Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Oh no! It’s Slink!



    “Chatty, get up,” called Mrs. Chipmunk. “Times a wasting.”
Mrs. Chipmunk had been up for hours, chopping fresh leaves for her family’s nest, making sure everything in the burrow was neat and in order.
         Chatty rolled over lazily and opened one eye. “Mom, I’m tired. I need to sleep a bit longer.”
         “Nope. Can’t do. There’s a storm coming, and we’ve got to catch some more grasshoppers to store for the winter.”
Yesterday was a tough day. Chatty almost got caught by his worst enemy, Slink the weasel, who years ago grabbed Mr. Chipmunk for a tasty afternoon snack. Chatty and his mom still were saddened by that painful day.
 It was only when Chatty heard Mrs. Robin chirp a warning that he looked up in time to see Slink’s beady eyes staring at him through a nearby thicket.  Chatty took off like a shot, and dove into a crevice in a rock pile on the other side of the farmer’s crabapple and stayed hidden until the coast was clear.
         Reluctantly Chatty, pushed the leaves aside from his nest, and made his way through the tunnel to the next opening, where the breakfast table was set.  
         “Morning, Chatty,” greeted Mrs. Chipmunk. “Come sit down and have some strawberries.”
Chatty sat in front of the little round morsels, but didn’t look up.  He sat silently trying to concentrate on the breakfast before him pondering yesterday’s close call.  He didn’t tell his mom, because he knew she would worry too much.
“We still have to get more grasshoppers?” Chatty tried to make polite conversation.
“You know we do. Winter is setting in and we have to fill up the store room.”  Mrs. Chipmunk noticed his silence. It wasn’t like him. “What’s the matter with you? You're not eating anything. You need to eat. You’ve got lots of work today.
“Okay.” Chatty ate half a strawberry, pushed the rest aside, got up and started through the tunnel.
“Wait a minute,” ordered Mrs. Chipmunk. “You didn’t finish your breakfast.”
“Not hungry,” he called back.
 At the opening of the burrow he peered outside to see if the coast was clear, and then ventured out toward Farmer Shoestring’s grape arbor. He never saw Slink only a few feet in the distance.
        
To be continued…
        
We invite you to visit harvestaudiobooks.com for more children’s stories.
         The Adventures of Chatty Chipmunk
         Chatty Chipmunk Meets Mrs. Gotrocks
         A Carnival Adventure with Chatty Chipmunk
Available as MP3’s at harvestaudiobooks.com

And in Kindle format at Amazon.com

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