Hey Look a Squirrel!
14 10 2016I’m sure you know that the blues are a very natural part of music, and nature is of course part of the blues, I’ve thought since I began to listen to lyrics, that most great songs included elements of nature. Here is one of my adventures with one of Mother Earth’s smaller children, which is also available in my book The Handbook of Poetic Phonetics.
I’m still not sure why he called me. It may have had something to do with my eccentricity. The front desk attendant had called to ask if I would help to get a squirrel out of another guest’s room. It seemed like an interesting challenge, so I accepted, and went off on a squirrel hunt. The Japanese couple showed no signs of relief as we entered the room, perhaps if I had been wearing a uniform? The squirrel was in the walk in closet, so I went in to talk.
Squirrels are normally very excitable, and I’d imagine that being trapped in a closet had pushed the little guy into an enhanced state of wtfness. I remembered an interesting part of Alice Walker’s “The Temple of My Familiar”, wherein she describes being able to communicate with any creature whose eyes we may look into. I was about to put her information to the test. As the squirrel was demonstrating his level of freaked-outedness by doing several laps around the shelves of the closet, the attendant was getting curious about what was going on, and was talking about calling a professional.
They say that squirrels are quite friendly, and as we were getting to know each other, the desk clerk opened the door. The squirrel ran out of the closet and into the room. The couple was slightly more interested now, and I grabbed a towel from the back of a chair, as the squirrel ran back into the closet. The clerk was still
asking to calling a professional, and I assured him that I would be able to handle it. After following the squirrel into the closet, I shut the door. As before, I was following the squirrel’s eyes and imagining the trees that I was sure the squirrel was missing.
I was imparting the idea of safety, and to demonstrate such, I spread the towel out with my hands and bowed my head to the squirrel as a way of waving the white flag. At some point the squirrel had stopped running around the shelves, and I was slightly startled when the flightless Sciuridae perhaps imitating the fighting Uruk-hai, hopped onto my shoulders. This must have been the point when the squirrel was testing me to see if trust would be possible. For some reason, after another lap around the closet shelves, the squirrel stopped on a shirt hanging from the shelves and stayed. Because of the look I was receiving, and the fact that for the first time, the squirrel had stopped within my reach, I felt that it was now time.
Using the towel as a glove, I picked up the squirrel with my hand, opened the closet door and walked to the window. I wish I had more recollection of the looks on the guests and the desk clerks face, though I really just wanted to get the squirrel to the open window. As the squirrel was very close, jumping towards the window was the best bet in the squirrels mind. Free, trees and grass for the rambunctious rodent. The only harm I received was a scratch so light, it took several hours to bleed through. I only noticed in the morning. I do hope that the Japanese couple were entertained enough to have an interesting story for their travel home. I still wonder if I should have charged the hotel.
