Chapter 7
FROZEN
Oh no! Max!
Lana sniffled. Pippi covered her mouth with her tail so the people wouldn’t hear her cry. She looked up the pipe, but Max was gone. Fred had trapped him. Soon, he’d be flopping in a bag. She couldn’t rescue him from that. No one could.
“Ha, ha. I ran right through his legs. The people are too slow to catch me.” Max laughed.
Max! He was safe. He didn’t flop. The humans didn’t get him.
Pippi started shaking with relief. She’d rescued him. He’d never admit it, but she was the reason he had gotten out safely. She hadn’t been a scaredy-rat. She’d been braver than she’d ever been. And she’d saved her brother’s life.
She looked up the pipe at the coarse, scraggly hair on Fred’s head. Max might be safe, but she and Lana weren’t. They had to do what he’d done. “We have to get out of here fast.”
Lana shook her head and curled her tail around her body.
Pippi couldn’t repeat the disaster from when she’d tried to coax her into running from Daddy-Dean. This time she’d push Lana up the ramp to the ceiling.
She shoved her paws against her sister’s back. Lana didn’t budge.
“Come on,” Pippi begged. “If Max can do it, we can too.”
“That blasted squirrel went in and then came back out. You didn’t see any others, did you, Dean?” Fred asked. His voice echoed in the pipe, sending shivers down Pippi’s spine.
In the distance, Max laughed. “See, I told you they’re stupid. They can’t tell Lana and me apart.”
“Nope,” Daddy-Dean replied. “I only saw one when I checked the attic.”
And he’d seen Pippi. The humans might not be able to tell them apart. But their mistake could mean a bigger problem if Fred closed the hole. They had to get out fast. “Lana, run,” she whispered.
Lana stood frozen on her hind legs with her tail curled around her, staring up at the hole.
“I’ll help you get as many acorns as you want when we get out,” Pippi promised.
She didn’t move.
“See how the squirrel worked up the tin at the base of the vent and the wire around it,” Fred explained to Daddy-Dean. “We’ll cover the hole with some fiberglass that animals can’t bend or pull up.”
Pippi pushed Lana again. Her heart pounded as she tried to think of anything to make her sister move. They didn’t have much time. She could hear rustling sounds from the humans working around the pipe.
“I’ll give you all my acorns if you go right now. I’ll give you all the acorns in the world.”
Lana finally looked at her. “You don’t have any acorns of your own.”
“Because you promised to share with me. Max didn’t flop. We won’t either. Come on, before they close our only way to the acorns.” She didn’t know if they could run as fast as Max. But if the people closed the pipe and then came through the floor to trap them, they would flop for sure. They had to try.
“Fine, then. I’ll leave without you.” Pippi jumped onto the rafter and ran to the ceiling. But she stopped and looked down before she went up the hole.
Lana still didn’t move. If Pippi left her in the human building, she’d be too scared to look for another way out. After her sister had shared her nest and her food, Pippi couldn’t leave and let her end up trapped alone. She jumped into the insulation next to Lana.
The people made scraping noises above them, and Lana shuddered.
“How were you able to run down the pipe to warn Max and me if you’re too scared to move now?” Pippi wrapped her tail around her sister.
“They were on the ground. They’re not supposed to notice us on the roof.”
“The fiberglass is in,” Fred announced. “I’ve threaded the wire around the outside. No squirrel will get in here again.” He laughed.
“What about the squirrels who are already in here?” Lana whispered, her eyes glistening with tears.
“It’s okay. We’ll wait until they go away and then we’ll find a safe way out.” With her sharp claws, Pippi could scratch through whatever Fred put in the hole. She hoped.
“I’m going to take a look at the other vents and make sure they’re secure,” Fred shouted, his voice more muffled than before. His footsteps crunched above the nest, moving to the other side of the roof.
Pippi jumped onto the rafter and ran up to the ceiling. The fiberglass stuff in the pipe looked cloudy, even though the sun was shining. She scratched at it, her claws gliding over it, instead of creating indents.
She dug her claws around the edges, scraping the flat boards of the ceiling. No matter how much she pushed and scraped, she couldn’t wedge the piece up to make even the smallest hole. On the other side of the cloudy pipe, she could see the wire Fred had placed. Max would be able to untwist it and yank it up. Maybe he could break through the fiberglass too.
The human steps moved directly overhead. Pippi stayed under the pipe, so scared she almost peed again, but she wanted Fred to look down and see her face. Then he’d take off the fiberglass to try to get her.
She wouldn’t run like Max had. She’d stay out of reach until he left the pipe. Then when he was far enough away for Lana to feel safe, they would sprint out.
Having a plan gave Pippi hope as she scraped her claws on the fiberglass.
“Everything is locked up tight,” Fred declared. His voice sounded close, but she couldn’t see him anymore. “You won’t have any more problems, Dean.”
The human footsteps moved away from the pipe and disappeared off the roof. Pippi scratched furiously on the cloudy fiberglass, but she didn’t make a single mark on it. She ran to the other vents in the ceiling and every crack where light came through. But just like before, each one was sealed tightly.
As she returned to the pipe, Max perched on top of it, tugging on the new wire. She wanted to cry with relief. “Thank goodness. Can you help us get out?”
“Help you?” The new barrier muffled his voice. “You tricked me so you could steal my nest.”
Pippi was so surprised she almost fell off the ceiling. She dug her claws deeper into the rafter. “This is your fault. I came down here to save you, and look what happened to me.”
“Save me?” Max snorted. “You snuck in so you could steal my acorns and seeds and take the nest for yourself.”
If she could have gotten to him, she would have scratched and nipped him until he took his accusations back. She glanced down to see if Lana was angry too, but she was no longer standing frozen where Pippi had left her.
In a dark corner, she crouched over Max’s food pile, stuffing her face.