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picked up the frame and examined it.
    “You have a lovely wife, President Kellogg. I’m Alice Carter of Carters’ Urban Rescue. And this is my granddaughter, Keisha. She specializes in small rodents.”
    Why did Grandma say things like that?! Now President Kellogg was looking at her all funny.
    “Thank you,” he said. “Tell me, don’t you wear special clothing to catch wild animals?”
    “Oh, we do. We absolutely do. But we thought it would be best to first ascertain the point of entry and exit. It might help if you explained what happened.”
    “Well …” The president tugged on the lapels of his tweed coat, remembering. “Ms. Pontell was giving me some letters to sign. She noticed it first. ‘Swinging from the chandelier,’ I believe she said. Then I looked up to see it jump to the bookshelf … that’s where it knocked over our portrait. When Ms. Pontell started screaming, it just seemed to disappear behind the books.”
    “Which books, exactly?”
    “Why …” President Kellogg pulled off his glasses and polished them with a handkerchief. He gazed at thefloor. “I believe it was in the Shakespeare section.”
    “I see. Well, we’ll need a ladder to investigate further.”
    Keisha stared at Grandma. Not many people knew, but Grandma Alice was afraid of heights. She would ride at top speed down the sledding hill at Richmond Park or swim out to the sandbar at Millennium Park, but Grandma never climbed to the top of the slide and she never climbed trees, ladders or fences, either. It made her feel woozy.
    “In the meantime, can you give us a description of the squirrel?”
    President Kellogg picked up the phone and asked for someone named Penny in Physical Plant. “Please tell Jim to bring a stepladder to my office,” he instructed.
    “You must be joking, Mrs. Carter,” he said when he’d hung up.
    “Not at all. I’m quite serious. How long was it? What color was it? How bushy was its tail?”
    “I don’t see what difference it makes … isn’t a squirrel a squirrel?”
    Keisha thought asking Grandma that question was like asking a college president,
Isn’t a book a book?
    “President Kellogg, there are several species of squirrels in Michigan: The red and eastern gray squirrels canbe found on both Michigan peninsulas, whereas the southern flying and eastern fox reside only on the Lower Peninsula. Lastly, the northern flying squirrel can be found on the northern Lower Peninsula and entire Upper Peninsula. These squirrel species have a variety of habitats and are important parts of our natural heritage. However, I will limit my remarks to the squirrels I have seen on your campus: the gray, the fox and the red.…”
    Keisha was trying to hide a yawn as Jim came in with the ladder. As soon as she saw him, Keisha guessed he was the same man who’d dropped snow on them the other day, but she couldn’t be sure because this time he wasn’t all bundled up with earflaps on.
    “This is our handyman, Jim Kleinschmidt,” President Kellogg said as Jim set up the ladder.
    “Oh dear, I don’t have my bifocals on. Keisha,” Grandma instructed, “please climb this ladder and tell me what you see.”
    “I can climb it for you,” Jim offered.
    “No thank you.” Grandma put a hand on his shoulder. “Keisha is trained in what to look for.”
    Keisha wondered what training Grandma was talking about. All she knew was that a squirrel could squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter.… Well, Daddy said a little one could.

    She went up the ladder looking for quarter holes.
    “Does our insurance policy cover children?” Keisha heard President Kellogg ask Jim.
    “I’m happy to do it,” Jim answered. “Squirrels don’t bother me. In fact, I like the little fellers.”
    “Don’t under-estimate Keisha,” Grandma said, loudly enough for people in the hall to hear. “She is a trained professional.”
    “At her age?”
    “I’m ten.” Keisha ran her finger along the bookcase. Did they