Title Pending

I turned my nose to the air and sniffed cautiously, whiskers twitching in the slight breeze. Cold. The cold was coming, not today and not tomorrow but soon. The scent of far, far away snow was unmistakeable, un-ignorable. It made something deep in the back of my squirrel brain say "FIND. MORE. NUTS."

Quickly, quickly I dashed, I darted out of my hole in the big oak tree and down the side, face first, circling the trunk on an angle. My strong tiny nails gripped the bark. My long bushy tail perked up to help me keep balance. Nose pressed close to the tree, my brain was already speeding along calculating. Where are the nuts? Where did we put them? Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Need to find more nuts.

I hit the ground. Maybe there are nuts over by the pond. Maybe... Up above was a sudden movement. A flash of feathers. Predator? I froze, head cocked to the side to get a better look. Predators had been coming around more lately, poking around the ditch behind my tree. Through the bushes I saw the hawk land and begin pecking away. Don't move. Don't breathe. Just stay calm and WHAT'S THAT NOISE??! In the distance there was a crash of breaking branches. Something big was coming through the woods. Two somethings big. The heavy, unsteady footsteps told me they weren't predators. Probably some harmless, stupid plant-eater. The hawk got nervous and flew away. Good. What was I doing again?

I scrambled across the ground, careful to stay away from the ditch. The smell back there made me nervous. Something shiny on the ground up ahead. I scampered over and held it in my tiny paws. Hard. Round. I tried to bite it but it was too hard and not at all tasty. But wait! What's that over there? Is it ... an acorn! Yes! Oh yes oh yes, acorn!! God, I love acorns! After examining it all over for worms (none) I stuffed it happily into my cheek and headed back to my tree. I will take this acorn and I will bury it in the ground with all the others. Where are all the others again? Doesn't matter. I can bury it just outside the tree, between the roots where the dirt is soft, but not too soft. Can't have it washing away in the big rains. Got to bury it deep, keep it safe, the cold is coming.

There was another loud noise. I froze, almost dropped my acorn. Being on the ground was making me feel anxious and exposed. It's better to be up in the branches where things can't reach you, darting from tree to tree, or safe and warm in my hole. The somethings big were coming closer, crashing clumsily through the forest, breaking twigs and branches wherever they stepped. "Fuck!" one of them called out. Maybe it would be better to take this acorn home with me. Bury it later. I turned toward my tree and scampered up off the ground. Better. That's better.

In the distance I could hear the big things chattering to each other. "I can't freaking believe we're doing this," one called. "What do you want me to say?" The other responded. "It's his favorite marble, he's not going to stop crying until he gets it back." I was approaching my hole again. The sweet smell of home filled my nostrils, blocking out the predators and the big creatures and that weird musty decomposing smell. It had been getting stronger lately.

"Five more minutes of this, Miriam, and then I'm turning around and going home. We can get him a new marble tomorrow. Hell, we'll get him a whole bag of marbles. A giant bucket full of freaking marbles. Will he be happy then?" The big things were grunting at each other again. I began to cover the acorn in my hole with leaves and dirt. Got to find more before the sun goes down. "Will you quit whining and just keep looking please?"

I could see the big things coming through the bushes now. There was a very big one with no fur on the top of its head, and then there was a smaller one with lots of fur. The bigger one was the one making the most noise. "I think we're spoiling him. I mean, what are the chances that we're going to find one tiny marble in this whole giant forest? About a million to one. We're giving him unrealistic expectations about what people are willing to do for each other that others will never live up to throughout the course of his life -"

"Oh my God! Paul come here! Jesus! Look at this!" There was a definite note of distress in the smaller one's voice. Maybe it had seen a predator. I cocked my head and listened carefully but I couldn't hear anything over the big things noises. I didn't smell a predator either. Just the acorn, and the big animals, and the dead smell coming from the ditch behind my tree.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to her?"
"Oh God, I'm going to be sick. Call 911!"
"I don't have any reception! We've got to get out of here..."
"We can't just leave her there, Paul!"
"It looks like she's been dead for a while now. We'll get out of the woods, call the cops, they'll find out what happened. Ok? Ok?"
"Did you see her face?!"
"Of course I saw her face! I ... all right, it's going to be ok. Come on now. Let's go."

The big things turned and lumbered off out of sight. After a moment I hurried out of my hole and back down onto the ground. Should find more nuts before dark. The sun would be setting soon.