It has been 11 days of continuous climbing in the bitter harsh wind. Luke is aching all over his body and his food supply is getting sparse. His oxygen tank is decreasing, but the peak is only 20 feet above him. He forces himself to continue and aim for the top. Not much longer he is there, one step away from completion. Luke raises his hands in victory, when all of a sudden a huge gust of icy wind catches him and makes him loose his footing. Luke is now falling forward off the mountain down 100’s of feet to an agonizing and slow death. He falls flat on his back cracking bones in the painful process only 40 feet down on a small ledge. He lets out a loud scream and clenches his teeth. The pain is unbearable and no bandage is sufficient for his broken body. Luke knows right away he cannot make it off the mountain alive so he closes his eyes in defeat, but reopens them quickly to an odd noise in the distance.
He hears a rumbling and rushing noise getting louder and louder, nearer and nearer. Then he knew the sound was not the sound of rescue, but just a quicker death. An avalanche. Coming closer and closer, Luke defenseless against the natural beast curls up in a ball just as the avalanche blankets him in thick layers of cold snow. There’s no chance of surviving now, and after a few minutes, his life flew out of him.

Not much longer a small snow squirrel jumped onto the mound of that covered Luke’s body. It burrowed all the way down until it got down to Luke. It gnawed through his large backpack until it found something interesting. A huge bag of cheetos! What a wonderful surprise! The squirrel went off to go share his splendors with his buddies. He couldn’t wait to show them what he had found!

When he arrived at his cave all of the little snow squirrels begged him for a cheesy cheeto. Once all of the cheetos were gone, they all went off to go search for more scrumptious food to eat. The little squirrel didn’t feel like going along, so he stayed and rested in the cave.

Not much later he got bored, so he went off in the direction of the ground sloths hoping they were up to something fun. Usually the ground sloths are very intimidating animals. They have six inch claws and razor sharp teeth. They have huge beaming eyes and a snarling grin. But when you get to know them they can be quite friendly. The squirrel knew he would be welcomed in the land of the sloths.

After a few miles of icy terrain, and strong gusts of wind blowing overhead, he reached the ground sloths. They lived in their own valley between two small cliffs about a mile wide. They were all minding their own business, playing games or sleeping soundly in their cozy caves when the little voyager arrived. He scampered down the vertical cliff into a small pond of very icy water. That’s what got their attention. They all swiveled their fuzzy brown heads in the direction of the splash when the small head emerged from the pond. He brushed his fur wiping away the water layered throughout his damp body. Then he went over to the sloths and asked if he could stay with them for a while to get a little change of scenery. They agreed it would be a good idea, so they said he could stay for the weekend. So, they spent the rest of the day playing and telling stories until bedtime.


The next day the animals were fast asleep. When all of a sudden a rumbling noise occurred. It woke only the little squirrel. He knew what the noise was. He had heard it once before. Many times before to know enough that it was quite dangerous. An avalanche. He knew the chances of escaping it were slim, but if he hurried he could still get away in time. He couldn’t leave his friends to die though, he’d have to wake them up.

So that’s what he did. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs to tell everyone to wake up and escape the avalanche quickly. They awoke promptly and ran out of the valley at the word “avalanche”. Some of the sloths so frantic they trampled over the little squirrel. That’s when it got louder and louder, nearer and nearer. The little squirrel was still laying hurt and trampled was still laying in the cold snow when the avalanche arrived quick and swift, covering the little critter. Not one sloth looked back.