Johnson, Brenda
Issue No. 8, May, 2012
The Magic Window
Brenda Dunfield Johnson
Illustrated by Pat Henderson
Stubby was born high in the walnut tree near old Dr. Avery’s home on a crisp spring morning. There was still dew on the nest when Stubby’s mother called to his brother and sister to see their new baby brother.
“He’s not a squirrel! He’s got a tail like a rat!” his brother bellowed. He pointed and laughed at little Stubby.
“His tail looks like it got caught in a garbage disposal,” taunted his sister.
“Looks like a jump-rope to me,” echoed the brother.
“Now, children, don’t make fun of your new brother. He is beautiful to me. Look at his amber eyes. They have the color of gold and Mother Earth . . . and so bright.” Stubby’s mother cuddled him and gave him a little kiss on his overbite where his two front teeth peeked out from his pink mouth.
“Still looks like a rat to me,” chided the brother. He folded in the fluff on his own tail, stuck out his teeth and wobbled in a circle to taunt the new little brother still wet from birth and wide-eyed. “Rat-tail! Rat-tail”
“He is a proud new member of our family,” Stubby’s mother said. “Look, he has the same copper-colored legs, royal grey back, and the distinctive brown “y” shaped markings on his face.” She stroked Stubby’s back with her little claws and nuzzled close to him.
“He’ll never be able to sound the alarm for Ben,” Stubby’s brother said.
Ben was the neighborhood cat, a grey tabby who fashioned himself a good hunter.
Whenever Ben came around, all the squirrels in the neighborhood would flip their tails with the “danger” signal and sound the “chi-chi” alarm. “That’s enough, now. We’ll see what Stubby will do,” said his mother. “I know Stubby will grow up to do something important.”
As they all grew that spring, Stubby was the first to learn how to run up and down the trunk of the walnut tree, hang upside down on the trunk, and flip his tail furiously when Ben strolled by. Because his tail wasn’t such a good flag, Stubby learned to yell “chi-chi-chi-chi” louder than any of the other squirrels.
His brother and sister still made fun of him. “Hey, jump-rope-tail,” his brother would yell, and all the other young squirrels would join the chant. “Hey, jump-rope-tail. . . . Hey, jump-rope-tail!”
Stubby sometimes cried to his mother. It hurt his feelings when the others made fun of him. He didn’t know that bullies never win in the end.
“Stubby, you are smart and talented someday you will do something important. I know it. You will,” his mother told him.
Stubby was patient. He learned how to gather walnuts and to bury them around in the yard. Of all the squirrels, he was the best at digging the soil and covering up the walnuts. He also learned to jump into the flower pots to bury nuts around the potted roses. He was very good at directions and could run in a straight line from tree to tree faster than anyone in his family.Stubby was positive. He enjoyed his life and found the world beautiful everyday.
But he wasn’t always happy. Sometimes he had bad days. Sometimes he had sad days. It hurt his feelings when his brother and sister made fun of his stubby tail.
“When will I ever find something important to do?” he would ask his mother.
“Don’t worry, Stubby,” she would say. “Life will bring you something important to do. Be patient.”
So every day when Stubby woke up he said to himself, “This is going to be a good day. Maybe this is the day I will do something important.”
But it was a long time before Stubby would find something important to do. Two cold winters went by. Stubby gathered walnuts and stored them in the bottom of the big walnut tree, in the rose pots, and around the gardens.
One crisp fall day there was a lot of noise at the bottom of Stubby’s tree. It was a beautiful day. The leaves on the walnut tree had turned the colors of golden jewels: yellow diamonds, Baltic amber, Mexican topaz, and garnets. The sky was exceptionally blue and the clouds like cotton puffs.
“G-r-r-r-r, Buzz, G-r-r-r, Buzz-z-z-z!” Stubby looked out and saw four men, a huge red bucket truck, and a buzz saw. The men were sawing into Stubby’s walnut tree! You could smell the fresh sap of the wood in the air. Sawdust flew everywhere.
“G-r-r-r-r, Buzz, Buzz, whir-r-r.”
Stubby woke up his mother and brother and sister. “Get up! Get up! Get out! Get out! Danger!” he shouted.
Such a scurry you never saw! They scrambled out of their nest, jumped to the roof of Dr. Avery’s house and shimmied down the stone wall. They watched in horror as limb after limb their home was dismembered. Leaves were crushed. The bark of the tree crumbled as the buzz saw roared its way through the 100-year-old tree.
“No-o-o-o”, shouted Stubby’s brother. “Stop them, mom!”
“It’s the end of the world!” sobbed Stubby’s sister. “My nuts! Our nest!”
Stubby’s brother and sister were out of control. Their mother looked on in horror. “What will we do?” they sobbed. “Our nest, all our food stored for the freezing winter months, what will we do?”
Stubby felt sick to his stomach, but he knew that this might be his time to do something important. He stayed calm. He thought, “I can solve this problem. I can do something. This is not a problem. This is my opportunity!”
Weeks passed. The family gathered up all the walnuts that they had stored in the flower pots and put them in a new walnut tree across the road near Mrs. McGovern’s place. The supply was scarce, however, and they knew that this would be a very difficult winter.
December came and the first fluffy flakes of winter
snow began to stick to the ground. The jeweled leaves had all turned to powder. As the days grew shorter and the nights colder, they huddled in their nest fearing the long hungry months to come. They shivered in their nest night after night. Stubby was the coldest of all because his tail wasn’t fluffy enough to keep him warm, but he never complained. He spent his time thinking and thinking. One day Stubby was out exploring and he noticed Mrs. McGovern busy in her kitchen. She was making apple pies for her church fair and carrying them to her kitchen table to cool. Stubby hopped up on her window sill and looked at her through the window. When she seemed to notice him, he sat up straight and put his two paws together as if he were saying prayers or “please”.
“Hello, cutie,” Mrs. McGovern said. “Where did you come from?” Stubby didn’t run. He sat straight and looked her right in the eye.
“Would you like a peanut?” she asked.
Stubby sat firmly.
Mrs. McGovern went to her pantry and brought out one golden peanut in its shell. She opened the kitchen window just enough to get the peanut through and then closed it tightly.
Stubby hadn’t moved. He didn’t want to scare her or make her think that he would come inside her house.
He picked up the peanut in his paws, cracked it with his front teeth, and savored the two small peanuts inside.
The next day he watched Mrs. McGovern’s window all day. When she appeared in the kitchen he hopped up on the window sill and sat up straight and tall. At first she didn’t notice him, but when she was near enough to hear, he tapped lightly on the window with his paw.
“You again,” she smiled. “Aren’t you the cutest thing! Would you like another peanut?”
She disappeared into the pantry once again and came out with two peanuts. Carefully she slid them under the window onto the sill.
Again, Stubby was very careful not to frighten her. He ate one peanut, picked up the other and scurried back to his nest where his mother and brother and sister were huddled.
It seemed like an early Christmas when he appeared with the fresh peanut.
“Oh, Stubby, I’m so proud of you,” his mother said. “Where did you find so excellent a nut?”
Stubby shared his story. The next day and every day thereafter, Stubby returned to the magic window at Mrs. McGovern’s house. By now Stubby found three peanuts on the window sill waiting for him every day. It was like magic! His brothers and sister would go with him and each would carry a nut back to their nest.
“It’s magic!” his brother said. “It’s magic!”
Stubby knew it wasn’t magic. He knew the magic was in him. The magic was in his patience, his cleverness, and his careful behavior with Mrs. McGovern. He knew that kind Mrs. McGovern slipped the three peanuts through the window every morning when she was eating her breakfast oatmeal.
Stubby and his family got through the winter, the spring, and the summer months until their new walnut tree once again gave them a heavy harvest.
One August day, when the leaves were just beginning to become jewels again, Stubby’s mother took him aside and said, “Stubby, we never would have survived the winter without you. You have saved the family. I knew that someday you would do something very important.”
Stubby had been so busy over the winter and spring
months that he hadn’t had time to notice, but his tail had also changed. Strong black and gray fur had bristled out to cover his rat tail. He was actually fluffy and handsome.
Now when Ben, the cat stalked through the bushes, Stubby’s tail was as beautiful as it was useful as he signaled “danger—cat!”
His brother and sister never made fun of him again. He had saved them and they would never forget his kindness or talent.
“Stubby, I’m so very, very proud of you,” his mother whispered as she snuggled beside him in the nest. “I’m so very, very proud.”
Stubby leaned into her warm fur and smiled—and soon fell fast asleep.
Brenda Johnson is a retired college administrator and teacher who, throughout her adult life, has tried to inspire young minds to love reading and writing. She lives in Bethlehem with her spouse, Robert McGovern. Together they enjoy traveling the country in their recreational vehicle and sharing life's joys with their blended family of six children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Pat Henderson is
an illustrator, watercolorist, and juried lifetime member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society. She has taught pre-school and elementary classes in public and private schools. She is married with two grown children and five grandchildren.