Gary was a simple squirrel; he didn’t expect much from anyone. He spoke to every neighbor – every pigeon, cardinal, and crow that came his way. He was friendly to all of those around him and didn’t bother them otherwise. He was quite unremarkable. A standard bushy tail and soft, brown coat were all he had, and he was satisfied with that. He made no effort to be flashy or noticeable. Other squirrels would braid their tails or dye them silly colors. He didn’t judge; he would compliment and move on. But that wasn’t who he was. He admired the simple things. He loved the breeze on a sunny day, he watched the leaves change on his grand sequoia tree every year and he was happy to have the few things he did. The only thing he desired was peanuts.
Gary loved peanuts; they were his favorite snack and he savored any moment that he had to have one. Once, he ran across a broken bag of peanuts that a gracious human must have dropped on the sidewalk. He was ecstatic. He gathered as many as he could and put them in his cheeks. Unfortunately, he was so small, and the peanuts were so big, that he could only fit three and a half in. But he made sure to get that half in, nonetheless. As he returned to the tree he lived in, he made sure to let everyone know on the way home that there were peanuts to be gathered. He was very generous.
He returned home and dropped off the nuts he gathered. He chose to eat the half-sized one as a midday snack before returning to get more. By the time he returned, the other animals had finished off the bag.
“They needed to eat too,” he thought to himself.
He was happy they got to eat. As he was about to retreat back to his home, a little disappointed, he noticed something shiny out of the corner of his eye. He scurried over and found a golden peanut. He wasn’t sure why it was golden, but he knew he wanted it! He put it in his cheeks and practically skipped home, excited.
Once he got home, he put it with the rest of the peanuts, ready to eat it. But then a puzzling thought struck him.
“Should I eat this? It seems too special to eat.”
He wasn’t sure what to do, so he asked a few of his neighbors. Poe the crow didn’t seem too concerned with his golden peanuts.
“The color of a peanut makes no difference to me,” he muttered, and continued about his day.
Camile the pigeon was excited about his peanut – not because it was golden, but because she was hungry. He felt bad denying her food, but this was his peanut, so he continued looking for answers elsewhere.
Finally, he asked Chester the cardinal. He insisted that this peanut was too special to be eaten.
“You must treasure this peanut and protect it, for it must be special,” he declared.
His mind was made up; he decided that he would go home and bury it to keep it safe. He buried it close to his home so that he could keep an eye on it. Day after day, he watched it. That was until one day, after a heavy rain, he noticed a sprout had come out of the ground. He was perplexed, not knowing how this had happened.
The next day, it grew taller. It continued to do this until it was as tall as his home tree. Then, on what he believes to be the best day of his life, peanuts grew from it! He had buried one, but now hundreds of peanuts were ready to be eaten by him and all of his lovely neighbors. He told everyone that he knew about the tree, and they all rejoiced with Gary as they climbed and flew to the tree to eat. Gary would never have to go without peanuts again – and neither would his friends.