Lexi's Tale Read Online Free PDF

more than a couple of minutes for thirty or forty squirrels to join me as I raced toward the fighting men.
    At the same time, without anyone calling them, the park’s pigeons came fluttering outof the air. They know that where there are people, there’s food.
    The dogs began barking louder than ever and pulling hard on their leashes as we approached. The parents and nannies nervously grabbed hold of the toddlers who were not safely inside baby carriages. Some human must have called the police, because from the distance I could hear a siren. The sound got louder and louder, and then a police car arrived. I recognized it at once because of a dent on its rear fender. It was one of two cars that regularly patrol our section of the park. It drove right onto the grass with its lights flashing and stopped just a few feet away from all the activity. Now even more people came running to the spot. A police car meant excitement for them.
    â€œOkay. Stand back, everyone, stand back,” a loud voice called out as the door to the police car opened. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt here.”
    The joggers and the bikers, the parents and the nannies all followed directions and moved back. But we squirrels came right on closer.
    â€œWhat are all these critters doing here?” one policeman shouted out to another who was getting out of the car. “It’s like a squirrel invasion.”
    â€œI’ve never seen so many. It’s more than I ever imagined were in the entire park.”
    That shows that the policeman didn’t have a good imagination or even good eyesight. What he saw running around him was only a small fraction of my brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

    The first policeman ignored us and pushed his way toward the two men who had stopped fighting and were just standing side by side looking at the police and squirrels. I noticed that the second policeman was trying to count how many of us squirrels were circling the crowd. Since we kept running around, it was not an easy task.
    â€œWhat’s this all about?” the first policeman asked the men.
    â€œHe stole that wallet,” the bald man said.
    â€œHe stole your wallet?” the policeman asked. He took the wallet from the bearded stranger who, even if he didn’t understand English, understood who the policeman was. The officer removed a piece of paper from inside. “Which one of you is Michael Ryan?” he asked the two men.
    PeeWee’s rescuer of course could not understand what was being said.
    â€œSpeak up,” the policeman said. “What’s your name?”
    â€œI’m Thomas Boomsma,” said the bald man. “It’s not my wallet, but it’s not his either. I saw him grab it and run, so I gave chase. I wanted to make a citizen’s arrest.”
    â€œOkay, Mr. Boomsma. Who did he grab the wallet from? Can you describe the person?”
    â€œWell, no. It wasn’t exactly like that. Thewallet came flying out of a tree. I didn’t get to see the person.”
    â€œWas there someone up in the tree?” asked the policeman.
    â€œI guess so,” said Thomas Boomsma, shrugging his shoulders. “How else could this wallet fall down from up there?”
    â€œMichael Ryan?” the policeman called out to the people standing around. “Are you here?”
    Of course he wasn’t there.
    â€œMaybe he’s still up in the tree,” said Mr. Boomsma.
    â€œWhich tree was it?” asked the policeman.
    The bald man looked around him. “I can’t remember,” he said. “A tree is a tree. They all look alike.” The onlookers laughed.
    â€œWhat about a Christmas tree?” someone called out.
    Meanwhile I ran right up to the big black shoes of the policeman and started chattering to him. My uncle Ninety-nine would have been furious if he’d seen me at that moment.
    â€œNo one was up in the tree but me,” I told the