Sammy and Bumpers

By Kurt Philip Behm

For My Children
And Grandchildren


This book is dedicated to my wonderful children and grandchildren, and of course to any new and special additions that may still come our way.

I hope through these stories, my grandchildren will be able to share in the magic of their parents childhood, in the same way that their parents are now sharing in theirs.

And in the most special way, it is dedicated to Sammy and Bumpers. Two incredible little squirrels that made the stories in this book come to life.

It was the magical adventures that Scooter and Buzzy Bear had with Sammy and Bumpers that made these stories possible.

I was lucky enough to have witnessed all that follows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491872000

Kurt Philip Behm

Best selling author and renowned poet, Kurt Philip Behm, has been writing both poetry and prose since 1971. In this sixth installment of his historical fiction series, The Sword Of Ichiban, William Broderick Simpson III (Cutty) takes a radically new and dangerous approach to turning the tide of World War 1.

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© 2014 Kurt Philip Behm. All rights reserved.

Illustrator: Andrea Mercy Yancy

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/13/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7201-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7199-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7200-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904727

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

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.

Contents

For My Children

Sammy & Bumpers

The Toppling Elm

Snap, Crackle, Pop

The Day The Raccoon Attacked

Jake’s Revenge

What Mother Had

Said Not To Do

Chester

Sammy Was Worried Sick

Little Red

Little Anthony

Is He Big Enough Dad?

For the Birds

The Red Mustang

It’s Nana and Pop-Pop

Pop-Pop And The Killer Squirrel

Vrooom Vrooom—Bamm!

A Little Westie

Evens The Score

Don’t Look Up

Great Grandmom

CONNUS

Turkey Day

Knothead Strikes Again

The Tumbling Squirrels

The Rocket Pocket

One Thing Ends

As Another Begins

Melissa and T.C.

These Are Your Stories

For Your Children

And Theirs To Come

It Was A Joy To Write Them

For My Children

And Grandchildren

This book is dedicated to my wonderful children and grandchildren, and of course to any new and special additions that may still come our way.

I hope through these stories, my grandchildren will be able to share in the magic of their parent’s childhood, in the same way that their parent’s are now sharing in theirs.

And in the most special way, it is dedicated to Sammy and Bumpers. Two incredible little squirrels that made the stories in this book come to life.

It was the magical adventures that Scooter and Buzzy Bear had with Sammy and Bumpers that made these stories possible.

I was lucky enough to have witnessed all that follows.

Sammy%20%26%20Bumpers.jpg

Sammy & Bumpers

Sammy and Bumpers were brother and sister. They lived at the very top of a giant 100-foot oak tree. Every morning Sammy and her brother would race out of their nest and scurry down the tree to see what Melissa Behm and her mischievous little brother T.C. were doing.

Melissa and T.C. lived in a big white house on the edge of the Ashwood-Hilldale woods. Sammy’s mom had always said it seemed like such a friendly house because she always heard laughter coming from inside. She said she knew that only good people could live in a house like that.

Sammy and Bumper’s were able to scurry down the tree, because they were not people, at least not human people, they were squirrels. Sammy, short for Samantha, was eight years old and her little brother Bumper’s was four. Bumper’s had been given the name Adam by his mother, but when he started to constantly crash into things in the nest at the top of the tree, Sammy nicknamed him Bumpers, and the name stuck!

One afternoon when Bumper’s was finally old enough to climb down the giant oak, Sammy wanted to show him the tree-house that Melissa and her brother T.C. played in every day. Their mom was always busy in the nest, organizing and storing nuts for the coming winter. Squirrel’s spent most of their time gathering nuts. They had to fill their secret hiding place deep inside the giant oak with enough nuts to last them through the long cold Villanova winters.

Sammy and Bumpers sat on a low branch of the giant oak and watched Melissa and her brother T.C. play. Melissa always tried to get T.C. to have a tea party with her, but all he wanted to do was swing from the rope ladder that was tied to the bottom of the treehouse, or slide down the secret sliding board through the trap door in the middle of the treehouse’s floor.

Melissa was also eight years old, and her brother T.C. four. They were four years apart in age just like Sammy and Bumpers. Melissa had had trouble saying the name Trystan when her brother was born, so her dad thought it would be easier for her if she just called him T.C. T.C. loved his nickname, and if you asked him what his name was, he would proudly say, I’m Trystan Colin Behm—T.C.

Every day when Melissa and T.C. got home from school, they would have cookies and milk with their mom, and then head straight to their very special and secretive house in the trees. Melissa and T.C.’s dad had built the treehouse several years before with the help of T.C.’s Godfather, Uncle George.

It was a big treehouse, and was wedged between four giant oaks. It was over ten feet above the ground. The only way up into the treehouse was by a special wood and rope ladder that T.C. and Melissa could then pull up once they had climbed it. This meant that nobody else could get up into the treehouse, nobody but Sammy and Bumpers that is.

Every day Melissa and T.C. would hide inside their treehouse and peek out the window that faced the biggest of the giant oaks, hoping that they would see Sammy and Bumper’s coming down. Sammy knew that Melissa and T.C. would never hurt them, so she and her brother would scamper down the tree, run across one of the big limbs that the treehouse was built on, and sit on the very edge of the large treehouse floor. She was hoping that T.C. had once again brought them a treat—He almost always did.

Sammy and Bumper’s both loved the tiny dog bone treats that T.C. gave to his little dog Jake. Jake was a 3 year old West Highland Terrier and very friendly, but not to wild animals. Jake had been bred to hunt animals like chipmunks, raccoons and squirrels. They could never bring him up into the treehouse, because they were always afraid he would chase Sammy and Bumpers away, and if he did, they might never come back!

JAKE HAD TO STAY DOWN ON THE GROUND. BUT BEING A TERRIER, WHICH MEANS EARTH, THAT’S EXACTLY WHERE HE WANTED TO BE!

Every afternoon, Sammy and Bumper’s would watch to see what kind of magic Melissa would create for her little brother T.C. Sometimes T.C. created the magic too. Melissa loved to say, Hey Bud, can you act like a pirate? T.C. would then immediately stand up with an old piece of wood in his hand for a sword, and start yelling, "AHOY ME HEARTIES!"

This would make Sammy and Bumper’s roll around on the deck of the treehouse in laughter. They sometimes laughed so hard that they almost rolled off the edge of the treehouse floor to where Jake was standing on the ground just below. Almost, but Sammy would always catch Bumpers just before he got to the edge.

Sammy and Bumper’s would watch Melissa and T.C. play until they heard their mother chirping that special ‘Sammy and Bumper’s’ chirp from high atop the tree. This meant that it was time for supper and they had to climb back up to their nest.

One late fall afternoon it had started to get dark, and Sammy and Bumper’s still hadn’t heard their mother chirp. Melissa and T.C.’s mother Kathryn called the two of them inside for dinner. After Melissa and T.C. went inside, Sammy led Bumper’s back up the tall tree to their nest at the very top. When they got to their nest their mother was nowhere to be seen.

All Sammy could see was an owl’s feather lying on the floor in the middle of the nest. She knew this was a very bad sign. Her mother had always told her that owl’s hunted squirrels, but it was usually only at night because owls were nocturnal. This meant that they usually slept during the day. Sammy and Bumper’s mom had always taken them deep inside the giant oak to a special sleeping nest at night. Owls were too big to ever get in there.

One day shortly after Bumper’s was born, Sammy’s mother had taken them on a special trip down the giant oak. She actually carried Bumpers on her back. When they got back to the nest they saw the same thing that Sammy and Bumper’s were looking at now, an empty nest with just an owl’s feather on the floor.

An Owl Had Carried Sammy And Bumper’s Father Away

Sammy hoped for the best, but knew that her mother was probably never coming back. As sad as she was, she also knew that it would be her job now to care for and look after her little brother. Sammy told Bumpers that their mother was now in squirrel heaven, and that she was making a place for them with their father for when they finally came to join them. Sammy then told Bumpers that that was still a long, long way off.

STILL A LONG / LONG WAY OFF

In many ways Sammy had to grow up fast, but she learned many lessons by watching the way that Melissa took care of her little brother T.C. Melissa never knew what happened to Sammy and Bumper’s mom, but she did notice that the big squirrel she was so used to seeing, gathering acorns and pine nuts on the ground was now gone.

Sammy thought it was magical, the way Melissa and T.C. started to look after her little brother and her. Every morning Sammy and Bumper’s would show up at the back screen door when T.C. and Melissa were having their breakfast. Melissa had peeled back a REALLY TINY corner of the screen in the bottom of the door. It was just big enough for two little squirrels to get in, BUT NOT big enough for Jake to get out. Jake was always in his crate when Melissa and T.C. were eating. If not, he would have eaten the food right off of their plates.

JAKES FAVORITE THING WAS FOOD!

Every morning when Melissa and T.C.’s mom was busy with other things, they would secretly give Cheerios and Rice Krispies to Sammy and Bumpers. This happened almost every morning, even in the winter. When their mother finally caught on to what they were doing, she pretended she didn’t know. When the cold weather came, Sammy found a secret tunnel under the house that a mole must have made. It led to a crack in the floorboard that she and Bumper’s could then shinny up, to get through the heat vent and into the kitchen.

Sammy, Bumpers, Melissa and T.C. became the very best of friends. Even the deer that lived in the back yard marveled at how they played together. These are the stories about the magical adventures they shared, at the edge of the great Ashwood-Hilldale Woods.

The%20Toppling%20Elm.jpg

The Toppling Elm

CRASH!!! is all that was heard in the middle of the night. A crash, followed by the screams coming from a little girl.

Daddy, Mommy, a tree is trying to get inside my room, was the cry coming from the large bedroom at the far end of the upstairs hall. Sammy and Bumper’s heard it too.

There had been a large flash of light, then a gigantic BOOM, followed by what seemed like a forever of silence—A forever of silence followed by a tremendous crash. Lightening had struck the Old Dutch Elm tree that stood beside the giant oak that Sammy and Bumper’s lived in.

Lightening had hit the base of the tree, causing it to fall right toward Melissa’s bedroom. It was now lying against the big bay window that overlooked the backyard from Melissa’s room. It was a window with a large seat inside, where Melissa would often sit and watch Sammy and Bumpers, as they searched for nuts and played in the trees. Melissa would often take a welcome break from doing her homework, to watch her two special friends as they scampered around outside.

BUT NOT TONIGHT

Melissa continued to cry out in the dark for her mommy and daddy. She screamed so loudly that it woke her brother T.C. up, and he could sleep through almost anything. Melissa’s dad had heard the crash too, and he was now running down the long upstairs hall toward Melissa’s room.

‘Scooter, Scooter, are you OK," her