The Walnut

The picture I posted Monday, of a squirrel struggling with a too-large treasure of bread, reminded me of this story that a friend and co-worker once told me.

He was returning to our city after attending meetings at our company’s world headquarters and was driving on a stretch of a U. S. highway that carries a high concentration of truck traffic.

As he drove, something caught his eye on the opposite side of the highway. It looked like a huge walnut. At this point in the story, my co-worker extended his arms into a circle in front of his body to show the size of the object he had seen.

Well, he couldn’t resist going back for a closer look. He quickly pulled his vehicle off to the side of the road and dashed across the four lanes of traffic to where the object lay. Sure enough, it WAS a walnut...the biggest walnut he had ever seen...probably the biggest walnut that ANYONE had ever seen.

Knowing that no one would ever believe such a story without proof, my friend bent down to pick up the walnut. Then, with that giant walnut cradled in his arms, he started back across the four lanes of traffic to where his vehicle was parked.

Just as he crossed the first lane and started into the second, he saw a large truck barreling down on him. He darted back toward the side of the road, but the truck turned slightly and came straight at him. He made a quick move in another direction, and the truck did the same thing. Finally, my friend made it safely back to the side of the road where he had found the walnut.

As he was breathing a sigh of relief at reaching safety and wondering how he was ever going to get that walnut back to his vehicle, the truck came close enough for him to see that the driver was a giant squirrel. 

As the truck came near, it slowed; and the side window opened. As he passed, the truck-driving squirrel called out to my friend, “It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?”

Thanks to Hilary at The Smitten Image for including this post as a Post of the Week.