Sherry and Gary continued with their gymnastics all through the day and late into the evening. Jerry wasn't sure how Sherry could manage to jump and roll and bounce around the apartment at her age. Jerry wondered how someone who used a cane could move like that!

But Sherry wasn't the biggest worry. Gary jumped and rolled and bounced just like Jerry would have expected someone of his size to jump and roll and bounce. He did it loudly.

By the time they finished, it was late in the day. Jerry was quite tired and quite ready for bed. He crawled under his sheets and closed his eyes. Everything was quiet, and he was sure he would be sound asleep in no time.

That's when it started.

A roar sounded and echoed across Erry-ville. Jerry ran out of his house and stood on the road, looking all around. He feared they were under attack.

He wondered if Kenny the Dragon had arrived. Kenny was usually such a nice guy, but he could get grumpy if he had a head cold. Maybe Hat Squirrel had upset him again, and Kenny was here for revenge.

The roar sounded again, and the very trees around Jerry's home shook.

Again and again, the roar echoed through the trees. Jerry turned this way and that and ran every which way he could. He ran up and down the streets looking for the source of the sound. He didn't really want to face Kenny or any creature that could make that noise, but he knew if they were under attack, he had to do something.

Finally, he stopped and decided to use his brain a little bit. He listened to the roar as it continued, over and over again. He turned in the direction of the roar and slowly started to make his way toward it. He moved slowly so he wouldn't lose his direction and walk away from the sound again.

As he walked, the sound grew louder, and he was surprised to come upon his home. He realized the sound must be coming from behind his house, so he ran around back. When he arrived at the back of the house, there was nothing there to cause such a roar.

He stopped again and turned around with fear in his heart. He finally knew what was going on and it was far worse than he could have imagined. He would almost prefer an attack by Kenny. He would prefer to be under attack by the frog creatures of the Aron Mountains. He would prefer to be in a one on one battle with a full-sized Bodal warrior. He would prefer just about anything to the truth of what was going on.

It was Gary. He knew it must be Gary. Gary was a snorer. Not just any snorer, but Gary was a powerful snorer. He sounded as if Kenny the Dragon was actually stuck up his nose and desperately trying to get out.

Jerry walked back into his house feeling very sorry for himself. He feared he would never sleep again.

The next morning, Jerry woke up. That in itself was a good sign. It meant he had in fact fallen asleep at some point.

The upsetting part of waking up, however, was how he woke up. It wasn't the sun shining through his window or the sound of birds chirping. It wasn't the smell of pancakes or coffee brewing in the kitchen. It wasn't anything which might cause him to gently wake up.

It was, sadly, Gary. It turned out Gary played the trumpet.

When Gary started playing the trumpet, it scared Jerry so much he leapt out of his bed and found himself clinging with all his strength to one of the beams on the ceiling. He looked around again like he was under attack, but as he looked over at the window, he could see the belly of a very large Squirrel.

Jerry let himself down and walked to the window. He opened it up and leaned out.

"Hi, Jerry! I'm Gary. I live here in your upstairs apartment," Gary said with a big smile. He then reached out and pulled Jerry right through the window and gave him a big hug. "Thanks for being such a good friend."

"Um, you're welcome, Gary. Why are you playing the trumpet so early in the morning?"

"Oh, I'm glad you asked! I play it in the morning because it would be rude to play it at nighttime while everyone is trying to sleep. That's a time when you should be quiet," Gary explained.

"Yes, I believe you're right about that," Jerry said.

Jerry hung there in the air. Gary seemed to have forgotten that he was still hugging Jerry and showed no sign of ending the hug anytime soon.

"Do you think maybe the afternoon might be a better time to play the trumpet? It doesn't have to be very early in the morning," Jerry asked.

"Oh, I don't mind playing in the morning, but thanks for asking," Gary replied before dropping Jerry and going back to his playing.

By this time, Sherry had managed to come down the stairs. She was holding a bag full of nuts out to Jerry. "This isn't quite the full month's rent, but I wanted to give you a little bit now. I'll be getting the rest to you tomorrow, dear," she said sweetly. "Thank you again for such a wonderful apartment. We love it so much. I think, though, you should get those floors looked at. I don't think they are as strong as you thought. You probably shouldn't have recommended we practice gymnastics."

"I didn't," Jerry explained. "Where did you learn gymnastics anyway?"

"Oh, sweetie, I learned gymnastics as part of my training for being a gladiator when I was a little younger."

Jerry didn't think that was a thing. Squirrels didn't train to be gladiators, did they? He looked to see if she was joking, but she just continued to smile sweetly back at him.

Jerry noticed she was also carrying a plate of cookies which she then handed to him. "Here you go, dear. These are for you."

Jerry felt them, and they were warm. He looked at her with suspicion. "Did you sit on these to make them warm?"

"What? Oh no, dear, of course not. I don't sit on cookies unless I have to. Go ahead and eat them."

Jerry did, and they were fantastic. He was really having a hard time knowing how to respond to these two. They were so loud, but they were both so nice. Not only that, but he loved the cookies she kept giving him.

When he had finished, he handed the empty plate back to her. "Thanks, Sherry, they were really tasty."

"You're welcome, dear. Gary was so pleased to be able to warm them up for you this morning. He sat on them for an hour before coming down to wake you up with his beautiful song." Sherry smiled again at Jerry.

Jerry's stomach began to turn and then his ears began to hurt as Gary started to play his trumpet again. The new song he was playing was a rendition of a single note being played over and over again.

Jerry had an idea. Jerry had a great idea. Jerry smiled as he realized he was about to invent something.

He ran into his house and got right to work. He sat at his desk and grabbed a piece of paper. He usually started by drawing out his plan. He found that was the best way to go. Inventing with a plan drawn out ahead of time allowed him to keep in mind where he was going with his invention. It also helped to remind him what he was inventing if he ever started to daydream.

He finished his drawing and held it up so he could see it. The invention looked good. He had all the supplies sitting out before him, and he was sure he could finish it in no time.

He set himself to work at assembling his invention. Every now and then he had to check to make sure it was the right size or the right weight. He had to experiment with it to make sure it worked just as he wanted it to.

In the end, it only took him a few hours to put it all together, but he was done. Jerry had invented a set of earplugs which would keep all the annoying sounds such as trumpets, snoring and gymnastics out of his head, but would allow all the good sounds such as birds chirping or the sound of gentle winds blowing through the trees to come through. He named his invention, "Peace."

As he stood up from his desk, he looked out the window and was surprised to see that it was dark outside. He had been working all day, and it was time for bed.

The roar began. Gary had obviously fallen asleep.

Jerry smiled to himself and wandered over to his bed. He lay down with his head back against the pillow and listened to Gary's snore for a moment before he raised the earplugs up to his head and put them in.

Instantly the snore was gone. Jerry was so surprised with how well they worked that he thought maybe Gary had actually stopped snoring. He pulled the earplugs from his ears and sure enough, Gary was still snoring.

Jerry put the plugs back in, and the horrible sound disappeared. All he could hear was the sound of a gentle breeze outside, rustling the leaves and the occasional cricket chirp, sounding out through the nighttime air. The earplugs worked. He could hear only peace.

The next morning he opened his eyes, feeling well rested and happy. The only sounds he could hear were, again, the normal sounds. Birds were chirping, the wind was blowing gently through the trees, and the gentle sound of raindrops falling through the leaves and on the roof of his house could be heard.

It was a great morning and a great way to wake up. Jerry sat up and pulled the earplugs out of his ears. He didn't realize until that moment that Gary was playing his trumpet right outside Jerry's bedroom window! The sound hit Jerry so hard he rolled off the side of his bed and crawled under the bed to hide before he realized he was in no danger.

Gary's song this morning consisted of two notes: a very high note and a very low note. He would play one, then the other. He would then start back at the beginning and play the one note, then the other. Jerry quickly put his earplugs back in and went about his business.

He grabbed some breakfast and stepped outside. It was raining, but Arestanian Squirrels do not mind the rain. Rain helped to keep the Squirrels clean, and they enjoyed playing in the mud.

As Jerry walked down the road, he continued to enjoy the peaceful sounds of the rain slowly coming down as well as the wind gently blowing through the trees. This was a good day.

He noticed as well that the plugs seemed to be filtering out some of what the other Squirrels were saying. Larry walked by and said, "Good morning, Jerry." Jerry heard him loud and clear. As he walked by Mary's house, he noticed she had her hands on her hips, and her mouth was moving very fast. She looked like she was scolding someone and she was looking at Jerry. Jerry figured he was probably the one she was scolding, but he couldn't hear a word she said. The earplugs worked perfectly! He smiled at her, nodded and walked on.

As he walked along with the rain pouring down on his head, he suddenly had a sharp pain in both ears. It was as if the earplugs had short-circuited and shocked him. He reached up, rubbed around his ears and adjusted the plugs a little bit. His ears felt fine, and he could still hear the pleasant sound of the gentle rain and the breeze slowly blowing through the trees. Now and then a bird would chirp, and he felt so relaxed.

Jerry continued his walk around the town but noticed people around him were not acting the way they normally acted. He found he couldn't hear any of them. He was fine with this as he felt they would only say something irritating, but thought he should be careful as they appeared to be running around in a panic.

Something deep inside him told him that he should take out the earplugs to see what was going on. He wondered if perhaps they needed help and he could solve their problem. He wondered if maybe Erry-Ville was in danger or if there was a catastrophe happening at that very moment.

He then began to notice that some of the Squirrels were running around with their hands covering their ears and had a look of pain on their faces. He realized immediately what the problem must be. Gary must be taking a nap, and everyone was suffering from the sound of his snoring. It was pretty loud.

He noticed Harry and Kerri run by. They looked like they were in agony. He noticed Larry and Barry run by. They looked like they were looking for a place to hide. He saw Hat Squirrel off in the distance. He appeared to be wrapping leaves around his ears and trying to pull the hat down, so it covered his whole head.

He was thinking Gary's snoring must be especially bad today when he noticed Sherry standing at the end of the road. She was in tears and in her arms was a giant Squirrel. It was Gary. He was weeping, and Sherry was holding him, cradling him like he was a baby.

It was an odd sight. Sherry was such a tiny Squirrel and quite elderly. Gary, her son, was a massive Squirrel. The fact that she could lift him at all and cradle him in her arms at all was impressive! It was also a little disturbing to see such a huge Squirrel crying like a baby.

As odd as this was, it did tell Jerry one thing. Gary was not the reason everyone was running in fear.

It was time to find out what was going on. Jerry pulled out his earplugs and immediately put them back in. The noise was terrible. In that short second, while his earplugs were out of his ears, he thought he heard every sound ever made in Erry-Ville ever since the beginning of time, all at once and all very loud.

He slowly pulled them out again. He had to figure out what was going on.

The sound was loud, but through the noise, he could start to make out what kinds of sounds he was hearing. He was, in fact, hearing loud snoring. This was strange as it sounded like Gary, but Gary was crying in his mother's arms.

He could also hear Gary playing the trumpet. Again, this didn't make sense. He could also hear Mary screaming something about her garden and how Jerry was getting too close to her poison ivy or some such plant. Jerry had never paid too much attention to plant life. What was really strange about that was Mary was standing on her front lawn, just a short distance away. She had her hands over her ears, and her lips were pressed tightly together. She was not screaming at anyone.

Jerry could also hear Hat Squirrel yelling orders to everyone to stop making so much noise. He kept saying, "I'm Hat Squirrel! I'm in charge here! This noise must stop!" Hat Squirrel, however, by this point, had curled himself up in a little ball on the ground. He wasn't speaking or moving or doing anything for that matter. He was just lying there.

The sound was hurting Jerry's ears, and he knew he had to put a stop to it really soon. He wanted to put the earplugs back in, but then he knew he would not be able to find the source of the sound.

He started to run. He figured he would run till the sound grew louder and then he would know he was getting close to it. If it grew quieter, he would know he was getting farther away.

He ran and ran and ran. He ran up one street and down another. He ran into his house and out again. He even ran across Mary's lawn. He didn't think he needed to do that, but she didn't seem to be paying attention, and he wanted to see what it was like. It turned out it was no different than anyone else's lawn.

He decided to stop and think, so he came to a halt. He put the earplugs back in, and the sound died out immediately. He concentrated.

He realized the sounds he had been hearing were all the sounds the Squirrels had been making in the last number of hours. It obviously included the nighttime because one of the sounds was Gary and his snoring. It also included the sound of Mary scolding him and many Squirrels talking. It included all those sounds, but just very loud.

He also started to think that the sound was the same volume everywhere he went. That was strange. He knew there must be a reason for that because sound didn't normally act that way. It would normally be loud at the source and quieter the farther away you would run from it.

That's when he started to realize the problem. The source of the sound was following him.

He looked down at his body. He was just wearing his normal fur that he wore every day. His glasses couldn't make that kind of sound. Nothing was different about him today except for one thing—his earplugs.

He pulled them off and cringed at the sound. It was just as loud and just as annoying as it had been the last time he took them off.

As he looked closely at them, he could see they were sparking a little bit. The rain was causing the earplugs to short circuit! Somehow, it was taking all the sounds it was filtering out for Jerry and loudly broadcasting them out across the entire village of Erry-Ville!

He didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't keep them, but then he didn't want to have to listen to Gary snoring every night and playing the trumpet every morning! He had to figure out what to do!

A shadow passed over him, and he looked up to see Gary standing there. He had tears in his eyes. "Jerry? What's making that loud noise? It's hurting my ears? Can you fix it?"

With that, Gary burped. Not just any burp, but a loud one. Not just any loud burp, but a burp so loud it was a burp to end all burps.

The burp continued, and Jerry could feel the wind from it pass over him and blow his fur back. He felt himself slip a little bit in the mud and tried to dig his claws into the ground to keep himself in one place. The burp continued to blast in his direction, and Jerry realized the volume was louder than Gary's snoring and trumpet playing combined. The smell, too, was horrible. Liam thought he could smell just about every meal Gary had ever eaten... all at once. The burp didn't seem to be capable of coming to an end. It was as if it had a life of its own or it had simply forgotten how to stop.

When the burp finally ended, Jerry wondered to himself how much time had passed. He briefly considered looking down at his fur to see if he had gone gray during that time, but realized that much time couldn't have passed. At most, it could have been a day.

"I'm sorry, Jerry. Sometimes I burp when I'm upset," Gary explained, looking a little embarrassed. "Hey, it's quiet again!"

Jerry realized it was. The earplugs were silent. They were no longer broadcasting every sound at a high volume. Maybe Gary's burp had fixed it.

Jerry looked down at the earplugs. The earplugs were sparking and shaking. At first, Jerry wasn't sure what to make of it, but then his heart went cold. The earplugs were still broadcasting all the sounds, they just weren't prepared for Gary's burp. They were processing the volume and the pitch and preparing to let loose!

When it started, the ground itself shook. The ground was wet and muddy, and Jerry feared a mudslide would begin because of the volume of the belch. Both Jerry and Gary were knocked over by the sheer force of the sound the earplugs were blasting out. It was Gary's burp, just a hundred times louder.

Jerry knew what he had to do. He had to destroy the earplugs. If he didn't, he wasn't sure any of them would survive. In the blast of sound, Jerry had dropped the earplugs. He could see them in the mud where he had been standing before the mega-belch had begun to broadcast.

He grabbed hold of a root sticking up out of the ground to keep himself in place. He looked around and saw that in the massive sound being produced by his earplugs, Squirrels had begun to fly through the air. The sound was blowing Squirrels off into the distance. Even Gary was rolling away.

Jerry was their last hope. He had to make it to the earplugs if they were ever to live in Erry-Ville again.

He pulled himself forward, forcing himself to move against the rush of sound and wind flowing from the Mega-Belch. He was almost there. Only a few more inches and he would be near the earplugs. With one last pull on the root, he was there. He grabbed hold of the earplugs. They were shaking, and somehow they continued to broadcast such a terrible sound.

Jerry looked around for a rock or something to use to smash the earplugs in the hopes of putting an end to their reign of terror. There was nothing. Because of the rain, the ground was all soft and muddy.

There had to be some way to stop the sound. He looked down at them in the hopes of finding a way to destroy them with his bare hands. He squeezed and pulled and twisted as the Mega-Belch continued, but he could not break them.

He was about to give up and run for cover when he noticed something on the side of one of the earplugs. There was a tiny switch. He remembered something about installing a switch, but he could not remember what it was for.

He looked at the tiny words by the tiny switch. One side read, "Filter Normal." That made sense. The other side, the side that it was currently switched to read, "Filter and Broadcast." Jerry couldn't remember installing that feature but thought he would try it out. He switched the earplugs from "Filter and Broadcast" to "Filter Normal."

The Mega-Belch stopped. It all stopped. All the sound. All except the normal, peaceful sounds of the gentle rain and the wind gently blowing through the trees. He realized that he must have accidentally switched it from one setting to another without noticing while he was out for his walk in the rain.

He looked around and saw no one else. The blast from the Mega-Belch must have blown them far away.

Hat Squirrel was going to be mad. Hat Squirrel was going to be very mad. Jerry realized everyone would be very mad. He really didn't want to face them after this.

At first, he wasn't sure what to do, but then he had an idea. He realized they probably didn't know the earplugs were the source of the sound. They probably didn't even know there were earplugs.

Jerry quickly ran back to his house and dropped the earplugs on the desk, making sure the setting was still where it should be. He then ran out into the streets and off into the woods. When he noticed a group of Squirrels wandering back toward the village, he ran quietly around a tree and joined up with them.

Larry was up front, talking as he made his way back to the village. "That was quite the burp! I'm sure whoever burped like that must have a sore throat now. I hope everyone's okay."

He noticed Jerry. "Hey Jerry," Larry said. "I see you survived the burp too."

Jerry looked at Larry for a moment before replying. "Yup. Terrible thing, that burp. Noisy day, for sure."

I hope you enjoyed this seventh part of this series of stories on Jerry the Squirrel. Keep your eye out for more (there are 10 in this series, plus a chapter from another book).

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