A Day in the Sun

A Day in the Sun

     Poullin poked his head above the hole opening just enough to see the human couple working in their garden. A large fallen tree branch, a small one to the humans, hid him from those humans. Which wasn’t a problem at the moment. The humans were toward the opposite side of their garden.

     After watching them for several minutes Poullin’s head disappeared down that hole. Poullin scurried down that tunnel as fast as his four thin small legs could take him. At the end of that tunnel laid his living room. Within there was his mate Karrana.

     Karrana looked over at Poullin as he tumbled into the chair next to hers. “They were up their again weren’t they?”

     At the last second he tucked his head down so that he could roll into a sitting position. “You don’t even give me a chance to relax before you ask me that.”

     “You don’t have to answer me. It was more of a comment than a question. I know they are up there. They make so much noise it shakes everything up in our hole.”

     “Actually, they aren’t doing that much. It only seems loud and disruptive because we are right under them. I keep on trying to tell you that, but you won’t listen to me.”

     “Those humans are a big problem, and I’m not just talking about the noises they make. We have to get rid of them.”

     “I agree, but how are we going to do that. Taking the food from their garden isn’t doing it.”

     Karrana returned to watching the news playing on the video monitor hovering in front of them. Two others like themselves were talking, but their words couldn’t be heard. A scroll at the bottom of the screen showed what they were saying. “I don’t care how we do it, but we have to do it before it’s too late for us and our little ones.”

     “Speaking of our children, where are they. They are usually here playing.”

     “Willbur and Tonni aren’t here. They are over at friend’s holes taking advantage of this beautiful day.”

     Poullin closed his eyes. He could see exactly what his children were doing on his inner eyelids. Even if it was only in his mind he saw them. Tonni would be stretched out trying to get as some sun, and Willbur would be playing some running and catching game with his friends.

     Karrana looked up at the ceiling toward the sounds the humans were making. “We need to take advantage of this day too.”

     “We will. Just as soon as the humans leave we can. They should be leaving anytime now. The humans only spend a couple of hours each day in their garden. Then they spend the rest of the day somewhere else. Which means we will have most of the day in the sun together.”

====-====-====-====-====

     About a half hour later the humans left. As soon as they did Poullin and Karrana were climbing up a tunnel leading to the surface. Right have they left that hole they had different reactions to the sudden warmth of the sun. Poullin shielded his eyes with his arm above his forehead until they got used to the sun beating down on them. Karrana rapidly blinked her eyes until she got over Sudden Sun Blindness.

     “It’s been a lot time since we have been able to do this.” Poullin and Karrana were walking upright so they could hold hands as they walked around that garden.

     “That is why it’s call the cold weather season,” said Poullin. “It’s so cold out here you want to stay in your hole.”

     “This is the first real day that the sun has decided to come out for a while to warm everything up. It’s not very hot out there today, but it’s a lot better than it has been in months.”

     “We had a very long, and cold, cold weather season this year – didn’t we? I’m glad it’s almost over.”

     “I’m very happy about it too. We have the whole day to spend in the sun. What do you want to do first?”

     “I am doing it. All I want to do is walk around this garden with you for a few hours. Then after we eat we can relax for a while like Tonni is probably doing right now. After that we can do some more walking.”

     “That sounds like a good plan. I want to collect as much sun as we can today. A day like this might not happen again for another month or two.”

     “It’s supposed to be like this for about a week, but you are right. It might be a one day only event. So we need to take advantage of it while we can.”

     “If you’re right we can always do this again tomorrow - and the rest of the week too. As long as I am with you we can do this whenever you want. Weather permitting of course.”

     Poullin and Karrana walked with hands together in row after row of that garden. There were only four rows in there. Maybe that was considered small by human standards, but with them it was huge. It took them about an hour to walk through that garden. Most of the time they did it in silence. Which meant they got to do it twice before they had something to eat. The rest of the day went exactly as planned.

====-====-====-====-====

     “Now that the sun has left us for the day we can get back to discussing what we are going to do about the humans.” Poullin and Karrana were once again back in their hole.

     “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t think we should be getting rid of the humans.”

     “What made you change your mind?” Karrana asked.

     “No offense to your cooking, but the humans do grow good things to eat. As long as they are here we will be eating good.”