A Little Flower and a Giant Tree

By Squirrie

Squirrie is the baby squirrel of the Old Tree Escruel family. One day, her best friend, a chipmunk, disappeared. Suffering from great loss, Squirrie is crying. To make Squirrie smile again, her grandmother decides to tell her an amazing story about life.
A Little Flower and a Giant Tree is told through a fairy tale lens. It explores the themes of life: the past, the present, dreams, reality, hurt, and loss. Through stories and experiences, lessons are learned that lead to discoveries of truth and hope. Sandie tells her stories with passion and love, all in an effort to make little Squirrie smile again because that is what good stories dothey make us smile!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: May 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543745559

Squirrie

In her other life, Squirrie is a lawyer and entrepreneur, a sensitive, imaginative soul filled with artistic passion for life.

Book preview

A

LITTLE

FLOWER

AND A

GIANT

TREE

Squirrie

Copyright © 2018 Squirrie. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-5437-4554-2 (sc)

978-1-5437-4555-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018903501

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

05/01/2018

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Contents

I.

CHAPTER 1

II.

CHAPTER 2

III.

CHAPTER 3

IV.

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

VI.

CHAPTER 6

VII.

CHAPTER 7

VIII.

CHAPTER 8

IX.

CHAPTER 9

X.

CHAPTER 10

XI.

CHAPTER 11

XII.

CHAPTER 12

XIII.

CHAPTER 13A

CHAPTER 13B

XIV.

CHAPTER 14

XV.

CHAPTER 15

XVI.

CHAPTER 16A

CHAPTER 16B

XVII.

CHAPTER 17

XVIII.

CHAPTER 18

XIX.

CHAPTER 19A

CHAPTER 19B

CHAPTER 20

XX.

EPILOGUE

I.

Squirrie, the baby squirrel of the Old Tree Escruel family, was crying. She lost her best friend, Chippie, a chipmunk.

She last saw Chippie four months ago. They were out in a field, not far from the valley, playing hide-and-seek. It was her turn to hide. Squirrie found a discreet corner behind a slab of standing rock and she waited there. She listened nervously for any sound of her friend’s approaching. But all was quiet except for the sound of the wind gently sweeping through the grass.

After some time, Squirrie was pretty certain she won the game. That was easy, she thought as she eagerly waited for a signal from her friend that the game was over. It was quiet still. She cautiously sneaked out from her hiding, but there was no sign of her friend. She called out for her friend but all she could hear was the echo of her own voice. Chippie was nowhere to be found.

Squirrie cried because she still felt terrible about it. Feeling terrible could mean a complicated thing. She was too young to understand the mixture of emotions that made her feel terrible. All she could do was to cry.

Her grandmother, Sandie, overheard her crying. She had just awoke from a nap in the tree house. What’s the matter, my darling? Sandie peeked out from the tree hole, squinting her eyes through her glasses. While her vision had gone blurry over the years, things had only grown clearer. From those breathless sobs, she could tell Squirrie was suffering a heartbreaking loss.

Sandie climbed down the tree slowly. With age, she had lost much agility but gained a reassuring presence of calm and stability. Come, have some tea with me, my darling. Grandma has a story.

Everyone loved Sandie’s stories. She was the most amazing storyteller in the entire neighbourhood. On evenings of fine weather, children from the neighbourhood gathered under the tree where the Old Tree Escruel family lived to listen to her stories. Her stories had lives of their own. They lived and breathed with the audience as if they were their own journeys, even though some were just too far-fetched to be real. The stories often continued late into the night. Children were reluctant to leave even after the stories ended. Such was the magic of good stories.

Still sniveling, Squirrie hopped along to the usual spot of storytelling. Sandie was already seated and sipping a cup of elderflower tea. As soon as Squirrie sat herself down, the story began.

CHAPTER 1

Not too long ago, on a faraway slope beyond the valleys and mountains, there was a little flower, who lived under a giant tree.

Little Flower was shy, just beginning to bloom. She usually covered half her blushing face with her tender petals. Once in a while, the spring breeze would come by and tickle her a little. Afraid of tickles, she trembled with laughter, and on these occasions, revealed her brilliant smile.

She was a curious little flower that liked to think about things. She always had many questions. Being the only flower in the neighbourhood with velvety red petals, Little Flower often wondered what kind of flower she was. She asked some birds and bees who had been around and might know better. They said she was likely a poppy or a rose.

The uncertainty over her identity caused Little Flower much confusion. She shook her head causing her soft petals to flutter. She wondered from time to time if she had a family. Everyone else seemed to have a family, or at least a memory that could be traced. Her family could be living in a valley or mountain beyond the slope. She wanted to know where they were and how she ended up alone.

Apart from being busy with her own thoughts, Little Flower generally led a carefree existence. She was liked by many in the neighbourhood because of her beauty. Well, except for the grass around her, always green with envy. A troop of patrolling black ants that passed by Little Flower every morning always stopped and wished her a good day. They also shared with her their latest news on the ground. Most of the news was about their mortal enemy, Muddy Mole, who had been hunting them down to their nest. It might be of no relevance to Little Flower whatsoever, but she was nice and full of empathy. She could only imagine how the ants lived in such constant fear. She would nod in understanding. The ants were glad she seemed really interested in the topic and continued to share more.

Amongst her frequent visitors was a bunch of butterflies. During their visits, they fluttered around her, showing her their latest dance moves and discussing fashion. Beauty and the pursuit of it are our calling and only purpose in life, said the