Arthur and Belinda Gray were taking their children, Thad, Ronnie, Lila, and Suzy, on a vacation trip to the capital city to take in all the historic sights and scenery. They were almost there and the children were so excited their tails were twitching. They’d been waiting for this trip for weeks — it was a trip almost every squirrel child hoped for, and they’d talked about nothing else for days.
“Are we there yet?” asked Suzy, who was the youngest.
“Almost; just a few more minutes. And look over there, children,” said Belinda, pointing, “I think that might be the first family’s nest, high up in that big oak tree!”
The squirrel children climbed over each other to see and Arthur grimaced as the noise level in the car rose with their excited chatter. “Keep it down, please!” he said.
Just as quickly the children jumped to the other side of the car as they passed the Acorn Maple. It was the famous tree where the founding squirrels hid their original cache of acorns. The children had learned the story of how Benjamin Bunny, a great friend of founding squirrel Bartholomew Nutkin, had suggested hiding the acorns in a different sort of tree in order to confuse the native Chipmunks. It had worked, as they all knew from the annual celebration of Maple Tree Day.
Earlier that year Ronnie had won the Maple Tree Acorn Hunt, and he was still proudly wearing his gold medal.
Arthur parked the car carefully (it was a brand-new Woods Rover in shiny Fur Gray and so far it didn’t have a single dent) and everyone piled out and headed up the Capitol Elm. Congress was in session up at the top just under the Leaf Dome, and the children were eager to sit in the gallery to watch. They didn’t last long, though; they realized in just a few minutes there wasn’t anything to watch besides distinguished squirrels debating each other. Not wanting to create a scene trying to keep the kids quiet, Arthur and Belinda herded them out and down the tree to the next site.
Next they came to the Skyway, the famous route of branches, leaps, and grabs that circled the whole capital city. The children hadn’t seen such a busy thoroughfare before, and Ronnie and Thad frightened Belinda by dashing at top speed around the Skyway, nearly crashing into other sightseeing squirrels right and left.
“Don’t worry, dear,” said Arthur reassuringly, “they’ll be fine. Let them burn off some of that excess energy; they’ll be able to calm down for the rest of the day.”
“I know they’re fine,” sighed Belinda, “I just can’t help worrying.”
They collected the children by announcing it was time for lunch. The kids had been waiting for that too, and knew they were headed for the capital-city restaurant that had been there for so long it was almost part of the mythology of the capital itself — the Interforest House of Pecans. Arthur and Belinda enjoyed a selection of rare nuts, and rolled their eyes at the children’s choices of their favorite ordinary nuts.
“You can get those at home,” said Belinda.
“Yup,” said Lila, stuffing more nuts into her cheeks, “but not as many!”
After lunch they headed for the main attraction of their trip. It was a little outside the capital city proper so they took the Forest Rover. The children, stuffed with lunch, fell asleep on the short trip. Arthur and Belinda glanced at each other, and instead of parking immediately Arthur steered onto the scenic overlook. He pulled to the side where they had the best view, and nodded to Belinda.
She hummed a “ta-daaa!” fanfare, and Arthur drummed on the steering wheel. “Wake up! Wake up!” he called to the squirrel children. “Open your eyes for your first look! Over there!”
The children all woke up at the same time and looked where Arther pointed.
“OOooooh!” yelled Suzy.
“Lookylookylooky!”
Thad, who was the oldest, just said “Wow.“
“That’s right, everybody!” said Arthur, “that’s where we’re going next! The Cashew of Liberty!”
