Batcat and the Seven Squirrels

Illustrated by

Text copyright © 2016 Eric Walters
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Kasia Charko

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Walters, Eric, 1957–, author
Batcat and the seven squirrels / Eric Walters ; illustrated by Kasia Charko.
(Orca echoes)

Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN
978-1-4598-1255-0 (paperback).—
ISBN
978-1-4598-1256-7 (pdf).—
ISBN
978-1-4598-1257-4 (epub)

I. Charko, Kasia, 1949, illustrator II. Title. III. Series: Orca echoes
PS
8595.
A
598
B
38 2016
jc813'.54
C
2016-900532-1
C
2016-900533-
X

First published in the United States, 2016
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016931876

Summary
: In this early chapter book, Nathan learns to care for seven orphaned baby squirrels with help from a stray neighborhood cat.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Kasia Charko
Author photo by Sofia Kinachtchouk

ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
www.orcabook.com

19   18   17   16   •   4   3   2   1

To Batcat

CHAPTER ONE

Nathan looked up from his meal and out the window. There was something pressed against the screen of the door. It was pinned there, moving as the wind blew it back and forth, back and forth. He thought it was very strange how it was moving. Was it a black plastic bag or a piece of paper or…no, it was furry, and it had a tail, and—

“It’s a squirrel!” Nathan yelled as he jumped up from the table.

He ran across the kitchen. His father and mother were right behind him. He skidded to a stop at the thin screen door standing between him and the squirrel. His parents stood beside him.

“It’s just a baby,” his mother said.

Instead of running away, the little squirrel continued to cling to the screen. It tilted its head to the side and looked in at them as they looked out at it.

“He’s so cute,” Nathan said.

“He
is
cute, but what’s he doing here?” his mother asked.

“Maybe he wants to come in and join us for supper,” his father joked.

“Could he?” Nathan asked. “I’d share my salad with him.”

“He should go back and join
his
family for dinner,” Nathan’s mother said. She looked at her husband, and he nodded in agreement.

“Time to go home, little guy,” his father said as he gently tapped one of his fingers against the screen.

Instead of running off, the squirrel climbed up the screen until it was at the spot where he’d been tapping. His father moved his finger and tapped at another spot on the screen, and the little animal followed after his finger.

“So what do we do now?” Nathan asked.

“We could close the door, and he might go away,” his father suggested.

“That would be rude,” Nathan said.

“But it’s not like we can bring him in.”

Nathan leaned in a little closer to the squirrel. “He’s crying.”

“I don’t think squirrels cry,” his mother said. “But I do hear something… it’s squeaking.”

“He’s probably calling for his mother to come and get him,” Nathan said.

Nathan’s father went to close the door and hesitated. He knew Nathan was concerned. “It’ll be okay, Nathan. I’m sure his mother will come and get him as soon as we close the door.”

Nathan wanted to believe his father, but he was worried. He nodded his head ever so slightly in agreement.

His father slowly started to close the door and—

“Wait!” Nathan called out. “Look!”

His father stopped. He hoped he’d see the mother squirrel. Instead, he saw what his son had seen.

“It’s Batcat,” Nathan said.

Batcat was a stray cat that roamed the neighborhood. Nobody owned the cat, so he didn’t really have a name. But Nathan had started calling him Batcat because while he was mostly black, the lower half of his face was white. It looked like he was wearing a mask—just like the comic-book character.

“Do cats like squirrels?” Nathan asked.

“Not in the way we’d like,” his father said.

The big old cat sat on the fence. He was staring right at them—and at the little squirrel. His tail was swinging ever so slightly. There was a little kink in it
where it had been injured at some time. His ears were pressed down. His left ear had a chunk that was missing.

Slowly Nathan’s father opened the door. The squirrel clung to the screen as it swung out. His father walked across the deck toward where Batcat sat on the fence.

“You have to leave now,” he said to the cat.

Batcat didn’t move. This wasn’t a cat used to being told what to do by anybody.

“Scat, cat!” Nathan’s father said and gestured with his hands.

Batcat’s tail swished a little bit harder, and his green eyes blazed angrily. For a second Nathan’s father felt a bit uneasy, like he was walking toward a tiger instead of an alley cat. He knew that
was silly, but still, the cat was staring at him so intently. What would he do if the cat didn’t leave?

Then, as he got closer, the big tom turned and started walking away, carefully balanced on the top of the fence. He got to the end of the property and then jumped down and disappeared into the next yard.

It was good that the cat was gone, but Nathan’s dad felt bad about chasing him away. He’d been secretly feeding the stray without his wife or Nathan knowing. What he didn’t realize was that both Nathan and his mother had been doing the same thing. There were lots of people in the neighborhood who were feeding Batcat. This was a cat that was owned by nobody but helped by many.

Nathan opened the door just enough that he could slip out too. The little squirrel suddenly leaped off the screen and landed on his shoulder!

CHAPTER TWO

Nathan almost screamed. His mother did scream. But there was no reason for either of them to be afraid. The squirrel was so little and light that it was like he wasn’t even there. He snuggled into Nathan, putting his little head under the collar of his shirt like he was trying to hide or burrow in.

Almost instantly, Nathan’s parents were both standing beside him on the deck.

“Are you okay?” his father asked.

“I’m okay.”

“Is he dangerous?” his mother asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” his father answered.

“He’s just a baby,” Nathan said. “And he’s scared. I can feel him shaking.”

His mother gently pushed back the collar of her son’s shirt to take a closer look. The little squirrel looked up at her, and he did look scared. She felt sad for him—and protective. She was the only mother around right now, and this little guy did need a mother.

“It’s all right, little squirrel,” she said. “You’re in good hands now. We’ll take care of you.”

“We will?” his father asked.

“What other choice do we have?” she said.

“I’ve seen a lot of squirrels in the trees here,” his father said.

There was a big tree right beside their porch.

“I’m sure if we just put him in the tree, his mother will come back and get him,” he added.

“I’m not so sure,” Nathan’s mother said. She hesitated. “I didn’t want to mention it, but there was a squirrel on the road in front of our house a few days ago.”

There were always lots of squirrels on the street, so Nathan and his dad knew there had to be more to the story.

“It was dead. It had been run over by a car,” she said.

“But that doesn’t mean it was the mother of this squirrel,” Nathan said.

“I don’t know if it was this one’s mother, but it was a mother. It was missing most of the fur on its tail.”

Nathan knew what that meant. He’d asked his parents about it in the past,
when he’d seen a squirrel with almost no fur on its tail. His parents explained how squirrels pulled the fur off their tails to line the nests for their babies. The fur made the nests warm and snuggly.

“So you think this little guy could be an orphan,” his father said.

“But what about the father squirrel?” Nathan asked.

“Father squirrels don’t help raise the babies. He’s long gone, so if the mother is dead…well…”

“Then he’d have nobody,” Nathan said.

“That’s possible,” his mother said.

“So if we just put him in the tree, there won’t be anybody to care for him. He could just starve to death,” Nathan said.

“Or worse,” his father added.

Nathan wondered what could be worse than starving. Then his father pointed to the back of the yard. There, at the far end, was Batcat. He had returned. He was sitting on the fence again, looking at them—well, really, looking at the squirrel on Nathan’s shoulder.

“So we can’t put him in a tree, and we can’t leave him out. What else is left?” his father asked.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Nathan said. “He has to come inside with us.”

His parents looked at each other like they were trying to figure out what to say.

“I guess there’s one other choice,” Nathan said.

“There is?” his father asked.

“Yes. If he can’t come inside, then I’m going to have to sleep out here.”

“You can’t sleep outside,” his mother said.

“Then I guess there
is
only one choice. So he can come inside when I go inside…right?”

His parents both smiled and nodded their heads in agreement.

Nathan almost cheered out loud but realized that would scare the little guy. And the last thing he wanted to do was scare him any more than he already was.

Just then the little squirrel let him know that he agreed with their decision as he crawled into the pocket of Nathan’s shirt.