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This is a story of two southern families. Families like you would find anywhere you decided to look, really. And, it is just a small spot, out in the woods of North Carolina covering about an acre, where these things played out. Just one medium size hill separates these two families. As long as everyone stays on his or her side of the hill, everything was fine but if you crossed that line, watch out! Sort of.
It is early spring and the little ones are at play while the others carry on with this business of staying alive. This was a full time job out in the woods around here. There are a lot of hunters in this area. No one knows much about them except that you had to try to stay out of sight when they are around. You try to stay on the backside of the tree when they come. If you are caught on the wrong side, you should freeze and try to blend in. All squirrels knew these things. And you have to watch out from above for all those big birds up there. Yeah, you really had to watch them.

You see, the stories still float around like ghost from the past. However, it is not the past; the stories around here say, "They eat us." No little gray squirrel around here had ever seen such a thing but never the less, squirrel's talk and the talk is some squirrel has seen it. Some squirrel from another gully way down stream from here says he watched as the hunter prepared the squirrel and then cooked it and ate it. I do not know about you but I get a little squirrelly every time I hear that story.

Romy Hatfield was growing up. Last spring he was just a young kid but this year, things are different. Romy is ready to start helping out the clan. Everyone does all they can for the family and he was no different. Well, maybe he is a little different; he had other things on his mind besides just helping the family. He would gather his share of the nuts. He would stand his time at the guard position and watch for hunters and hawks. He would do his part in the feud that was just a way of life to him. Yes, he would do all these things and he would do them well because that's how he does it man, thats how he rolls, but his young mind is somewhere else.

Julie McCoy was coming of age. Last year she was just the acorn of her daddy's eye and that was all she wanted to be but now things are different. Now she is expected to carry her load of the chores that all the lady squirrels carry. To Julie, she believes the women work way to hard almost as if they are being cheated. However,

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