37

Revver was on his back, looking up at the sky. The sun was shining behind a large person, who looked down at him. The person’s face was in shadow. All Revver could see were the bright sun-rays all around them. Oh no, he thought, I must be dead. He squinted and tried to focus.

The figure spoke back. “You’re awake! Hey, little dude, that was quite a show you put on earlier! That was some fast, fancy action back there, that’s ferrrr sure! I gotta tell ya, though, none of us were certain you made it through. Sure took me a while to find you here, little buddy!”

Revver looked up, still confused. It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t dead. He was lying on a patch of grass in the infield, and it was Bill talking to him.

The squirrel’s head felt heavy. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, that he was choking. In panic, he sat up, inhaled, and coughed hard . . .

And out popped—One. Yellow. Lug nut.

Bill jumped back in surprise. “Whoa! Dude! I told you before! You have GOT to stop trying to eat those!” Bill started laughing and shaking his head.

Revver sighed, exhausted, and let his head drop back on the ground.

Bill looked into Revver’s dull black eyes and saw his little mouth and whiskers pointing down, and Bill knew exactly what Revver was thinking. Bill’s own heart nearly broke when he realized it.

“Hey, buddy, you’re a hero!” Bill continued. “No one’s mad atcha, not even Jack! You saved ol’ Jack’s life back there! And you’ll never believe it: we won today! Revver! You helped us win!!! Jack’s come to thinking that you’re some kind of good luck charm for us! Dude, we’re sure not gettin’ rid of ya anytime soon! You wanna come back to the team, right?”

The sadness started to leave Revver’s face.

“Hey, buddy, it’s all fine! You got a little carried away in the garage, that’s all. I understand.”

I understand. Those words echoed around in Revver’s head, over and over. For Revver’s whole life, he’d longed for someone to understand. Now he had Sprite’s blessing. And he had Bill. Some things were even more important than being fast or winning.

Revver looked into Bill’s face and blinked. A sparkle began to return to the squirrel’s small black eyes.

“Tell you what, little Revver: we’re getting packed up and ready to head out after a while. ‘Another place, another race’ next weekend, ya know. I’m pretty sure we can find room for you if you wanna come along with the team. You can rest up a bit. And when you’re ready, you can get back to helping out in the garage. And ol’ Jack thinks you should be our spotter from the pits on race days—you know, to keep an eye on things. After all, it wouldn’t be right to leave one of our own behind after all you did for us.”

Revver felt the big knot inside start to disappear.

“Oh, and hey,” Bill went on. “Since it seems like you have a hankering for speed, I suppose we can sneak you a ride in the car once in a while—you know, so you stay out of trouble in the garage?” Bill winked.

Revver sat up.

“You sure are somethin’, little Revver. So, whaddaya say? You wanna join the crew?”

Revver was excited by the idea! But then he thought harder. I’d be leaving. I’d be going far, far away—from Mama and my brothers . . . ​and from Sprite.

Revver put his head back on the ground and closed his eyes. He dug through his brain burrow to see if there was anything in there that could help him. Finally, he found it: Everything is connected to everything else.

He thought hard about this. He thought about how he’d loved racing and cars before he could remember anything else. He remembered the dream and hearing Sprite calling for help. He thought hard about his family. He thought about Sprite and how she knew he was happy. We’ll always be connected, he thought. I’m connected to racing, but I’m connected to my family, too. Being apart doesn’t change anything. Almost as if Sprite were standing right in front of him, Revver clearly heard her voice: You HAVE to go. It’s your dream. You can’t give up your dream. Be brave.

Revver jumped to his feet and began chattering. “I’d LOVE to be part of the team! No one in my family ever understood how much I love cars and racing and going fast—but you, YOU and the rest of the crew, you are like me. You understand.” Revver went on. “So do you think the team might be able to get a matching fire suit to fit me? Does anyone make very tiny tools? And I was thinking that I could use a five-point harness, you know, for safety. Or maybe . . .” But Revver stopped when he saw Bill’s expression, and remembered that Bill could not understand one word of Squirrel.

Revver steadied himself with both feet, clenched his fists, inhaled deeply, and said, “Vr-vr-vr-VRRROOOOM!”

Bill laughed. “Yep. You sure are somethin’, little guy. I’m gonna assume that’s a yes.”

Revver nodded, better than any squirrel had ever nodded, ever: a very, VERY human nod.

Bill laughed again and picked Revver up from the ground. He placed Revver on his shoulder, and Revver held on tightly as they walked away. “So, buddy, I gotta ask you,” Bill said. He kept walking as he looked up at Revver. “Was that you who broke the toilet and flooded the place?”

Revver hesitated. Then he gave one very SMALL nod, admitting what he’d done.

Bill shook his head and laughed. “Okay, bud, I’ll tell you what. We’ll keep that between us. I convinced Jack that was just a coincidence. But you gotta promise me that won’t happen again, okay? You made a heck of an awful mess. Toilets are not toys. Got it?”

Revver thought about the white machine with the water that he now knew had the name “toilet.” He nodded. Then Revver wrote a note for his brain burrow, Toilets are not toys, and he filed the idea safely away.

They headed toward the infield garage to pack up and head out for the next track. Revver’s adventures were just beginning.

In the surrounding trees, Revver’s mother, brothers, and sister had watched it all through their own acorn binoculars.

“Brothers.” Sprite sighed—sad to see Revver leaving but mostly very happy. Sprite was, after all, a lot stronger than she looked.

Mama, Bounce, Farty, Sprite, and Revver were all smiling—as best as squirrels can smile. Finally, after a long while, the whole family went back to their very squirrelly activities . . . gathering nuts, bouncing, and swinging through the trees.

All except one.