by Sarah Earlene Shere, ©2024
(Feb. 2, 2024) — Once upon a time, when people were superstitious and believed all kinds of fantastic stories, there lived a family of badgers named the Huffingtons. The family consisted of Papa Huffington, Mother Huffington, Pascal Huffington (the teenage son) and Barbara Huffington (the preteen daughter).
The Huffingtons were a very serious family, who kept an immaculate home. So you can imagine their irritation when their neighbor, from across the field, came unceremoniously through their door one morning, knocking things over in his wake. But what can you expect from a groundhog, such eager, excitable creatures? Oh, yes, Shelby Wigglesworth was a groundhog.
“Do you happen to have a cup of sugar I can borrow? I went to make my late winter coffee and found myself lacking. I can’t fully awaken from a three month long nap without my caffeine and sugar.” This sounded a bit ironic as Shelby spoke loudly while racing about the room. Back outside, with his reluctantly-given sugar, he headed back to his lonely home, wishing others didn’t see him as a nuisance.
Near his burrow, he paused as he saw his shadow on the snow. He hadn’t realized he had been gone so long. His coffee was getting cold. With a sudden burst of speed, he raced inside his den. As he shut his door behind him, he heard the voice of humans not far, outside. “Did you see that? The groundhog saw his shadow and ran back inside. That can only mean we have a long winter ahead of us!”
Shelby sat in his armchair and considered their words. A ridiculous idea. Still, he was noticed; he was respected. He liked that very much. He would make it a habit of hurrying from his hole and racing back inside every year at this time. Of course he knew spring would never come before its time, but humans didn’t know that, as they could be such silly creatures.