Thomas the Squirrel

August 2010
A massive storm had just hit my home town. The sky was black, trees were falling on the road and houses, and the rain kept pouring and pouring. I was so happy I didn't have to go out that night because it was just awful weather.

I looked outside for a second and saw lightning hitting a tree that was within two feet  from me! I jumped back suddenly, startled and started to get the candles and flashlights ready. Then, the telephone rings. My heart sinks thinking that someone might be in grave danger. I run over to the phone and pick it up immediately. Its my friend Ashley. She told me its urgent and to come over quickly. Without another word I head into the storm.
I arrive at Ashley's house to find her crying at the front door. She explains that there is baby squirrel who fell out the nest and the mom has not come back for him for hours. I run outside underneath the tree she said he would be, and find this little tiny creature, a couple days old, eyes still closed, all wet and cold. I quickly pick him up and I put him in my jacket to keep warm. I told her to look out for the momma squirrel in-case she comes back.She never did.
We arrive back home and I quickly warm up a towel in the microwave and I get a heat lamp and box ready for him for the night. Oh my gosh!!! I forgot to feed him!!! I quickly get back into the car and race down to Wal-mart. I run into the pet isle, pushing people out of the way, and grab as many puppy formula bottles as I can. I pay and run out of Wal-mart, when suddenly a lightening bolt hits the light post and starts crashing down. I had no time to stop and look, but to run quicker. I finally got into my car and sped home.

The baby squirrel is still alive and had finally stopped shivering. I prepare the formula and I syringe it into his mouth. He takes it without any fuss. Every four hours I would have to get up to feed him. I would perform the same routine, wake up, warm up the formula, syringe it to him, wipe his mouth, and go back to bed. What I can say is that they are a lot less hassle than having a baby to care for.
Within a week, he opens his eyes and runs up my arm. Thomas I decided should be his name. Now of course he is unable to stay in the box, for fear that he will jump out. So I prepare him a little run at night time and a whole room to himself in the daytime. He knew from the moment that he opened his eyes that I was his mom and he would climb up my legs to my shoulders and would sit there for hours.
One day I had to teach him how to open nuts. For some reason,

Thomas didn't have the instinct to open or crack nuts. I grabbed two walnuts, one for him and one for me. As he watched me, I tried biting the nut with my teeth. Of course that accomplished nothing, so I went out of the room to pre-crack the nut. I came back and bit the nut again, this time it broke all the way and I gave Thomas the two halves. He took out the fragments of nut and enjoyed every bite. Now it was his turn to crack the nut. The first three times he attempted this, he was unsuccessful, but finally he was able to crack his first walnut. He then started to feed on corn, acorns, sun flower seeds, and some berries.
On the fifth week, he just started to get his fluffy gray tail. When I would give him a bath and trimmed his nails, his tail never seemed to settle down. In other words, his tail was continuously fluffy. I accidentally left the door open to his room as I went for a quick walk around the neighborhood. When I came back, my cats seemed to have a liking to the room. I was expecting the worse, but as I walked into the room, Thomas and my cats were curled up with him fast asleep, not a paw was laid on him.
Weeks went by, and the time came closer and closer to the day I had to let him go. It was one of the saddest times in my life to let my little boy go. I released him when he was fourteen weeks old, big body and a full grown tail. I didn't want him to be hunted so I released him at the local college. There were lots of other squirrels there and he seemed happy when I lifted him up to the tree. He ran up the tree for the longest time and as I was about to leave, he came back down, climbed on my shoulders, gave me a kiss, and he was
gone forever. I will never forget my adventure with Thomas.