Anita gripped her thin jacket closer around her body as the snow started to fall harder. She mumbled to herself as she thought about how much she’d rather be in a nice, warm car at the moment. For the second time this week, her sister had forgotten to pick her up from basketball practice. The roads were becoming whiter and whiter every second as she slowly inched her way back to her house. She put her hood up in an attempt to block her red nose and freezing cheeks from the cold air. Soon her toes felt as if they’d turned into icicles and her fingers had become blocks of ice.

Just then, a little squirrel scampered across her path. She watched as it ran through the road in a hurried frenzy and disappeared into the snow-covered trees.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in a warm, comfy place right now?” She said more to herself than to the squirrel. She stopped for a moment to think about how long it would take to get home from there. She sighed as she imagined the long distance she still had to traverse. Then she thought back to the little squirrel and its icy fur and jumpy attitude. She thought about what the cute little thing could be doing right now. Soon, her imagination took her into an entirely different and much larger world.

She shook her brown fur and watched as mini icicles flew off her body and sprinkled into the deep snow all around her. Her little paws could barely stay above the fluffy snow as she scampered into some bushes. She was very happy for the temporary warmth the leaves above her offered. She quickly brushed through her fur with her tiny paws and shook again to get some more ice off her fur. Then she turned to the open air and braced herself for another scamper toward her goal: her den. Her back legs bounced off the ground while her front legs made sure she didn’t land headfirst into the freezing snow.

After she dashed back and forth between three different warm places, there was finally just one more scamper until she finally made it deep into the hole she had dug for the winter. After she made a quick clean-through of her fur, she dashed out from under a lone bush and through the flat ground in front of her. Her teeth chattered with excitement as she came closer and closer to her little den. She could almost taste the nuts that she spent hours gathering and her nose twitched with their fragrance. While she was daydreaming, a giant sneaker stomped right in front of her. She backed up a few inches as a thundering noise echoed in her ears. Soon a pair of gloves reached down in front of her stunned body. She quickly got back to her senses and dashed back to the bush she had stayed before.

In the next five minutes, she watched the human run around the yard, screaming about how he had found a squirrel. Anita couldn’t help but giggle to herself, humans can be so stupid sometimes. Finally, an even bigger human came out to tell the child to come inside. Just as the little kid was about to come into the house, his foot got caught in Anita’s den. He tripped and fell into the snow as the bigger human ran to his aid. Furious, the adult human kicked snow into the hole. Anita shook her head in complete disbelief. Well, she thought I’m just going to have to make another den…for the third time this week.

Anita came back from her imagination and found that she was standing right in front of her house. She slowly walked up to her house. God’s creation can be so funny sometimes! She thought as the door swung open in front of her. Her sister stood before Anita, pity evident all over her face.

“So now you remember me?” Anita said, with a giggle in her voice.

“I am so sorry! I can’t believe I forgot again!” Her sister apologized, letting Anita into the house, “How was the walk home, it must have been so cold!” Anita thought about the question for a few seconds then answered:

“It was an adventure!”