“C’mon…wake up Ezra…it’s nearly nine o’clock…too late to be early!”

“Huh…wha…Oh…OK Mom…I just wanna finish this dream…”

“You can’t finish dreams Ezra…and I don’t want you starting a new one…now get up!”

“Yes…M’aam.” The little chipmunk rubbed the sleep and the small specks of dirt out of his eyes and went into the main part of the burrow where his Mother was.

“The north end opening seems to be plugged Ezra…your Father didn’t have time to dig it out this morning before making his rounds. You’ll have to do it.”

“Aw Mom do I always have to dig out the openings?”

“We must all do our parts Ezra, you know that, so get goin’. It’s supposed to rain later this afternoon.”

“Yes M’aam.” Ezra made his way up the tunnel to the north end and indeed there was a stone blocking the entrance, or if you were inside like Ezra was, the exit! Ezra pushed and pushed but that rock was too big and too wedged into the entrance/exit for him to budge it even a “chirp”…which is chipmunk for “small amount”. Ezra tried three more times then huffed and puffed and tried once more.

To Ezra’s surprise the stone moved a chirp and then after resting some more, Ezra pushed with all his might and the rock moved a “squeek”, which is more than a chirp, and then it rolled away and down the hill landing next to the Blue Hosta. “Ah…WOW…I did it…I’m really gettin’ strong” said Ezra.

“I’m hungry, I think I’ll find a few seeds before I go back and tell Mom how huge that boulder was and how strong I am!” Just then a vol passed by and said to Ezra…”Ah, see you got that stone outta there!”

“BOULDER” Ezra corrected.

“Whatever…anyway the human has been out here pluggin’ up our entrances and exits and chasing us all over. And he’s been sprinkling powder and sprayin’ stuff too…be careful!”

“Yeah…I will…ah thanks Mr….what’s your name?” But the vol had already scampered under the Lilyturf and was gone. “I wonder if Mom and Dad know about the human.” thought Ezra. When he got back to the burrow Ezra told his Mom what the vol had said.

“Um…we’ll have to talk to your Father when he gets home…this happened once before and we had to move…I HATE moving!” Later that afternoon it DID rain and so Ezra’s Father came home early, his pouches full of seeds and after dinner the chipmunk family talked about their HUMAN situation.

“Hmmmm…it sounds serious all right!” said Ezra’s Father.”Some of the greenery did smell a bit odd today, but hopefully the rain will wash away whatever the human put on them.”

The next day the whole family was out of the burrow in the warming sunshine when all of a sudden a huge shadow fell over all of them! The chipmunk family looked up and there he was…the giant human standing right over them…one foot on the north entrance and the other foot on the main entrance. The family scurried around in circles not wanting to leave one another but knowing that they were all in mortal danger. But then a strange thing happened. The human was laughing and saying…”Aren’t you the cutest little critters I ever did see! Ha…yeah ya sure are…maybe as cute even as mice!”

His Mom and Dad and Ezra froze and just looked at each other.

“Oh wait, I’m sorry, am I blocking your door? Pardon me….sooooo cute!” The giant stepped away. “Yeah, I’ve got the perfect names for you two bigger ones, and I’ll think of a name for the little feller later. So cute!”

The giant human left chuckling to himself and the relieved chipmunks slowly got their lives back to normal, not having to move after all. And the entrance/exits were never blocked again and the chipmunk family lived a long and very happy life. For after all…that giant human, Mr. Disney, had made them famous!