September 22, 2026
There is a very industrious young squirrel who darts all over my yard and I have named him Junior. I don’t know if that is his name or if he is even a male, but I never was one for gender markers anyway. But since I am about to anthropomorphize him I can call him whatever I like.
I keep an eye on him from my office window. When I need to take a break from writing, which happens frequently, I like to watch him go about his business.
He doesn’t bother anyone. Like me, he’s a bit reclusive. And like me, he has devoted himself to surviving. He puts food in his belly, has a tree somewhere to sleep at night and literally lives hand-to-mouth, or in his case, paw-to-mouth.
I’m pretty sure he lives alone. Who knows? Maybe he’s just difficult to get along with. Or perhaps he thinks too much and doesn’t like to be distracted. Personally, I think Junior is female and single, but she started out as male in this story and I guess I’ll just have to live with it.
Yesterday, Junior was outside my office window again, when I noticed him looking at me. I thought I was imagining it until he offered me some of what he was eating.
“Whatcha got there, Junior?”
He jumped up on the window ledge, and I swear to God, he smiled at me. “Some really nice grass with a little bit of leaf mixed in. Very healthy, Jules. Want some?”
“No, thank you. But I appreciate the offer.”
He continued to eat while chatting with me. “No problem. What are you doing?”
I took a sip of coffee from the cup on my desk. “Writing. I’m working on a book. After that, I plan to work on some comedy material. But I’m really avoiding that.”
Junior stood up on his hind legs. “Why’s that?”
I explained that I was feeling like I’d lost my “funny” lately. That material was getting harder and harder to develop.
“Junior, I just feel like with all the bad stuff going on, anything I write just seems so trivial.”
Have you ever seen a squirrel do a spit take? Well, that’s exactly what Junior did. And then he gave me such a look…
“Oh man, Jules. Are you insane? Nothing is trivial that make others feel good. Why back where I grew up…”
“Where was that? Where you grew up?”
Junior smiled in a melancholy way. “In a little maple tree across the street. Best four weeks of my life…so like I was saying…back where I grew up, there was a crow who used to drop acorns on the heads of the baby deer in the neighborhood…”
“Why?”
“Why?...because it was funny as hell! They would look all over the place to see where the acorns came from. And we all laughed our asses off. But that crow taught them and us to be alert, to watch their surroundings and beware of things that might hurt them, like those stupid cars that come barreling down the street.”
“And the moral of this story is what, Junior?”
“People need to laugh. It makes them feel good. It reminds them that life isn’t all gloomy, all the time. So shut up and get back to work.”
“Okay. But will you visit me again? I enjoyed this.”
Junior blinked and stared at me. “Are you insane? I’m a squirrel. Who talks to a squirrel? Gotta jet….”
And just like that he was gone.
