I very rarely read fiction (Tolkein is my exception), and so writing on behalf of Ray in his book was a major adventure in writing for me.

In response to yesterday’s Post, I received an email from Aadhira (see Blog https://aadhira.wordpress.com/a-selfie-of-me/ ) suggesting that I write the same story, but from the squirrel’s perspective!  Thanks Aadhira (I think)!

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Hi! My name is Ethan Dylan Lucas Benjamin Samuel Squirrel of Tree 3126. I was named after some of my brothers and am known around here as simply Sam! It makes my life so much easier!

Anyway, the weather recently has been just too warm for anybody in a fur coat, and so me and my buddies (other squirrels …. not raccoons ‘cos we don’t like them!) tend to stay up in the trees where all the leaves shelter us from the sun. I live in an old maple tree along with my Mom and bunch of other kids and every now and then, Mom will kick us out of our home ‘cos she wants to clean things up a bit. That is when I go on my adventures!

The other day was one of those days and, as I wandered along to the end of our branch, I looked down and saw Ray sleeping on the porch floor of the house which is nearby.  Ray is well known to us as, not only is he huge compared to us, but he is also pretty fast once he gets moving. We have lost 2 relatives as a result of him, and so we watch out for him all the time! I really don’t know what his problem is after all, my family goes back many, many generations of living here, while Ray only moved in 3 Summers ago… but I digress!

I decided to jump down and onto the wooden fence. I could then walk right around the garden and be out of reach of Ray should he suddenly wake up! It really was nice to be on another adventure on my own as I walked, jumped and skipped my way along the top of the fence. At one point, the fence was a short jump away from two sheds, so I decided to jump and explore the shed roofs.

I was much closer to the house now, but there were lots of overhanging branches to hide in if necessary and so I jumped from the big shed roof, to the smaller shed roof. Looking over the edge of the roof, I could see a low wooden fence and a small garden of ivy and stuff. It was totally sheltered and looked really inviting and cool as no sun could break through the trees there. I jumped over onto the little fence and climbed down and into the lovely cool ivy which covered the ground. It was a little piece of heaven. My own private garden and, apart from a few excitable birds up in the trees nearby, it was very quiet.

There were some interesting scents around me so I just had to check them out. Eventually, I came to the fence at the end of my little private garden and peeked out between the fence rails. I could see the steps that went up to the porch, and I could see Ray. He was curled up with his back to me. Then I saw it!

It looked rather like a nut of some sort, right at the bottom of the steps. I just couldn’t resist because I had found peanuts occasionally around here before, so I squeezed under the fence and was just about to check the nut thing out when I heard a scuffling sound above me. I looked up! Ray had somehow heard me and was just jumping off the top step and coming in my direction!

I turned and ran as fast as I could around the corner (there was a man sitting there but I didn’t get a chance to really look at him) and then darted through a gap in a cedar hedge. I glanced back and Ray was right there. He had followed me through the gap and he now had his head down and only a baby squirrel’s length from my tail!

I found some extra speed and was heading across the grass to my tree, but before I could leap for the tree, I would have to cross a rockery with all sorts of plants growing there. The rockery was coming up really fast, and Ray was still getting closer to my tail so I made the decision to try and outmaneuver him and gain me some extra time to think this through.

I made an incredibly fast turn (an excellent job in my opinion), and was now heading for the man. I glanced behind me and Ray had dropped back a little, but now he was building up his speed again. I was starting to panic because I had Ray getting closer and closer behind me, and I was getting closer and closer to that man now directly in front of me.

I decided to make another very sharp turn and go for a small group of cedar trees as fast as I could. Faster would be even better! As I charged under the cedars, Ray was so close that I could feel his breath on my back and, just as I was about to turn and confront him, I saw the fence. I went from the ground to the top of that fence in one leap (pretty awesome eh!). As I reached the top, Ray’s head came up very close to me as he jumped up after me.

I started to run along the top of the fence, and Ray was following me from the ground and kept jumping up at me. I could not afford to lose my footing now! I looked ahead and realized that I was going the wrong way! I was heading towards a fairly accessible piece of fencing while, in the opposite direction was my tree.

I performed the most amazing 180 degree turn, and I bet even Ray was seriously impressed with it! Anyway, while Ray was getting himself turned around, I was charging at full speed (probably a little faster) along the fence towards my tree. The gap between the fence and my tree, at its closest point, is about 2 adult squirrel lengths with tails extended. I just thought of home and rocketed myself as high as I could and towards the tree. I grabbed the trunk with my claws and climbed just as Ray made a leap for the tree. His front claws landed pretty much where I was a second earlier.

I then took a leisurely walk up to our branch and wandered along it to home. Mom had finished cleaning and asked what I had been up to. “Oh nothing really. Just wandered around and kept myself out of trouble. Just like you always tell me to do!”