Chapter Nine
Back at the mill, the animals had gathered to discuss about what was happening in their beloved park. Precious was also there while Noah sat in complete silence as he and the animals watched Surly pacing back and forth in anger and frustration.
"Great, this is just great!" Surly exclaimed hotly as he gripped his head in frustration "Those humans that are in our park think that I'm some kind of Rare breed of squirrel because of my abnormal fur color! Not only that, but they want to either put me in a Zoo or make me their pet! I wish I was about the size of those humans so that I can give them a piece of my mind! How would they like it if they were put in a cage against their will and put on display in front of thousands of people?"
Andie and Buddy quickly ran over to Surly to stop him from pacing while trying to calm him down.
"Easy Surly, calm down." Andie said as she placed a comforting hand on the purple squirrel's shoulder.
Surly looked at Andie for a moment before he let out a sign "Sorry, it's just that... things are going to get more complicate now that those... nut bags out there think i'm some kind of rare species. They aren't going to stop until they find me and not only that, but they'll also wind up looking and finding Noah as well."
"Well look on the bright side," Grayson said with a smile "At least your famous!"
Everyone looked at Grayson with either blank looks or annoyed looks on their faces, thus making the grey squirrel shrink down with a sheepish look on his face.
"You're not helping Grayson." Surly grumbled with a glare.
Noah, who had been quiet for a time, spoke up in a sad voice as he held his toy close to his chest "This is all my fault," he began to sniffle as all of the animals looked towards the boy on confusion "If I hadn't disobeyed and broken the rules when I went looking for food at Rose's party then no one would have found out about you Surly."
Surly looked at Noah with a frown on his face before sighting sadly in defeat. He then ran over to Noah and climbed up onto the boy's left shoulder. Surly gently placed a paw on Noah's cheek as the boy turned to look at him.
"Noah... it was an accident," Surly reassured with a smile "Besides, I was the one that fell into the glue when I tried to get you back the same time that kid back at Rose's party shoved that piece of cake into your mouth. So technically it's my fault. Right now we have to figure out how we're going to get those humans off my tail so they won't make me into a main attraction."
"But how are we going to do that?" Jamie asked as she and the other animals began to think about how they were going to keep the humans from finding both Surly and Noah.
"He can hide somewhere that no human would expect to look for Surly." Mole suggested.
Surly jumped down from Noah's shoulder and joined in with the conversation to save Surly from unwanted human attention.
"Yeah, but where?" Johnny asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He could hide underground." Jimmy said with a smile.
"That's not going to work." Surly said with a shake of his head "In case you've forgotten i'm a tree squirrel, not a ground squirrel."
"He does have a point." Mole said with a sad frown.
"Then how about we dip him in paint and disguise him to look like either a black, red or grey squirrel?" Grayson suggested.
"That's not going to work either." Andie said with a shake of her head "What if Surly runs through a puddle of water or falls into the brook? The paint would wash right off him."
"Well... why not stay at the nut store for a while?" Precious asked with a happy look on her face "No one would think of looking for him there."
"That's a good thought Precious." Surly said with a sad smile "But that's not such a good idea. Your owner would get suspicious if she found out that some of the nuts went missing if I take some in the store, not to mention someone would surely spot me in there if I made one little mistake in revealing myself."
The conversation went on as the animals threw out idea after idea on how to keep Surly safe and hidden from the humans who wanted to catch him. But while they were talking no one noticed Noah sneaking out. He had gotten board with all of the adults talking and wanted to walk around the park, while making sure that none of the humans could see him. He was still a little upset about what he had done and wanted to think of a way to help his father figure. Unknown to the boy, he was being watched by a couple of rats who were hiding in one of the trees. The lead rat turned to one of jis gang members as a smirk grew on his face. The rat the leader was looking at nodded his head before he quickly ran off to find Raccoon to tell him that the boy was alone.