View From the Back Porch
A
Play of Many Characters
By Nita Wilson
Dedicated to the memory of my friend Amelia
Stebly
In the town of Hattiesgulch, in the
State of MisStepisi, in the very southern section of the Untangled Escapes of
Americals there dwells a small group of animals, birds, reptiles and fish who
live out their lives with the same drama and passion as any human in any of the
largest cities in the world. They fear
Hurricanes and wild beast. They fear being eaten by the large owl that visits nightly
and they fear the humans who live around and among them. Maybe fear is too strong a word for these
creatures as they don’t dwell on fears as we humans, not at all. They go about their daily lives in their
relationships and friendships as happily as can be, but they are cautious, yes
that’s the word, cautious… these creatures are cautious. They know when ‘Big O’ the old battle scarred
yellow cat comes into the yard it’s time to visit themselves elsewhere. At night when the “whoo, whoo” of the big owl
comes from the neighboring yards it’s time to run up the tree and pull the big
magnolia leaves over the nests and… when
the big winds bend the trees in half, it’s time to hide under the eaves of the
back porch and wait it out. The players
in this story are real and at this writing are busy preparing for fall. The squirrels are sitting in the big yard on
their little hind legs, tails curling up and over their backs looking all the
world like little brown teapots as they gather the acorns given freely and
generously by ‘Bill’, the big Chinquapin Oak. The corn and sunflower seeds I threw to them
this morning have already been stored in nests so far up in the trees only the
wind knows the hidden places.
I consider these
beings my friends; they consider me a nuisance. I respect them; they tolerate me. I would be lying if I said I didn’t buy their
friendships, I do. I buy their affection
with seeds and nuts they can’t find in my back yard and they provide me with
hours of entertainment and a random stare on a bright sunny day. This
is a story of an event I witnessed.
THE
CAST OF CHARACTERS
The Squirrels:
Bull, Precious and Lil’ Bit
Precious would be
the death of Bull one day, he knew it, he hated it, but he couldn’t help
it. He was smitten with her, crazy about
her, he thought she was about the cutest thing in the whole yard and the danger
she invoked kept him on his mettle and he liked that. Bull hoped she was watching. Did she see him,
one foot closer to the human? He stopped
and stared at the tall figure holding the plate of seed. His heart might
explode if he didn’t get a sunflower seed soon, not that he could eat it, the
fear tied his soul in knots and his stomach was tangled somewhere inside those
knots and would be for some time to come. He intended to get a seed, offer it
to Precious and enjoy watching her take it.
Even if he didn’t offer, he knew from many seeds before, she would
badger him until she got it, but this time he would offer it without the
nagging.
Precious was the
devil in a little fur coat and Bull’s forever torment. She had something that compelled him to play
her silly games and stick around for the good times. Maybe it was knowing she
could never be tamed, maybe it was her prowess in the nest or maybe it was just
old fashioned chemistry between them.
Whatever it was, he was powerless against the awesome feelings that kept
him in her nest doing her bidding.
Bull had once
courted, Lil Bit, the dainty pretty thing with large soft eyes and slim flanks,
demure in his presence and always ready to be led and loved. He would’ve been a lot better off had he
chosen her, but his life would have lacked the sauce and spice of the chase
that Precious offered.
Once, a long time
ago, Lil Bit tried and worked for days building a courage that wasn’t in
her. She had approached, soft eyes half
closed and wanting, trembling in fear and excitement, but Bull took one look at
her flirting eyes thought she’d gone crazy and ran away across the roof and
into Cyril, the tall cypress tree on the other side of the house. This as it turned out was a good thing for
Lil Bit, seeing as how Precious was waiting to kill both parties of this silly
tete-a-tete, and would have… easily. Instead Precious used it for days, to goad
and make fun of Bull. “Bull and Lil Bit
sitten’ in a tree, Kiss-ing.” Precious barked from the nest as all in the
backyard laughed. Bull got angry and kept all of his sunflower seeds to
himself. Precious, seeing her free meal
ticket in jeopardy smugly stopped the torment and things went back to
normal. Lil Bit would wait, her day would
come, she could be patient. She was good
at being patient. Her mother told her...
“Patience means waiting gracefully.”
That was Lil Bits true talent.
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