The Squirrel Nurser
Steve and Lola are looking out the kitchen’s east window. Staccato tails twitch back and forth in tandem – something is definitely up. I figure it’s our resident chipmunk taunting them from below the window.
“What’s going on guys?” I ask, giving them both a scritch behind their ears before looking down.
My hand cames up to my mouth. Not a taunting chipmunk. A dead squirrel. A dead little squirrel. Flat upon our gravel driveway.
“Oh no,” I say.
“What? What is it?” David asks from the loveseat.
“There’s a dead squirrel outside.”
“Oh.”
We allow a silent moment of commiseration to make its way through the room. I look back out the window.
“WOAH!”
“What?”
“Not dead. It’s not dead!” I watch as the supposedly flattened squirrel struggles up before lurching to drag itself under our Honda Civic. “Oh, buddy. Not there. Don’t go under the car. It’s not going to be safe under the car.”
“Leave it be,” says David. “Heather, do not touch that squirrel.” (One episode with feral kittens and subsequent rabies shots and I’m no longer given a lot of leeway with wild animals.)
“I won’t. Its mother might be around.”
I wait. I wait an entire 17 minutes before I go out and lie on the driveway, feeling the gravel leave its imprint on my stomach. Squinting, I can see the squirrel tucked in by the front right tire. It is still, not making a sound. If it is dead I’m going to have to move it so that we don’t inadvertently squish its little squirrelly corpse. I shudder at the thought. I look around. No mother squirrel anywhere. Our driveway is not close to any real foliage – no overhanging branches – just three car lengths of gravel. 100 feet to the south, the bottom of the yard has trees and then 100 feet to the north there are more trees.
I go back inside. I sit. I try to read. I play Scrabble on Facebook, comment on some posts before I walk nonchalantly towards the dishtowel drawer.
“Don’t you even think about it,” says David.
“If it is dead, I don’t want it to get squished.”
“If it’s alive, you’re going to get bitten.”
Temporarily deaf, I grab a tea towel and head back outside. The squirrel has crawled out from under the car and is again lying flat on the driveway. It doesn’t even twitch as I approach. Using the dishtowel as a makeshift glove I scoop up the squirrel. It barely struggles. I cradle the towel against my chest. This is bad. Wild animals don’t like to be touched – it’s letting me touch it. This sucker is going to die and I’m going to see it happen.
“Uhhhhh… David? Can you, uh… would you grab another towel and maybe the cushions from the storage unit?”
David sticks his head outside, takes one look and rolls his eyes. He then disappears for a moment before coming back with a hand towel from the 1/2 bath. He’s shaking his head as he pulls the outdoor cushions out and places them on the outdoor sofa. I very gently wrap the second towel around the first one and lower myself onto the sofa. The squirrel doesn’t move. I open the tea towel and look down.
“What?”