On a cold day like today, it was good to find some shelter quickly, and I did this in a small hollow in a tree. Most of the animals were quiet today, hiding from the weather and getting ready for winter.
Sitting in my hollow, thinking of my next move, I heard a sniffing and sobbing behind me. There, sat in a corner, was a small red squirrel. Still bushy tailed, but definitely not bright eyed.
"What's the matter"
"Oh you don't want to know," followed by deeper sobbing.
It turns out the squirrel (Jez) had been spending a lot of time hording food for the winter, but after taking a bump to the head from a falling branch, he had forgotten where he had kept them. With winter approaching, he didn't know what he would do, and it was too late to start hunting again. The only thing he could remember is that he had buried them in the ground somewhere.
I knew that my mission to help Santa was the most important thing, but I couldn't let Jez down. He needed to find something buried, knew the rough area it should be in, but couldn't remember the exact location. Then I had a brain wave.
Flying high above the area, I looked down at the ground. It took some time, scanning the landscape for a tell tale sign, but at last I saw it. There on the ground was an obvious area which had been uncovered recently. I flew back to find Jez, and we rushed to the mound.
Jubilation spread across his face as he dug and found the acorns buried in the shallow hole. Jumping from foot to foot, nibbling on an acorn, he was full of excited emotion.
I spent the rest of the day being introduced to his friends, have a tour of the area, and then settled down for the night to have a well earned rest.
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