In The Park

In The Park

She sleeps curled up in her nest, her babies and mate all huddled together for warmth. Tiny drops of morning dew shimmer like diamonds on the tips of her grey-brown fur. She’s the closest to the tree hole’s opening.

Shaking off a shiver, the squirrel stretches and surveys her lair. She sniffs each inhabitant. All are well. She creeps down the tree trunk. Birds chirp in the higher branches, and some are on the ground, foraging for worms, bugs and other edibles.

The squirrel runs to the park’s paved walkway. A small puddle quenches her thirst. She sniffs around; nothing on the ground. Nimble hands allow her to scale the smooth side of a garbage can. It’s empty; only a black plastic liner, still stuck together at the bottom, greets her.

The sounds of clapping car doors and human voices talking fill her with happiness. A family with two tall and three shorter humans walks past her spot. Which one will give her food today? The woman has a rustling bag. Images of spicy chips, chocolate bars and cookies drift through the squirrel’s mind. Feisty, she follows the woman with the tantalizing bag. The man sees her and turns; he points her out to the woman. The whole family stops and stares at her; they laugh. Encouraged, she walks closer to them. They could touch her if they reached down.

The humans laugh and turn away; they keep walking. There is another human, a smaller one. The squirrel quickly runs toward him. He stops briefly and then quickens his pace. The park is filled with humans coming from all sides. They stream towards an opening in the chain link fence. The tall humans will leave; the shorter ones stay behind until the sun is high in the sky, at which point the tall humans will come back to welcome the smaller humans into their arms and drive them away in their loud, smelly cars.

Undaunted by the first rejections, the squirrel keeps running up to humans and begging for food with her twitching nose pointed up to them. Smiles, delighted giggles and an occasional grabbing hand is all she garners. The trickle of humans dries up. The younger ones are inside the fence, the older humans have driven off.

There she is, the one woman who never fails her. She rides up on a bike and searches in her pockets. A chocolate chip cookie comes to light. She laughs and crouches. Silently, she holds out the treat. Not shy, yet cautious, the squirrel inches closer until she swiftly nabs the goody with her teeth. She runs a few steps and takes the cookie in her front paws.

It tastes good. The first bites are hers. But then she remembers her brood up in the tree. A last look to her human benefactor shows that one has already returned to her duties. The gate in the fence gets locked, and the woman pedals away into the schoolyard.

The squirrel carries her prize up into the tree hole. Her hungry kids quickly gnaw the cookie to nothing. Without any humans to leave food behind, the day goes by with lazy naps. When the sun is high in the sky, the activity returns to the park, and it stays crowded and busy for a while after the last bell.

By dusk the humans have left. Now the young receive a lesson in foraging. The garbage bins are filled with leftovers. Oreos, still intact – only without the white paste – cling in a delicious clump on the side of the bag. Dinner is served.

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