The Nut Doesn't Drop ...

​Arnie was in a spot.  Here she had a tablet that she had discovered but she still had not found anyone to read it or what she should do with it.  

​As she contemplated her problem, humming the words to her song, (Blue on Blue, I Can't Get...) she wandered through the woods totally unaware of her surroundings until a small nut hit her on top of her head.  "Who threw that?" she demanded, stomping one of her feet on the acorn while searching around her for the culprit.  It did not take her long to see an old friend watching her from a tree branch nearby.

"Hi Arnie" said the Squirrel. 

"Good Morning, " Arnie replied. "You must have dropped one of your nuts because I can't imagine that you would throw one at me," grinned Arnie.  The squirrel only smiled back.  It was sort of a game they played with the squirrel never admitting to anything.  "You should have been a 'borrower' Squirrel.  Nobody would ever get you to confess," laughed Arnie.  Soon the two were chatting away over little things they had discovered lately when Arnie decided to tell her friend Her Big Secret. 

"You may think I am nuts," smiled Arnie at her own little joke, "but I found something the other day when we were playing around that big old oak tree that is driving me crazy and I don't know what to do."  Squirrel just lifted one eyebrow and waited for Arnie to continue.

"Do you remember when we where hopping from branch to branch in the old oak the other day?  In one of my jumps I saw something flash in the bushes below.  At first I thought it might be a pkysee since it was  out of the corner of my eye but then it happened again!  Anyhow, when I jumped down from the tree branch and started looking into the bush where I thought the flash had come from... all of a sudden the ground was gone and I fell into a deep hole." 

Thinking back to that day, Arnie no longer even saw her friend as she continued to tell about her adventure.  All she could see in her mind was how dark the hole had been that she had fallen in.  Having a big bushy tail at times is a hinderance, especially when it knocks over things accidently, but this time it came in handy as it helped cushion her fall.  She continued to tell Squirrel the story, unaware that she was rubbing her tail as if it was still sore from landing on it.  She also remembered how strong the curiosity had burned inside of her too.  All Borrowers have it as they just can't leave things well enough alone, but only the great ones are not consumed by it (or they never live to become great ones...").  They always have to see what is on the other side and then figure out what to do about it.

"To my surprise Squirrel, I discovered I had fallen into a cave instead of just a hole.  The tunnel went in two different directions with one leading upward and one leading down.  I decided down and only walked a short distance before the tunnel opened into to a very large space.  Oh, it was a Borrower's Dream! There must have been some light coming into the cavern as it was reflecting off of piles of gold and gemstones scattered everywhere around the cave.  

​They were shiny and I did consider looking them over but before I could, something else caught my eye.  In the center of the cavern was a stone alter and laying on it was a tablet!"

Not realizing that Squirrel was only partially listening to Arnie as he was busy trying to break open an unusually difficult nut, Arnie continued...

"I had heard the old timers talk about Dragon hordes but never realized what that meant  before!  The thrill of something new to find pulled me to the alter.  At first I thought maybe it was something the Dragon might have picked up to add to his treasure.  You know, like a wizard's spell book or something magical, but that didn't 'feel' right if you know what I mean.  It was placed on the podium like it was sitting in a place of honor."  Arnie did not know how to better describe it, but if she hadn't been a 'Borrower' she might not have touched it because it would have felt wrong to disturb it as it was so beautiful to see.

"I'm was only going to look at it," she remember as she told Squirrel, "but I didn't. I reached out and touched it.  It was at that moment the ground began to shake and the long stalactites started to fall from the ceiling of the cavern.  Instinctively I grabbed the tablet to protect it.  When the first stone hit the podium where the tablet sat, I RAN - keeping the tablet to my chest as I sprinted out of the cave opening I had just come from."

Taking a deep breath as she finished with her story, she looked again at her friend and after a minute of silence asked Squirrel the question that had been nagging at her when she had been walking down the trail.  "So what do you think I should do with it?" 

The Squirrel looked at her and with a slight squirrely smile said "Yep, that is a tough nut to crack isn't it?"