Chapter Two - The Encounter

"My, what a really gorgeous day this is!" Chippy said to himself, a little while later, looking at the bright orange autumn sun with its long black shadows stretching across the crisp ground. "Wonder where that brother of mine is hiding!"
Chippy still had not seen Chimmy, his twin brother, or heard anything from him since the night before and he was beginning to become more and more worried about him. It was already mid morning.
He remembered how he had been named 'Chippy' by his parents, like 'a chip off the old block', and how his brother had been named 'Chimmy', because he was so much bigger and stronger, 'like a chimpanzee'.
"What on earth is that?" he asked himself aloud, suddenly hearing a very loud scraping sound in the distance.
"Chimmy!" he hollered, just as loud as he could.
But no one answered.
"He is probably so busy that he just cannot hear me," decided Chippy, scurrying across the large branch from an old oak tree that had fallen down in front of their home, hiding their doorway. He was so excited that he almost slid off the slippery branch.
"I'll find him now," Chippy concluded, quickly scurrying across the paved walkway through the forest. He stopped for a moment and listened. The scraping sound was getting closer.
"Chimmy must be hiding behind that new fence," Chippy decided, hurriedly scrurrying down the pathway that wound through the wild raspberry bushes. "I could go over the top of the fence, I suppose, but my balance is not that great yet." Chimmy's balance was so much better than Chippy's. He decided to try to find an open area underneath the fence instead.
"Here's one!" he said to himself, ducking down quickly as he went under the fence. "I will just sneak up on him and surprize him!" He could hardly wait to see his brother.
"Well hello there, my little friend!" a big voice boomed, as Chippy suddenly encountered a very large man, nearly face to face. He was on his hands and knees, immediately in front of him, apparently scraping the leaves off the topsoil with a garden tool and planting some spring bulbs along the fence line. "Now who are you? he asked, pleasantly surprized by the sudden appearance of the chipmunk.
Chippy froze, momentarily so stunned that he was not able to reply. He was not certain who had been more startled by the encounter, him or the man.
"Who are you?" Chippy wondered.
Obviously it was not Chimmy!
Chippy was so timid that all he wanted to do was to run. He turned about very quickly and scurried back under the fence, down the pathway, across the paved walkway, up and across the branch and back to the safety of his home.
"Whew! That was close!" he said, wiping his brow and very relieved that he had managed to escape.
"That is probably not what Chimmy would have done," he decided after thinking about the encounter for a while. "I should have asked him if he had seen Chimmy. Maybe I should go back?" he wondered.
But there was no longer the sound of scraping. Chippy knew that it probably was too late. The man would have left by now.
"Oh Chimmy, I wish you were here," he thought to himself. "Where are you?"
But only the wind answered him.