
Bitsquirrel, who had called the meeting, cleared his throat. “Bob Smitcorn sent
a kuk from somewhere in the west, perhaps Nutchez. We don’t know much about
this place. That was last week. Since then we haven’t heard from him or the
other team members. Here is a fact sheet for everybody.” He handed out the six
small scrolls that lay next to him.
The
squirrels looked at the information and the room fell quiet. Finally, the
tallest squirrel in the room stated, matter-of-factly, “If this information
leaks out, our economic development plan will fall flat, for obvious reasons.”
“It
may not even be true,” a thin-lipped squirrel argued. “This is probably just
one of the many forecast models.”
“It’d
be inconvenient if it were true. We are planning to launch an economic
revolution next year,” the tall squirrel reiterated. “I believe it would be
irresponsible to share this information with the tribe as long as we are not
one-hundred percent certain that this projection is correct.”
“Exactly...
Irresponsible,” the thin-lipped squirrel agreed.
“Haste
makes waste,” the only white squirrel in the room chimed in.
The
corpulent squirrel teetered nervously. “Okay. So then I propose to wait with
any further action until we get more facts. Christopher, please notify us
immediately when you hear from Bob Smitcorn. Meeting adjourned.”
(Eighteen
months later...)
It
was an extraordinary day. Harry just knew it. The obvious proof was – he had
spotted a big, juicy raspberry. Raspberries were so rare, he had only seen them
in pictures.
His
view of the raspberry bush was partially obstructed by an oak tree he had
wanted to climb. Then again, he had already forgotten the oak tree, the acorns,
and everything else.
Stepping
closer, Harry saw that the raspberry bush had produced only a single berry.
Even
better! This meant it was his.
If
the bush had produced more than one berry, he’d be required to run back to the
burrow, report the finding, and get help with harvesting the sweets. The bounty
would be shared by many squirrels. Who knew if he’d be allowed to eat a whole
berry? This had never happened before.
There
was but one conclusion to be drawn. Better eat the raspberry right now before
another squirrel comes by.
Cautiously,
Harry climbed the thorny cane, secured the berry with a spider web thread, and
carefully lowered it onto a big flat rock right underneath. Then, he jumped
down to savor the treat. Slowly, he munched each drupelet separately. Oh, my... what a delicacy!
v
Harry
laid back on the rock and reflected on how lucky he was. In history class, he
had learned about the famines the squirrel society had to endure after the
environment changed. Though there had been forewarnings and signs, the
disastrous surge had arrived suddenly. On the coast, tens of thousands of
burrows got flooded and millions of squirrels drowned; woods and farmlands got
destroyed.
After
the waters receded, the fathers of today’s nation, George Squirrelton and Benjamin
Franknut, had told his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather’s generation
that squirrels had to organize themselves to form a society that helped all
squirrels in all of the land. The wisest of the squirrels had come together and
written down the rules, for instance, that squirrels could eat a single berry
if they found one. Though the guidelines allowed for small indulgences, in
general, all decrees focused on securing the safety and health of all
squirrels, nationwide.
Still,
conditions stayed grim for a long time. Often, the tribes had to move because
excessive heat and storms destroyed their food supply. His own mother had died
during one of those devastating storm periods. Things only changed when the
late, great Steve I’Squirrel discovered that the weird boxes they found in
deserted human dwellings could be used to communicate with other tribes.
I’Squirrel named them smartboxes. And, clever Bill Gatsquirrel discovered an
industrial complex full of power kernels which stored the magic power that kept
the smartboxes working. A school was set up so squirrels could learn using the
boxes.
President
Bill Clintsquirrel, who liked new technologies, promised a smartbox in every
classroom in the nation. Legend had it that it took the efforts of more than
ten thousand squirrels to distribute the thousands of smartboxes and power
kernels to all tribes in all the lands. Luckily, he, Harry, became a
beneficiary of this program.
The
clever idea lead to great prosperity in the squirrel nation.
The
year after the boxes were delivered, the Brighter
Future for Squirrels Conference was held for the first time. Steve
I’Squirrel and Bill Gatsquirrel were the keynote speakers. They explained how
using the newly discovered technologies would help squirrels in taking control
of their future.
Harry
remembered the event well. Using the smartboxes, I’Squirrel’s and Gatsquirrel’s
comments were live-streamed to most squirrel tribes. It was the first time that
squirrels watched moving pictures.
Soon
thereafter, legendary Jeff Biztree set up a trading platform. Tribes who needed
healthy foods could order it by using the smartboxes. And, Bill Russellsquir,
Bill Waddellsquir, and Alex Majorsquir set up a transport system to deliver
foods to all burrows in the republic. They named their company The Deer
Express. The inventive trio accomplished this seemingly impossible task by setting up partnerships with deer
societies. The deer transported squirrel messengers and merchandise in exchange
for vital information about the weather, storm damage to woods and fields,
updates about the water quality of rivers and lakes, and, of course, predator
sightings.
To
protect the nation and support their allies, The Squirrel Council also
established the Central Kernel Agency for the specific purpose of collecting,
analyzing, and disseminating this type of information.
v
Somewhere
behind Harry, a branch cracked.
Startled,
he sat up and looked around. “Better hide,” he thought. A deer broke out of the
woods and ran downhill. Even though he could only glance at it, Harry spotted
Phillip Deerrel, his tribe’s finest messenger, on the back of the deer.
Obviously, Phillip
returned
from making a delivery.
“Phillip
is going to climb the career ladder,” Harry thought. “And I? I have been
daydreaming, again. If I keep doing this, The Council will never give me
permission to go on an expedition.”
Going
on an expedition was his ultimate goal. He would have gladly traded the
raspberry or even a dozen, if he had that many, just for getting permission to
go. The bitter truth was The Council had said “not this year” for the second
year in a row and there was no arguing with The Council.
Harry
decided to return to the burrow and record the coordinates of the raspberry
bush. If, in the future, it’d produce plenty of fruit, maybe he would get
promoted; after all, he discovered the bush. And, maybe, a promotion would lead
to getting permission to go on an expedition.
Thank you for reading the prologue and the first chapter of my book, "Are We Nuts? A Modern Fable. It's on pre-order right now, to be released on July 4, Independence Day.
My "typist" is a multi award-winning author, Gisela Hausmann.
To find out more about my book please click the picture below:
Black and white engrave isolated squirrel illustration: Evgeny Turaev
Excerpt from "Are We Nuts?"
ISBN 978-1-7324211-1-0 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-7324211-2-7
(hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7324211-0-3 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control
Number: 2018906505
© 2018 by Gisela Hausmann
