Esmeralda was knitting in the park when it all happened. She was watching the children play, taking in the merry atmosphere and overall enjoying herself when, all of a sudden, the alarm sirens all over town started to sound.

The children with their sensitive ears began to cry at the noise, and the parents panicked, of course. What was happening? The sirens never did that before! Esmeralda could feel a change in the atmosphere and a headache coming.

She slowly got on her feet, grabbed her cane and grumbled about her old aching joints. “I’m 80 years-old, I should be allowed to have a nice quiet saturday afternoon!”

She walked at her usual snail pace towards the town center, where a huge plaza could hold most of the town’s inhabitants and the mayor would probably tell them what was going on. At least, that was what he was supposed to do. She didn’t like this mayor much since he had her mailbox replaced.

“My fellow citizen! Our beautiful town is currently being wrecked by a giant flying squirrel, who is making its way towards us as I speak. I beg all of you to go hide in your basements, or in the Town Hall, at once! Hurry but please don’t run over each other!”

Of course, half the population laughed and the other lost it. Esmeralda did none of that. She walked on, slowly, past the mayor, past the other citizens, heading to the other side of town where the beast was. She was determined to see for herself what all of this was about.

It took a very long time for the old lady to reach the devastated area, along the empty streets and the lovely fountains, their merry sound oddly contrasting with the overall chaos. Esmeralda couldn’t help but smile at the irony: everyone but her was running the other way. It was as if the whole town relied on her old joints and constant grumbling to save the day. Hah! Well, she’ll show them!

Lifting her head, she saw right in front of her a huge fluffy animal with two enormous dark eyes, standing in the middle of the street and staring straight at her. It cocked its head, apparently curious to know what the puny human in front of it wanted.

Esmeralda stopped in her tracks, and cocked her head as well. “Well aren’t you a cutie pie!” The animal seemed taken aback. Its only experiences with bipedes so far have been reactions of fear, with yells and screams that hurt its ears.

Curious, it slowly approached Esmeralda, trying to understand what was happening here. Why was that human not running away? It lowered itself to be at eye-level with her, putting its nose as close as it dared to sniff out any sign awkwardness.

“How rude!” she said, bumping the beast on the nose with her cane. The animal, surprised, fell back on its hind paws and gave a weary look at the magic thing that had dared touch him. He tried again. He wouldn’t stand defeated!

“There there pumpkin! Easy with the sniffing, that’s not very polite!” came with another bump from the magic cane. The squirrel was baffled. It didn’t understand, but it made it even more curious. The human was obviously an old lady with a magic cane. What other powers did she have? Could she help find food? The poor thing was starving...

It lowered itself again, very careful not to sniff, put its head between its front paws and looked expectantly at Esmeralda. “Well, you can learn your manners it seems. Good to know. Now pumpkin, no more terrorizing the town. Do you understand?”

Pumpkin looked around and seemed to realise what it had done. It lowered its head in shame and made eye contact again, this time with big pleading eyes. The big squirrel knew that something bad had happened by its fault, and that it could mean no food at all. Better to not antagonise the magic lady.

“Let’s make a deal, Pumpkin. You look like a nice enough squirrel, but you apparently are starving. If I give you food and let you come home with me, will you behave? I would love your company but I need you to have proper manners. And cover yourself, it’s cold outside!”

Pumpkin cocked its head again. It didn’t understand what the lady said, but she made gestures while talking and it seemed to mean he would get food and a place to stay. He was tired of uprooting every tree he tried to climb…

While the animal was thinking about her proposal, Esmeralda had taken her knitting kit out of her pouch and started making a beautiful, warm, multicolored scarf. She had won a knitting award 7 years in a row and you couldn’t find a faster knitter in the whole county.

By the time Pumpkin nodded, the scarf was done, and they sealed their new agreement and friendship by wrapping it around the squirrel’s neck. Once warmly covered, the animal offered the old lady its paw and home they went, their pace slow and awkward but in a proper manner.