Phil stretched and yawned. There was a lot of noise outside his burrow. What was happening?​

Phil heard shouts. ”Wake up, Phil!” someone said.​​

“What?” thought Phil. “Was it that day already?” Phil checked the calendar. It was that day. It was February 2nd. Groundhog Day.​​

Every year on February 2nd, the people up above shouted down for Phil to wake up. Every year he had to take off his sleeping cap and climb up out of his hole. Every year he had to tell them if spring was coming or not. ​

​The truth was, Phil had no idea if spring was coming. He was usually tired and just wanted to get back to sleep. But if he didn’t see anything dark looming around, he would crawl out of his hole and explore for a while. This seemed to make people happy. ​

Sometimes there was something dark and looming. Phil wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t want to stick around to find out. If he saw the dark, looming thing, he would turn right around and go back in his hole. People thought this meant it would be a late spring.​

Phil wondered what would happen this year. He dutifully took off his sleeping cap and started the climb to the surface. He hoped the dark thing wouldn’t be there.​

Uh-oh. As soon as Phil poked his head above ground, he saw it. The dark, looming thing! Phil turned around and ran right back down his hole. ​

“Phil saw his shadow!” someone shouted. “Late spring, I guess,” someone else said. ​

Phil didn’t know if it would be a late spring. But he did know that he had no interest in dark, looming things. His bed was much more interesting. ​

Phil put his sleeping cap back on. He climbed into bed. Goodnight, Phil!