Squirrel!

Despite a professional development day on Friday, Saturday morning found me grading papers. I’d intended to do the work the day before, but a new tool for scheduling conferences proved to be ore complicated than expected and 4:00 on Friday came before I’d finished the work I needed to do.

As I stared at the screen, a knock came at my door. Who could that be this early, I wondered as I peered trough the blinds. It was my neighbor, Sue, holding a rake.

As I opened the door she began explaining her dilemma with a simple, “There’s a squirrel on my porch.” It turned out it was an aggressive squirrel who would not leave despite the rake, and it was peering into her living room with malice it its heart. Sue needed help shooing it away.

“I have some squirrel issues of my own,” I said and explained about the vicious squirrels I used to encounter in Queen’s Park everyday as I crossed campus at U of T. But, two fraidy cats are better than one, so I put on some shoes and ventured out.

Standing before her porch, I looked for the wee beastie. He was under neither chair.

“I can’t see him,” I announced. “Maybe he left.”

“No,”she replied. “I see his head behind the chair.”

I raised my eyes and saw him. His little head poked up behind the chair that sat in front of the living room window. I reached for Sue’s rake and attempted to hook the chair leg. My first tug had no effect – on the chair or the squirrel. Realizing the chair was heavier than it looked, I tugged on the rake handle with both hands.

The chair moved.

The squirrel darted.

Sue and I screamed.

And then we laughed.