Photography & A Story: Martin the Squirrel’s Debut

 

“Oh, she’s at it again!” Martin exclaims.  I have seen her often, peeking out between the blinds or out of an open window.  She is always there, pointing her camera in my direction.  I’m not exactly sure why she is so interested in me.  Maybe she believes I am someone famous.  She is sadly mistaken.  I’m just an ordinary fox squirrel, surely she has seen one or two before in her lifetime.  However, each and every day – there she is, taking pictures of my antics.  I just hope my wife never sees them!  I have to admit, though, her presence does make me smile.  I’m a sucker for attention!

 

I’ve thought about it and I do believe I like her.  I mean, what’s there not to like?  She and her kids are pretty good to me.  Sometimes they give me fruit or nuts.  Other times, they just press their noses against the window and stare, but they have never harmed me.  At first, I was skittish around them, but they have gained my trust.  Even yesterday, when children in another backyard were throwing rocks at me, her children became rather upset in my defense.  I think the littlest one even shed a tear and raised his fist.  Of course, they did not say anything to the other children, they are a little too shy, but I did see sadness in their eyes.  To me, it does not matter that the other children did not see it.  What matters is what I know.

 

To reward them for their kindness, I quickly ran to their backyard and chased my tail in the grass.  Then, I ran across the top of the backyard fence.  Oh, how agile I am!  The littlest one just stared at me in awe.  Yes, I am that amazing, but I digress.  I find their backyard as safe as my own home and I pretty much spend all my day there.  I save many of my scavenged nuts in their back yard.  They often find me in their backyard in the middle of winter, digging beneath the snow trying to find my treasure.  Sad thing is, I’m always forgetting where I put them!

 

It’s more fun to watch those kids in winter.  When they press their noses to the windows, their breath steams their view.  I often use that as an opportunity to hide.  Then I watch them quickly rush to clean the window with their shirt or some other piece of clothing that is usually draped casually across the top of the couch.  The youngest one is a curious fellow.  I’ve even seen him use his sock once!  What’s so funny about it is their mom’s reaction.  If she sees them wiping clothes across the window, she always asks the kids if they are crazy.  So yes, I do have a lot of fun at their expense!

 

Anyway, the lady of the house told me that someday I might be famous.  Of course, she told me while she was snapping photos of me cleaning myself.  I mean, don’t I get a little privacy?  I’m assuming she told me that so I would stay.  I was not thrilled.  I mean, what does fame do for a squirrel anyway?  I thought about it and decided that if fame brought me a pile of nuts in her backyard, I might be inclined to pose… So yeah, I bowed to her wishes and let her take as many pictures as she wanted.  Any of the serious stuff I hid from her view because I’m just that kind of guy… bashful.  No peeking!

 

She says someday she will write about me, and I do hope that is true.  It would be pretty nice to be remembered somehow.  Most often, we fox squirrels live our lives being mostly overlooked.  Some say we are pests and others just ignore us entirely.  I do have to admit she warms my heart by remembering me.  There’s not a day that goes by that I do see her searching out her window for me.

 

Perhaps someday, I can read those stories to my children or maybe someday she will publish my biography for Squirrel Magazine.  Oh, what would Harold that stuck-up fox squirrel think!  I can’t help but imagine it.  “Hey Harold,” I would call, “Have you seen the latest cover of GSquirrel Magazine?”  Either way, I’m happy to help… just pass the nuts and I’ll keep the stories coming.

 

© 2017 Martin the Fox Squirrel c/o Sumyanna