The Beach Squad Diaries

Danny the Dock Spider woke up to a sunny day.

He stretched each one of his long, thin legs, gave his round body a shake, and skittered to the end of his dock.

With a cheerful leap, he jumped down onto the sandy beach at Jacklin's Cove.

Danny explored all the nooks and crannies around the beach while waiting for his friends to come and play.

After searching for treasures and finding no sign of the rest of The Beach Squad, Danny left the beach and wandered toward the area where Bartholomew, the black bear, had come crashing out of the bushes a while back.

The area had several boulders scattered across the forest floor and was sprinkled with leaves and pine needles, creating a soft woodland carpet.

Danny gazed around in wonder.

He was amazed at how safe and peaceful the area felt.

Happy to be off exploring on his own, Danny got so lost in his thoughts that he forgot to watch where he was going.

Before he knew it, he had bumped into a wee furry creature.

Down they went, rolling into a tangled heap of spider legs and striped fur.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Danny said to the wee ball of fur.

The ball of fur straightened itself out and ran to the nearest boulder, up to the top where he sat and began to make a sharp, clucking sound.

Chipmunks like to do that when they are frightened, and this little dude was really going for it.

He clucked like never before.

"Really, I'm sorry," Danny repeated. "Please, stop making that noise."

The chipmunk stared at Danny with a look that said, I don't believe you, and continued clucking.

Danny decided he would try to amuse the rodent.

He scampered up onto a boulder of his own and began clucking too.

"Are you making fun of me?" the chipmunk asked Danny.

"Oh no, absolutely not. I'm joining in. It must be fun. I always hear you clucking. Why are you always making that sound?"

"It's what we do when we're startled."

"You seem to get startled a lot. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just exploring because my friends aren't around. What's your name?"

The chipmunk stood on his hind legs and tilted his head, still looking a bit suspicious.

"My name is Scamp, I guess. That's what my mother calls me," he said.

Danny had a way of making critters feel safe, and before long Scamp found himself relaxing.

"I don't have any friends yet. I just left my nest," Scamp admitted, putting on a brave front. "Maybe I cluck too much."

"You can never cluck too much if you're a chipmunk. Lots to be wary of," Danny said. "At least, that's what I think."

Scamp took a long look at Danny the Dock Spider and decided he would make a fine first friend.

"What's your name?" he asked his new buddy.

"My name is Danny the Dock Spider, but you can call me Danny. Let's play tag!"

"What's tag?"

The wee chipmunk was just figuring out that he had a lot to learn.

Before long, the two new friends were racing across the forest floor, jumping over sticks, hopping from boulder to boulder, and slipping on pine needles.

Scamp laughed so hard that he forgot all about being frightened.

They played all afternoon and had settled onto a bed of pine needles, with Danny telling Scamp all about The Beach Squad.

Scamp was so interested in Danny's stories that he didn't notice the larger chipmunk approaching.

"Chester!" the bigger chipmunk bellowed. "Get home at once!"

Danny turned to Scamp, who looked horrified.

"Chester? I thought your name was Scamp," Danny asked.

"His name is Chester! And I'm his mother," she replied. "A regular scamp, he is. Keeps me worrying, this one does."

Chester's ears drooped.

"Nice to meet you," Danny said.

He was trying to play it cool, but he had a pine needle tangled between several of his legs.

"Off with you, Chester!" his mother called to her son.

Turning to Danny, she said, "And you go home too!"

The two chipmunks darted off deeper into the forest.

Danny could hear a few clucks in the distance and he giggled as he headed back toward the beach, eager to tell The Beach Squad all about his new friend.