a_black_letter tt one morning in winter, the squirrel received a letter. it was a black letter. he'd never seen a letter like this before. he frowned as he read. "this is a somber statement. everything is going wrong." that's all it said. there was no mention of a sender. it didn't even say at the top that it was to the squirrel. the squirrel sat down in his chair. he knew the wind never made a mistake when delivering the letters. he read the letter a few more time, but each time he understood it less. he put on his thick coat and went to see the ant. it was snowing and the woods were groaning with frost. shivering, the squirrel knocked on the ant's door and showed him the letter. "yes," said the ant. "that is a somber statement." "what does it mean,'going wrong'?" asked the squirrel. "going wrong..." said the ant, scratching his head. "well..." he tried to explain to the squirrel what "going wrong" was. it turned into a long and complicated story and by the time the ant had finished, the squirrel felt as if he had a heavy rock pressing down on his back. but still had no idea what "going wrong" was. "let's have something sweet to drink," said the ant. "while we still can." "while we still can?" asked the squirrel in amazement. he didn't understand what the ant meant by that at all. "yes," said the ant. "that's what they say." "oh," said the squirrel. the squirrel and the ant sat in silence as they drank something sweet. outside, the wind whistled through the trees. as evening fell, the ant said, "you should be going, squirrel." "yes," said the squirrel. he walked home through the dark woods. "i'll go home while i still can," he thought. it was a strange, dark thought. that evening, he sat by his window for hours. "now i'm sure to be dejected," he thought, as he looked out into the darkness. late that night, his door suddenly blew open and a letter flew in. it was in an envelope that was frozen stiff and covered in snow. the squirrel wiped the snow off the letter, tore it open, and read: "this is a cheerful statement. everything is going right after all." it was a peculiar letter. the squirrel climbed on the table and said to himself. "now i'm the elephant." he swung back and forth on the lamp, until he and the lamp fell to the ground. "it doesn't matter, really!" he called out to everything that had broken. 130208 what's it to you? who go blather from