It was a balmy Wednesday afternoon when I dressed in hunting garb, took my crossbow, and started through the back field to the tree stand.
Once there, I climbed up, cocked my bow, and waited for a deer. I started looking around when I heard something.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
What is that? I wondered as I peered around.
A grayish-white animal with a whitish tail and a white snout with a pink nose ambled through the woods. You guessed it! An opossum! That was nothing to worry about, so I returned to my vigil.
Then I heard more rustles. Deer? No, deer don’t rustle so lightly. Squirrel? That’s it! I saw several squirrels frisking about. Then…
I noticed a red squirrel running along tree branches in front of me. He was slowly coming closer to the tree where I sat. On his way, he stopped to nibble this and that. Munch, munch. I saw him pull down some leaves and heard him crunch them. Then Mr. Red Squirrel moved on, coming closer all the time.
I sat still, watching. Somehow, this little fellow seemed friendly. I hoped he would come into my tree.
Mr. Red Squirrel kept coming. Then, in the tree right in front of me, he perched on a small branch. For a long time he sat there. His small black eyes looked at me from every angle, as if he were trying to decide if I was safe or not. Finally he made up his mind. He scampered up onto a limb, jumped from there into my tree, and came down the back. I turned my head, and there…
I got my wish. Two feet from my head a fuzzy, cute little red face peered back. Suddenly, he darted away again and left me to myself. But my thoughts followed him home. I was tickled to have a squirrel for a visitor that day!
