Thought I'd give Soupy a little break today and talk about Squirrel Girl. Her name was originally "Shadrach" because she lived through a fire . . . and I thought she was a he! It's not easy to tell with a baby squirrel whose eyes aren't open yet.
I was attending a "Cereal Walk" (as we lovingly called them) in a little mountain community in Oklahoma. You may know what a "Cake Walk" is. An old fashioned money-raising pot luck supper where the numbers from 1 to "whatever" are written in a circle on the floor. Folks pay to walk around the circle to the beat of some perky song. When the music stops you stop on whatever number you've reached. The leader draws a number from a hat, and if you're on it, you get a home-made cake, baked by one of the community ladies. Great fun.
But this community evidently had a shortage of cake-baking-little-old-ladies! (And perky music.) There were some fine cakes to be won. But there were lots of boxes of "Little Debbie" cakes and even "Kellogg's Corn Flakes". We thought that was kind of amusing and started calling them Cereal Walks.
Back to the story. This particular evening, the men from the local VFD came in, still in their fire-fighting garb to grab a bit to eat. While fighting a potential forest fire they heard a squeak coming from a parched area. A baby squirrel was crying - surrounded on all sides by a grass fire. Those sweet guys rescued it and brought it to the Cereal Walk. Naturally I ended up taking it home with me. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
She smelled of fire. Her hair was parched and the end of her tail was badly burned. (She ended up losing half of her tail - which gave her a really distinctive look.) Her eyes weren't open yet and she craved the warmth of a human's touch.
So I took her to bed with me, keeping her covered with my hand. One night she became extremely restless. After chasing her from one end of the bed to the other (under the covers) I finally turned on the light on my end table. She scrambled up on my chest and stared at me with her brand-new eyes. I was the first thing she ever saw. I was "Mama".
Well, Mama and Pappa had already made arrangements to go to a huge evangelistic conference in Beaumont. What to do with Shadrach/Squirrel Girl? She required constant care. So . . . I took her along. She had her own little bag, packed with bedding, medicines, two eyedroppers, powdered squirrel milk, and water. I didn't want to be caught in any situation where I couldn't care for "the baby".
During the day and at the motel it was no challenge. But I spent three long evenings at this conference - held in a huge Colosseum - with her in my purse. I was panicky she'd get out. She'd have caused chaos in that crowd, running over ladies' feet. And there was no doubt in my mind, I'd never find her again if that happened.
So, I kept my purse on my lap, with my hand stuck in it. Holding a sleeping squirrel. The large man to my left eyed me suspiciously. And often. He probably thought I had a weapon in my purse. I was afraid if I confessed to him what it was, he'd complain and I'd be thrown out. So I just smiled innocently when he cast a wary glance my way. Just your everyday ditsy woman.
I think it's safe to assume that Squirrel-Girl is the only squirrel in the world to have ever attended a three day evangelistic conference - even if she did sleep through the whole thing.
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