“—and if God wanted you to mess around in caves, he would have made you a bat,” Merle continued. “My dad always told me the same thing. ‘Never go into a cave!’ he said.”
“That’s great advice, Merle.” Pearl tried to brush some of the salt off her fur. “Remember what Paul said? ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”
“Moses said it first. Besides, I’m a full-grown squirrel!” Merle said.
“Actually, God said it first, and you’re never too old for good advice.” Pearl shook her finger at him.
“But it looks so interesting and cool—like temperature cool—back there, Pearl. Let’s just go have a quick look.” Without waiting for an answer, Merle crept further inside the mouth of the cave.
CHAPTER 17
WALNUT CREEK, TENNESSEE
PRESENT DAY
With the long day and long summer now behind him, Michael was glad to finally be back in his own room and his own bed. Like always, he prayed with his parents before bedtime.
“Thank you, God, for an awesome summer. Thank you for all the fun I had with Dad and Justin, thank you for keeping us safe, and thank you especially that I didn’t stay lost in that cave. Amen.”
his mom shouted. “Lost in a cave?”
“Yeah . . .” His dad said. “I’ve been meaning to talk with you about that. Michael, you want to tell your mom what happened?”
“Okay. Justin and I were exploring a cave and got a little bit lost, but eventually we found our way out. Dad told me to never do that again, but I didn’t listen. I went back in later by myself and got a whole lot lost when my flashlight broke.”
Mrs. Gomez went pale. “You were by yourself in a cave with no flashlight?”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’m fine now.”
“Michael, you know that when we ask you to do something or to not do something, it’s for your own good, right?” Dr. Gomez said. “The Bible tells us that honoring your father and mother is the first commandment with a promise. When you do, things will go well for you and you will live longer.”
“Yeah, I get the ‘live longer’ part now,” Michael said.
“Look, buddy. We’re older and have a lot more experience with life, which makes us a little wiser than you. We love you and want what’s best for you.” Dr. Gomez ruffled Michael’s hair.
“Thanks, Dad,” Michael said. “I love you guys, too.”
“By the way, what was so important that you needed to go back into that cave for it?” Mrs. Gomez asked.
“Meow!” Mr. Nemesis, Jane’s cat, said from across the room. He was scratching at Michael’s backpack.
Michael jumped out of bed. “Get off that!” he yelled, chasing Mr. Nemesis out of the room.
“C’mon, back in bed,” Dr. Gomez said. “We’ve all got school in the morning. No time for chasing cats around.”
Michael crawled back into bed. His mom and dad kissed him on the head. Dr. Gomez turned off the light. Just before closing the door, he said, “By the way, you’re grounded for a week.”
“Dad!” Michael complained.
“Good night, Cookies!” Mrs. Gomez said.
“Don’t call me that!” Michael double-complained.
CHAPTER 18
When you’re excited because tomorrow is your first day of fifth grade—which, in case you didn’t know, makes you elementary school royalty—and when you are not all that tired anyway because you slept pretty much the whole day on a plane, going to sleep is not easy. Michael lay awake thinking about his summer and about the year ahead. He couldn’t wait to see his friends and tell them about his and Justin’s adventures. Their friend Sadie, in particular, would love hearing all about it. At school, they were pretty much the Three Musketeers, and Michael had been bummed that Sadie couldn’t join them in Israel.
Michael’s thoughts turned to the squirrels in his backpack. He couldn’t leave them in there forever. They were, after all, souvenirs. He would need to tell his parents about them sooner or later. Michael threw his covers off and took the crusty critters out of his backpack. He held them up, wondering if all the trouble he had gone through to get them to his house was worth it. I hope they don’t stink up my room, he thought.
Looking around his room to find the best place to display his treasures, Michael decided on the top of his dresser. They would show up best from the highest point in the room. He propped the squirrels up, surprised to discover that, with some gentle pushing and pulling, he was able to arrange their arms and legs so that they could stand up, like posable action figures.
“Awesome,” he whispered. He’d made the squirrels look like fierce nut-hoarding warriors. “Sadie is going to think these are so cool.” He thought for a moment about taking them to school the next day but decided it was too risky. Besides, he needed a break from the stress of toting them around. Being grounded meant that he would have to come straight home after class, but maybe Justin and Sadie could drop by for a quick look.
Michael opened the window next to his dresser to help with any possible odor issues. A cool late-summer breeze blew in, and the low rumble of distant thunder sounded as Michael crawled back into bed.
He closed his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep as a light, misty rain sprinkled through the screen, dampening the top of the dresser—and the dry, salty fur of Michael’s souvenir squirrels. If the rain had been heavier, Michael probably would have woken up. And if he’d woken up, he might have seen the paw of one of the squirrels move ever so slightly. But it was not, and he did not.
MICHAEL GOMEZ is an adventurous and active 10-year-old boy. He is kindhearted but often acts before he thinks. He’s friendly and talkative and blissfully unaware that most of his classmates think he’s a bit geeky. Michael is super excited to be in fifth grade, which, in his mind, makes him “grade school royalty!”
MERLE SQUIRREL may be thousands of years old, but he never really grew up. He has endless enthusiasm for anything new and interesting—especially this strange modern world he finds himself in. He marvels at the self-refilling bowl of fresh drinking water (otherwise known as a toilet) and supplements his regular diet of tree nuts with what he believes might be the world’s most perfect food: chicken nuggets. He’s old enough to know better, but he often finds it hard to do better. Good thing he’s got his wife, Pearl, to help him make wise choices.
PEARL SQUIRREL is wise beyond her many, many, many years, with enough common sense for both her and Merle. When Michael’s in a bind, she loves to share a lesson or bit of wisdom from Bible events she witnessed in her youth. Pearl’s biggest quirk is that she is a nut hoarder. Having come from a world where food is scarce, her instinct is to grab whatever she can. The abundance and variety of nuts in present-day Tennessee can lead to distraction and storage issues.
JUSTIN KESSLER is Michael’s best friend. Justin is quieter and has better judgment than Michael, and he is super smart. He’s a rule follower and is obsessed with being on time. He’ll usually give in to what Michael wants to do after warning him of the likely consequences.
SADIE HENDERSON is Michael and Justin’s other best friend. She enjoys video games and bowling just as much as cheerleading and pajama parties. She gets mad respect from her classmates as the only kid at Walnut Creek Elementary who’s not afraid of school bully Edgar. Though Sadie’s in a different homeroom than her two best friends, the three always sit together at lunch and hang out after class.
DR. GOMEZ, a professor of anthropology, is not thrilled when he finds out that his son, Michael, smuggled two ancient squirrels home from their summer trip to the Dead Sea, but he ends up seeing great value in having them around as original sources for his research. Dad loves his son’s adventurous spirit but wishes Michael would look (or at least peek) before he leaps.
MRS. GOMEZ teaches part-time at her daughter’s preschool and is a full-time mom to Michael and Jane. She feels sorry for the fish-out-of-water squirrels and looks for ways to help them feel at home, including constructing and decorating an over-th
e-top hamster mansion for Merle and Pearl in Michael’s room. She also can’t help but call Michael by her favorite (and his least favorite) nickname, Cookies.
MR. NEMESIS is the Gomez family cat who becomes Merle and Pearl’s true nemesis. Jealous of the time and attention given to the squirrels by his family, Mr. Nemesis is continuously coming up with brilliant and creative ways to get rid of them. He hides his ability to talk from the family, but not the squirrels.
JANE GOMEZ is Michael’s little sister. She’s super adorable but delights in getting her brother busted so she can be known as the “good child.” She thinks Merle and Pearl are the cutest things she has ever seen in her whole life (next to Mr. Nemesis) and is fond of dressing them up in her doll clothes.
So now you’ve heard of the Dead Sea Squirrels, but what about the DEAD SEA Scrolls?
Way back in 1946, just after the end of World War II, in a cave along the banks of the Dead Sea, a 15-year-old boy came across some jars containing ancient scrolls while looking after his goats. When scholars and archaeologists found out about his discovery, the hunt for more scrolls was on! Over the next 10 years, many more scrolls and pieces of scrolls were found in 11 different caves.
There are different theories about exactly who wrote on the scrolls and hid them in the caves. One of the most popular ideas is that they belonged to a group of Jewish priests called Essenes, who lived in the desert because they had been thrown out of Jerusalem. One thing is for sure—the scrolls are very, very old! They were placed in the caves between the years 300 BC and AD 100 !
Forty percent of the words on the scrolls come from the Bible. Parts of every Old Testament book except for the book of Esther have been discovered.
Of the remaining 60 percent, half are religious texts not found in the Bible, and half are historical records about the way people lived 2,000 years ago.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of the most important archaeological finds in history!
About the Author
As co-creator of VeggieTales, co-founder of Big Idea Entertainment, and the voice of the beloved Larry the Cucumber, MIKE NAWROCKI has been dedicated to helping parents pass on biblical values to their kids through storytelling for over two decades. Mike currently serves as Assistant Professor of Film and Animation at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, and makes his home in nearby Franklin with his wife, Lisa, and their two children. The Dead Sea Squirrels is Mike’s first children’s book series.
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