The Story of the Sad Little Nut

In case you haven't heard, fall is here. If you don't believe me, just look around. The leaves are already starting to surrender. Everywhere you look, there's the beginning of a nice carpet of brightly colored leaves. The leaves aren't the only ones letting go, so are the walnuts. I know this because there is a big old walnut tree right outside my kitchen door. My driveway is littered with walnuts, and they are much bigger this year than normal. I am really conscious of them when I am putting Avery in the car. I don't want him getting whacked in the head by a kamikaze walnut.

This afternoon I spotted the most pitiful little guy. He had the saddest face. That's right, I said he had the saddest face. He was so sad in fact, that I moved him out of the way so that I wouldn't run over him. When I came home from my errand, he was still sitting there. Sulking. Looking so sad.


I couldn't just leave him there. He would surely get run over sooner or later. Especially with my driving. Even more likely is the possibility of a rogue squirrel scarfing him up. Maybe its that part of me that wants to be a vegetarian quietly saying to me, "you can't let him get eaten, he has a face. You can't eat anything with a face." That doesn't even make any sense. This is a walnut. A walnut for goodness sake. Walnuts don't have feelings. Why then, is this walnut frowning at me?



I picked him up and brought him in the house to hang out with the pumpkins and gourds. I even sang a chorus of nick nack paddy wack to him. It always works for Avery. No luck with the walnut. Still he frowns.

I wondered and wondered what could be making him so sad. Was it his location? His lot in life? His destiny in my yard? Had he lost touch with the other walnuts he grew up next to? What could it be?

It was then that I realized the reason for his sadness.

He has a head injury.



Crap. How could I have missed that? I plan to let him live out his days among the Halloween decorations. Surely that will cheer him up. I will keep you posted!