Windy Day

by Samantha Bell
Illustrations by Samantha Bell

 

“I love windy days!”  Kelsey brushed her hair from her face as she walked toward the house for lunch.  Shutting the screen door behind her, she watched from the porch as fallen leaves blew across the yard, chasing each other across the grass.

“Kelsey, your sandwich is ready,” Mom called from the kitchen.

 Kelsey headed to the table, but another gust of wind ripped through the treetops.  She turned just in time to see a pile of dead leaves and twigs come tumbling out of the tree.

Then she heard it.  At least, she thought she heard it — a loud cry coming from the pile on the ground.

 Buster, the family dog, must have heard it too.  He was running towards the pile.

Rushing outside, Kelsey grabbed Buster by the collar, holding the dog back while she scanned the ground.  Scattered at her feet were several tiny animals.

Locking Buster in the garage, Kelsey grabbed an old towel and a pair of gardening gloves and raced back to the tree.

 She set the towel on the ground and studied the little animals for a moment.

One, two, three, four.  Four pinkish-brown babies with no fur, long skinny tails, and claws on their toes.

 She slipped the gloves onto her hands and picked up the first one, placing it carefully in the folds of the towel.  It wriggled and cried as she put the second one beside it.

They must be looking for their mother, she thought, scooping up the other two.

 Kelsey gently picked up the fragile bundle and carried it inside.  “Mom!  Look what blew out of the tree!  What are they?”

 Mom pulled back the corner of the towel.  “Baby squirrels!” she exclaimed.  “Look how tiny they are!  They don’t even have any fur yet.”

“And look,” said Kelsey.  “Their eyes are still closed, too.  Can we keep them?  I could feed them with a bottle.”

“It would be difficult to care for them,” Mom answered.  “We would have to feed them every few hours, even in the middle of the night.”

 Kelsey thought for a moment.  “What about the vet?” she asked.  “Veterinarians take care of animals.  Maybe he can help.”

 Kelsey thumbed through the pages of the phone book until she found the number.  The lady who answered the phone at the vet’s office sounded friendly.

“We don’t take care of squirrels here,” she said.  “But you can try a wildlife rescue group.  Let me get their information for you.”

 Kelsey called the number the lady had given her.  Soon she was talking with a trained wildlife specialist.

“You were right, Mom,” she said after she hung up the phone.  She looked again at the little squirrels in the towel.

“They would be hard to care for – for us.  But not for the mama squirrel.  She’ll take them back.”

 Kelsey followed the instructions she had been given.  She gathered up some grass and leaves and put them in a basket.  Then she placed the little squirrels in the basket.

After making sure Buster was still secure in the garage, Kelsey carried her basket of babies outside.  She carefully hung it on a branch of the tree, then slipped back inside and peered through the window.

 Kelsey didn’t have to wait long.  A grown squirrel was soon hopping from limb to limb on the tree.  That must be the mother, Kelsey decided, trying not to move.

 She didn’t want to scare the squirrel away.

Finally, the mother squirrel found the basket.  Kelsey watched as she picked up the first baby in her mouth.

The squirrel looked around, then scampered back up the tree and disappeared.  Kelsey wanted to cheer, but she didn’t dare make a sound.  Soon the mother returned, picking up the next baby and taking it up the tree.

Two more times she came to carry a baby squirrel to safety.

 Kelsey smiled as she stepped outside.  She took down the basket, tipped it over, and watched the grass and leaves blow away.  “I do love windy days,” she said.