Chapter 1: The Girl in the Tree

1 The Girl in the Tree
Cordelia was a girl who lived in a tall elm tree in Central Park. No one knew where she came from. A squirrel named Shakespeare found her one evening under a shrub, when she was just a wee baby. Shakespeare didn’t like the looks of this small human creature with its drippy nose and big staring eyes. He certainly had no intention of taking care of it. He enjoyed his alone time too much. Some squirrels are like that.

Still, thought Shakespeare, there is a coyote roaming around the park. A coyote might eat a human baby. Coyotes have no shame.

Shakespeare hurried over to his neighbor, Miss Gertrude, an elderly squirrel who lived in the larch tree next door. Miss Gertrude was a very clever squirrel. When she saw the baby under the shrub, she knew exactly what to do.



She found three strong pigeons. The pigeons each took a beakful of Cordelia’s onesie and flew her straight up to an old squirrel’s nest in Shakespeare’s tree. The nest was big and sturdy enough for a small human baby. Cordelia curled up very comfortably and fell straight to sleep.



“But I don’t want a baby,” Shakespeare complained to Miss Gertrude. “Their noses run and their crying makes my ears feel all buzzily.”

Shakespeare liked to make up new words, like “buzzily” and “giggle-wig” and “minglebum.”

“You found her for a reason, Shakespeare, even if you don’t know what that reason is yet,” declared Miss Gertrude. Then she turned and headed home to her larch tree, calling back, “Good night! I’ll bring you some mashed acorns for her in the morning!”

Shakespeare climbed up his elm tree. He sat beside the nest and looked down at the little human creature. In her sleep, Cordelia reached out and held his tail, the way she might have held the hand of someone she trusted very much.

Shakespeare felt a little funny in his chest then. He thought it might have been because of a bad walnut that he’d eaten. But later, much later, he realized why he had felt funny. It was because at that moment he knew Cordelia belonged to him, and he belonged to Cordelia… and that was simply that.