I am always honoured when my work takes on a new life through the pens of others. Here, 11 year-old Andrew Hopson provides his account of Scamp the Squirrel’s backstory. Well done to Andrew for his take on Scamp. Enjoy!
Scamp
In the early mornings of a sunny day, an adventurous, feisty squirrel left its dray in search of a new master. Feeling confident about the journey ahead, the adventurous squirrel scampered off into the wild woods.
The squirrel knew that if he were to find a caring owner, he must therefore travel across to the other side of the fifty-odd acre wood. Even though he knew that the terrifying pack of wolves lurked about towards the centre, this squirrel was determined not to return to the chaotic dray that he did not
want to call home.
Roughly thirty minutes into his little excursion, night began to fall and as it did so, he knew that the fearless pack of wolves would do their nightly routine of hunting for their dinner. As quick as he could, he tried to find the right-sized burrow to sleep in but alas, no spaces were to be found. The only thing he could was to hide in a suitable tree. He climbed up the first tree his eye saw, and quietly hid.
Being wolves, they have excellent vision, so the poor old squirrel was greatly afraid of being spotted. Twenty minutes later, the rodent smelt the hungry smell north of his tree. Sure enough, a pack of seven wolves appeared from out of the bushes. The biggest sniffed the air, and the frightened adventurer shivered quietly. A few minutes passed before the pack moved off.
Finally, able to breathe properly again, the little creature felt around and found a wide enough hole to rest in. As dawn came, the feisty squirrel hopped out and found a wide-spaced clearing in front of him. He quickly scampered off to the other side. He knew the old smell of humans, and could sense some nearby. Fifteen minutes later he came to a picturesque garden space, with beautiful flowers everywhere and a clear river separating land.
Suddenly, he smelt the human smell again, but this time closer. He quickly ran off and up the nearest tree and waited for the people to appear.
A boy and a girl cane into view. The boy had a brave look on his face, and the other had a pig-like face. So, as steadily as his shaky feet could, he walked up to the kind looking boy and scampered up his side and onto his shoulder. Quite taken aback by this surprising appearance, the boy jumped with shock and stared into the squirrel’s eyes. The squirrel felt the warmth of the look, and immediately the tall boy understood.
He stroked the shaking squirrel and whispered to it, “Hello, there. Do you want to be mine?” he asked. The happy squirrel jumped up and down as a response and ran around in circles on his head.
“Wow, he’s a feisty one isn’t he?” said the girl.
“Well then, I’m going to call you Scamp, because it looks like you like to scamp around a lot” said the kind looking boy. “This is my newly met friend,
Bell. And my name’s Tim.”
Scamp jumped up and down once again to show that he had been listening, and softly nibbled Tim’s ear. From then on, they became best friends, and went on great adventures like meeting goblins and dragons and even more humans.
