The Proclamation at Flat Rock

The little squirrel was carried around and upward in this strange underground cavern. The swarm of lightning bugs coalesced into the center of the chamber, their lights pulsing in opposite timing from the bizarre living cape worn by the orange and black squirrel.

Quietly and timidly the squirrels that had hidden in their stone homes began to emerge. Family by family they made their way to surround the great flat stone at the center of their rocky home. The alternating pulsing firefly light cast eerie and strange shadows across the entire scene. At the center proudly stood the leader of the underground dray resplendent in his blinking cape. The lightning bugs quickened their pulsing as Chakik was finally brought to the flat rock in the center and within the grasp of the mottled leader.

All the rock squirrels had now gathered around and sat in silence as they watched. The lightning bugs on the ceiling stopped their bioluminescence and the entire chamber went dark. Slowly, and one by one, the lightning bugs that made up the cape lit up. They held their lights on, not blinking, as the rest of the cape lit up. Chakik was pushed roughly in front of the caped squirrel. There was no sound from any of the squirrels in the crowd, they simply stood still and watched in silence.

“This squirrel,” began the orange and black squirrel, “has taken from us.” The crowd remained silent and Chakik had the feeling this was a regular sight for them. He lay motionless and silent as well, having resigned himself to whatever fate awaited him. Glowing in the backlight of his firefly cape, the mottled squirrel continued.

“He has stripped our main tree nearly bare.” This statement caused a stirring amongst the gathering, dimly lit faces glanced at each other. Chakik remained still. He had not intended to gather all the nuts from their tree but had become overwhelmed by the new storage in his cheeks. The squirrels had taken all of their food back, so Chakik was silently hopeful that they would let him go. The caped squirrel stretched his arm out and made a sweeping circular gesture across the gathering.

“Your food was taken by this little squirrel for his own purpose. Fortunately I have stopped him from taking meals from your children’s mouths.”

Chakik felt guilty for what he had done. He had been overcome with the capacity of his new magical cheeks and had given little thought to the consequences of his actions. The idea that the food he had gathered belonged to other squirrels and their families had never crossed his mind. He continued to sit motionless in front of the crowd as the caped squirrel paced back and forth behind him.

“For his crimes against us, he must be punished.”

The crowd murmured.

The leader squirrel stopped. The crowd timidly repeated, “For his crimes against us, he must be punished.” Their voices mingling and not together in the recital of the words. There was a general feeling of unrest emanating from the huddled squirrels below. Chakik could feel it, even over the duress of his own predicament. These squirrels were living under the unwanted rule of this single animal. Unfortunately for the little squirrel, this one animal ruled over all these squirrels, he had guards at his command and the rest were afraid of him and his power over the light of their underground home.

Chakik lay still upon the cold rock, his back turned to the crazed leader dressed in a living cape of lightning bugs that pulsed as he moved. Chakik tried to block his view of this seemingly evil squirrel with his large tail. He could feel the squirrel pacing behind him, contemplating what punishment would fit the crime.

“Our tree has been harvested prematurely by this … creature.” the words hissed from the the leaders mouth. “We will need more storage to ensure that we do not go hungry. So let the punishment fit the crime, this … squirrel will store what he tried to steal.” Chakik didn’t move as the words crashed over him like a wave. What were the leader’s intentions? How would he store their food? In answer to his thoughts the leader finished his sentencing. “Take him to the storage room!” No sooner were the words said than Chakik was scooped up from the stone and gruffly dragged off in the opposite direction that he had been dragged in. His head was spinning with the different potential punishments he was about to receive.

He was dragged away from the core of the rock squirrel’s home and down one of the larger passageways. The lightning bugs returned to their normal glowing state as they took him further into the ground. They turned a corner and deposited the little squirrel roughly onto the floor of a large room. Piles of acorns were stacked neatly along the walls and other seeds and grasses were stashed in various cubby holes.

The large squirrels that dragged him here stepped to the sides as the leader entered the room, followed by 4 more large squirrels. The leader squirrel no longer wore his living cape of lightning bugs but somehow looked even more intimidating to Chakik, his eyes burning with rage. He strode toward Chakik with visible menace, stopping just before his claws touched the little squirrel. The leader pointed to an empty corner of the room and snarled one word: “Dig”. Chakik sat still, momentarily uncertain of himself. “DIG!” the leader shouted and Chakik scrambled to the corner and began to dig into the hard dirt floor. He tore at the ground with his front claws, not sure of the purpose of his digging, but not wanting to draw anymore anger toward himself.

Chakik’s claws made fast work of the soil as he kept digging, awaiting a command to know he would be ok if he stopped. The hole quickly grew and soon Chakik was standing in a nearly squirrel sized hole, when he stood up in it, only his head was above ground. His paws hurt and he was winded. Finally the leader gave a short and sharp command, “Stop.” Chakik was panting heavily as he collapsed against the side of the hole. He was filthy, and the room now contained a large, scattered pile of dirt. He tried to catch his breath as he watched and waited for the next stage of his punishment. The leader stood still, looking darkly down at Chakik in the hole, and then made a slight gesture with his paw toward the pile of dirt that had been scrabbled onto the floor. With this, the large guard squirrels scampered over to the dirt pile and began to bury Chakik where he stood!