Fridays. Just the thought of having two days off to do whatever makes a Friday a good day. No holds barred, fun day. Most of the time, I have that fun all by my lonesome.
In between the mad rushes at the office, I stepped out to enjoy the sun, the colors, the uncanned air – and the squirrels. Said squirrels have become brave, playful and a bit obnoxious lately, and I have fun with it.
These two squirrels were having themselves a good ol’ time. The chased each other, played hide-and-seek, ran through the tree branches and made a racket running through the leaves on the ground. Motor-mouth that I am around animals, I uninhibitedly – and loudly – chattered and jabbered a running commentary of their antics. Since I’ve done this all year, the squirrels are used to my voice and once in awhile, I imagine that they are actually listening.
My attention span lasted half a cigarette, and with mind wandering, I leaned against a telephone pole to look around in the opposite direction. I didn’t hear anything or have any reason to, but I looked straight up and found one of those squirrels not 3 feet above me climbing down that pole. What I immediately saw was where the critter’s tail intersected with its body and I thought to myself, “Oh, shit.” Thankfully, that didn’t happen. It has before, but not yesterday.
That squirrel looked down at me, snapped its tail a few times, and right when I went to lift my iPhone to snap its picture, it launched through the air and into the magnolia branches. I missed the photo, but I was laughing away at this squirrel who was becoming more brave by the minute.
The telephone pole I was standing against is on the edge of a small parking lot which is usually filled with employee cars. I returned to chattering away at my furry friends, laughing, smooching, clucking away when I heard the words, “woof woof.” The squirrels disappeared and I blushed. I hadn’t noticed that there was an SUV with three men inside parked in that parking lot, windows rolled down, observing the idiotic show I was putting on.
I then remembered the work I could be doing instead of standing outside smoking a cigarette and making a complete fool of myself talking to squirrels, smashed that cigarette out, threw it in the can and tore a new path to the back door. Leave it to me to make a complete fool out of myself.
At the door handle, I stopped to look for my little friends, the squirrels. They were nowhere in sight. I smiled a big Cheshire grin and thought…
“Heck with it. I had fun!”
Those sirens you hear come complete with padded walls and straight jackets. This ride’s mine. You have to wait your turn.
