Now along comes Stevie the grey squirrel and he spots Henry and he looks him over and then like a bolt of lightning hitting him he sees that little Henry is a red tail hawk.
Now red tail hawks and grey squirrels are not at all friendly to each other. As a matter of fact Stevie remembers when he was in 4 grade and coming home from a day of school and playing! As he happily jumped through the trees that a Red tail hawk dove at him to try to catch him for supper! Stevie saw him just in the nick of time and scampered into a hole in an old pine tree. A close call but as soon as that hawk was gone Stevie scampered home.
Now Stevie is a teenager. What? How do I know? Well Stevie told me of course. Now let’s get back to our story shall we? OK!
Stevie the teenager was afraid to get too close to the hawk even though he could see that he was hurt. He tried to talk to Henry who by this time was hurt, cold, and hungry! So Stevie moved closer, Stevie could feel his legs and front paws shaking as he kept inching closer and closer to little Henry. Finally in what seemed to take forever, here stood Stevie the squirrel right next to Henry.
Boy oh boy was Stevie ever shaking now! He spoke to Henry and Henry opened his eyes and saw this grey squirrel standing right next to him. Now Henry didn’t know quite what to do, should he lunge at this squirrel and try to eat it, or what if the squirrel was going to hurt him. Well he said a quick prayer that maybe this young grey squirrel would help him somehow! At first they just looked at each other then Stevie spoke to Henry and asked him how bad he was hurt! Henry told Stevie about how the only trouble was his right wing. Stevie told Henry that he would take care of him but first he had to move him under the big Oak tree that was rotting some and a ground Owl had nested in the base a year or so back . Stevie figured out that Henry would be safe in the base of the tree and then he would look for something for Henry to eat. Well let me tell you that it was no small task to push and pull Henry into the hole at the base of that Oak tree.
But he made it and Henry was safe in the base of the tree.
Now the hour was getting late even for a squirrel who is a teenager. So Stevie knew that he had to get home soon!
He told Henry that he was going to cover both him and the base of the Oak tree so as to keep Henry warm. He also told Henry not to worry about anything just to say his prayers and Stevie would be back as soon as he could.
After Stevie’s act of kindness and being a Good Samaritan, he knew that Henry really needed more than just his help. As Stevie lay in his nest and said his prayers he asked God to help him to take care of little Henry and to guide him to whoever could or would help him!
The next day Stevie got up with the sun even though he was still pretty tired he knew that he had made a promise to Henry and no matter how tired he was, he was going to keep his promise! Stevie had a breakfast of champions at least as far as a squirrel is concerned. He had some fresh walnuts and water. The water he got from the dew on the leaves that grew on the tree where his nest was.
What do you mean How do I know these things? I already told you the grey squirrel told me and I believed him! Wouldn’t you? Ok then shall we get back to the story? Good, where was I?
Oh that’s right Stevie was eating breakfast. Well sir as soon as he finished he was off to check on his new friend! Now Stevie wasn’t just too sure what all young hawks ate but he knew that he had seen the Robins and some of the other birds in his neighborhood eating angle worms so he decided that is what he would bring for Henry to munch on!
If Stevie could find any. You know looking for angle worms is not something that squirrels do; they eat nuts and seeds and stuff like that not worms.
Along the way Stevie ran into some of his friends in the Walnut Grove Woods. He took the time to ask for their help in finding a way to get Henry home. His friends did not have any ideas but they would keep looking and doing whatever they could to help!
Stevie takes off on a very fast scamper across the ground in hopes to find some worms for Henry. He spots one, just to his right; he races over just in time to watch it disappear down its hole.
This happened several times to Stevie and he was getting frustrated and just plain beside himself. He could not catch an angle worm no matter what he tried to do.
Then it happened he spotted a pile of worms and they were all tangled up together.
What luck! Was it luck or was God helping Stevie take care of his new injured friend just like Stevie had asked him to do in his prayers? What do you think? Yea me too I think that God was answering Stevie’s prayers!
So Stevie runs over by the worms and grabs a big handful and starts to take off! Well in a couple of steps he discovers how hard it is to hang on to worms because they are slippery and a little slimy. Now remember that squirrels do not eat or have anything to do with angle worms but he knows that Henry will need the food so he makes a big face as only squirrels can do and he quickly stuffs the worms in his mouth and off he goes to help his friend!
Would you put a bunch of worms in your mouth? Of course not but for a friend you might eat those veggies that you really don’t care for, no matter how good they are for you, Right?
Good now that‘s the kind of friend we all need and want to be. Stevie gets to the big old Oak and starts to dig all of the leaves out of the way so that he can get to his friend Henry.