Every time Bob went to school, the Squirrel kids would point and say, “You’re not so smart.”

When he got home, he would tell his mom, “Mom, people made fun of me.”

His mom would say, “It’s okay.”

She would pat him on the back, and then, she would forget about it.

One day, on a weekend when they were a eating lunch of fried acorns and berry soup, a girl raced up their tree. She had golden-brown hair and was wearing buckled jeans, a turtleneck shirt, and dress shoes. It looked like she was going somewhere fancy.

They asked, “Why are you in our house? Are you a robber?”

“No! Kids were scaring me!” said the girl.

“I’m so sorry,” said Bob’s mom. “You know, you are a giant to us, and you could eat us right now. But you won’t, right?”

“I don’t know,” said the girl. “I’m really hungry right now…”

“Just in case, go behind my back, Bob,” said Momma Squirrel.

“Don’t be scared of me,” said the girl. “I love animals. I never eat them.”

Bob looked from behind his mom’s back and came back out.

“Hello, my name is Isabella,” said the girl.

“Hello, my name is Sue,” said Bob’s mom. “My son’s name is Bobbert.”

“My name is Bobbert.”

Isabella looked at her hands.

“Oh my god, they’re getting smaller every second. Why am I shrinking?”

She felt confused and excited at the same time.

“When you go in this tree, you start shrinking!” Momma Squirrel interrupted.

“Oh, that’s so cool.” Her face was blushing because this was so amazing, “People and animals will always be your size, so you will never get hurt?”

“That is correct,” said Momma Squirrel.       

“Do you have any food for me that I could eat?” she asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

“The only stuff I have is berry soup and fried acorns.”

“How do you eat this stuff then?”  

Momma Squirrel heard a ka-kaw in the light blue sky. “Oh no! That’s a bird up there in the sky! It may eat us!” Her mouth was open. She was so scared and frightened.

“I can hide you,” said the girl.

“And tell me where you are gonna hide me!!!” said Momma Squirrel.  

“Hide under my T-shirt,” said Isabela

“But that is gross!” said Momma Squirrel.

“You want to die, or be in a gross place?” said Isabella.

“Okay, let’s go, Bobbert,” Momma Squirrel said.

She picked him up and crawled up Isabella’s t-shirt. She crawled under her shirt. The bird was soaring down, but then he stopped. He looked at Isabella and said, “Ka-Kaw,” before flying away.  

“Thank you for saving us!” said Momma Squirrel and Bobbert.

“You’re welcome. Can I please stay a little bit longer? It’s so much fun in this tree!”

“Okay… just a little bit longer. Bobbert needs to go to sleep.”

“May I please have the popcorn that we found at the carnival?” asked Bobbert.

“Okay, but just a little bit,” said Momma Squirrel. “This was a crazy day today,” Momma Squirrel said to Isabella. “That’s why Bobbert has to go to bed early.”

“I have to go now. My parents are calling for me. See you tomorrow,” said Isabella.

***

The next day, Isabella asked her parents if she could go to the park. Her parents, Raul and Lucy, asked why she wanted to go the park.

“I met my first ever friend at the park!”

“Who are they?!” Raul and Lucy asked. “Who are these friends?”

“They aren’t people.”

“Then, what are they?”

“They’re two squirrels.”

“Ew! That’s so gross! Show me immediately! I need to call the exterminators,” said her mom.

“No! They’re nice! They helped me make a friend.”

“But they might have rabies!” yelled her dad.

“But they’re so nice to me!”

“I won’t hurt them if you show me how ‘nice’ they are,” said her mom.

“Okay, I guess I’ll show you,” said Isabella.

They walked to the park together. They walked in a line, and when they got to the park, the mom stopped.

“Where are these squirrels of yours?” Mom asked.

“Follow me,” Isabella said.

They followed her into the park. They passed two hot dog stands, the Park Slope Zoo, and an ice cream parlor in the park. Then, they saw one tree all by itself. It had a little ladder on the back of it. You could take it off, but it would be hard. Only squirrels could do it.

“This is the tree,” said Isabella.

“It looks like an ordinary tree,” said her mom.

“Don’t judge it by its looks,” said Isabella. “Come over this way. There’s a little ladder that we can climb up behind the tree, but it’s hard to see.”

So Lucy and Isabella climbed up the tree.