Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 As the sun hung low over the western horizon, two caged squirrels, a donkey, and a squirrelnapper reached the outskirts of the village of Zababdeh, where they began setting up camp for the night. Earlier in the day, the group had crossed the border into an area in Israel known as the West Bank, a section of modern Israel about the size of Delaware (which is the second smallest state in the US after Rhode Island). The West Bank is one of the Palestinian territories that also includes the town of Bethlehem, many more miles to the south.

"Do you think we can get Dusty to talk again?" Merle whispered to Pearl as Ruben walked off into a nearby grove of trees to gather firewood. The squirrels' cage was now set up on a flat rock next to a hitching post where Dusty was tied. "I think I might have an idea," Pearl answered back in hushed tones. She pulled the trail map back out. "Hmm... let's see here," she said much louder. Dusty glanced her way. "It looks like we're already one day ahead of schedule. At this rate, we'll be there in six days." "Are you kidding me?! No way! That's not—" Dusty started, then abruptly stopped. Merle and Pearl looked at him wide-eyed.

"I knew it!" Merle said. "You can speak human!" Pearl added. Dusty shook his head in disappointment. "Oh, man! I can't believe I fell for that." He was used to holding his tongue around humans, but with Merle and Pearl, two other animals chatting away in human, he'd let his guard down. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Pearl lowered her voice so Ruben wouldn't overhear. "Why didn't you tell us you could speak human?!" "Isn't it obvious?" Dusty whispered. "He knows you can talk human, and now look at you! Cooped up like a couple of birds... not that I have anything against birds." Before Pearl could respond, she heard footsteps approaching. Ruben returned with the firewood. A couple of hours later, as Ruben snored away in the light of the glowing campfire, the squirrels and Dusty continued their conversation. Merle and Pearl learned that Dusty

could talk because he was a descendant of Balaam's donkey— a famous talking donkey mentioned in the Bible (if you want to look it up, the story can be found in the book of Numbers, chapter 22). He also told them that he had talking donkey relatives scattered all around Israel. "We all try to keep to ourselves. If people knew we could talk, there's no telling what sort of mess we could find ourselves in," Dusty whispered. He then wondered, "Is there a talking squirrel in the Bible?" "As far as I know, the Bible is silent on squirrels," Merle replied. Pearl went on to fill Dusty in on their story. "Wow," Dusty said. "You can talk AND you're 2,000 years old. I can see why they're after you. I wish there was some way I could help." "That goes for us, too," Pearl replied. "We'll think of ways to help each other."