The Swap Meet Incident at Old Oak Market GroundsPart 2: The Squirrel Audit

The Swap Meet Incident at Old Oak Market Grounds

Part 2: The Squirrel Audit

The following Saturday, the argument resumed exactly where it had left off.

The sparrow had expanded his inventory.

There were now more twigs.

More bottle caps.

And several acorns.

The seller stood proudly behind the table.

"Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!"

The customer was already waiting.

"Expensive! Expensive! Expensive!"

The crowd gathered.

Again.

Nobody had learned anything.

Then a squirrel arrived.

At first, nobody paid much attention.

The squirrel walked past the stall.

Stopped.

Backed up.

Looked at the table.

Looked closer.

Then closer still.

The squirrel picked up an acorn.

Turned it over.

Sniffed it.

His eyes widened.

He picked up another.

Then another.

Then the bottle cap.

Then the twig.

Then the mysterious object.

The squirrel became visibly upset.

"Wait a minute."

The market went quiet.

The squirrel pointed at the table.

"I buried this."

Nobody moved.

The squirrel grabbed another acorn.

"I buried this too."

Another.

"And this."

Another.

"And this!"

The seller shifted nervously.

The squirrel scanned the entire table.

His tail puffed up.

"That's my winter stash!"

The crowd gasped.

The sparrow immediately defended himself.

"Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!"

The customer responded automatically.

"Expensive! Expensive! Expensive!"

The squirrel threw his paws into the air.

"All of you are nuts!"

The crowd nodded.

That seemed fair.

The squirrel pointed toward the forest floor.

"You know what's really crazy?"

The market leaned in.

The squirrel stomped on the ground.

"You can get all of this for free if you just look down below!"

Silence.

The birds stared at the ground.

The squirrel stared at the birds.

One robin finally spoke.

"That sounds like a lot of work."

Several birds nodded in agreement.

The squirrel was speechless.

The sparrow immediately raised the prices again.

And somehow...

sales increased.

The squirrel has not returned to the swap meet since.

However, market records show a sharp increase in birds searching the ground for merchandise.

Experts are now calling it:

The trickle-down acorn economy.