Chapter Six (part c)

She found her mother cleaning the diningroom. She had obviously been working awhile because there was a large pile of sticks and twigs by the door. She had also collected a whole lot of leaves, a quantity of feathers, three very old bird nests, a life-time supply of stale bread and a horde of last season's acorns.

"I don't think this place has been cleaned for years!" she sighed when Jennifer came in. "It looks like the whole ravine has been moved inside: lock, stock and barrel, rock, tree and sky. Animals too, I wouldn't be surprised. This place looks a lot like Noah's Ark just before it landed!"

A squirrel popped in through the door from the livingroom and stopped just behind Mrs. Jones. He watched with dismay as she swept away all the acorns he'd been saving. A crow landed on the window sill and looked at Mrs. Jones as well. He must have seen the way things were going because a few moments later he flew off again. Jennifer looked up and saw an owl edging his way towards the window along the plate rail. He was obviously preparing to abandon ship too.

"My great-grandfather and I are going to explore in the ravine tomorrow," Jennifer told her mother. "The boy next door is coming with us."

"I knew you'd be able to make new friends," said her mother. "Get me a garbage bag, will you Jenny? These nuts have definitely got to go."

Jennifer spent the next hour or so helping her mother clean up the house. It was all a bit of a strain on everyone. The dust they stirred up got in Jennifer's eyes, it stuffed up her nose and her throat became too dry. Mrs. Jones got aches in her bones and pains in her back from crawling around on her hands and knees to clean underneath things. Even the house seemed disturbed. As Mrs. Jones swept through room after room, it creaked and groaned as if asking her to reconsider.

The animals were not at all pleased either. The squirrel in particular was most upset. Not only did Mrs. Jones get all his acorns from under the diningroom table, she also wiped out his chestnuts from the closet, threw away what amounted to an entire life savings of peanuts from the pantry, and completely destroyed a very impressive collection of second- hand granola bars. He finally got so mad he bit a hole in the bottom of the garbage bag and stole all his chestnuts back again. He hid them under the livingroom rug by the door where he hoped they'd be safe, at least for a while.