Birch is high up off the ground, high, high, high off the ground on a huge tree. So high that the furlesses’ nests on the ground look the size of birch cones and the furlesses themselves, the size of the safflower seeds Birch and his family eat for dinner every night. He leaps nimbly from branch to branch with confidence, and although it may seem backward, the farther he gets from the ground, the less scared he becomes. Far from the towering furlesses he feels safer. They terrify him with their towering height, their two long hairless limbs, and their murderous dark eyes.
Every night, Birch hears the horror stories from his parents about the furlesses stealing, killing, and then eating other squirrels like them. Even knowing the possibility of death, Birch still needs to scramble down his tall, safe tree every day to scavenge for food. Every time, his heart beats louder in his stomach than the sound of a furlesses stomp, and he is terrified that one of them will find him and eat him raw.
Today, he had a particularly good scavenging day, and now he climbs up the tree, bringing his fourth round of food to his family. He holds onto the seeds in one of his paws and climbs with the other to bring them home. Usually, the four older siblings in his family, including him, and his mother go down their big tree, their home, to scavenge after eating breakfast. They spend some time on the ground to have a good meal before making rounds to go up in down the tree with seeds and nuts for the rest of their family. Then, they finish a while after the sun is at its highest point and go up the tree with their last round of food to spend the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying themselves.
The rest of the family, the 4 younger siblings in his family tend to the house and his father takes care of them. All 11 members then gather after the scavengers are back and have a good family dinner. These dinners are always Birch’s favorite part of the day, where he just gets to relax and finally let go of his terror of the furlesses. Now, as he climbs up the tree for his second to last time, he thinks about the dinner they will have, right after he goes back down the tree to get his final batch of seeds waiting below.
Birch after depositing his share of dinner into their dining room and scrambled back down, to the roots of the tree. He was less scared than he was usually, as that day he had not seen a single furless near his tree. Near the biggest root, he had buried some of the seeds and nuts he had collected before he had made his rounds up and down the tree. He started digging for the seeds, louder than usual and not as aware as usual, which gives the loud furless behind him the perfect advantage. He doesn’t hear it when the furless walk closer with his long cloth-covered limbs; he doesn’t hear it when the furless brings the gun to its beady black eyes; he does feel it though when the furless start towering over him with his incredible height, but by then, it was too late.
Birch fell after a deafening pop, but as he did, his small paw opened and released the seeds he had dug up for dinner. They drift slowly down onto the dirt, next to the roots of the big tree and while the furless took Birch’s body, it left the seeds laying in the dirt, including a birch cone among them. As spring passed and summer came, the little birch cone grew roots into the ground and branches up into the sky until it became a real birch tree, the living memory of the small squirrel Birch.
Every night, Birch hears the horror stories from his parents about the furlesses stealing, killing, and then eating other squirrels like them. Even knowing the possibility of death, Birch still needs to scramble down his tall, safe tree every day to scavenge for food. Every time, his heart beats louder in his stomach than the sound of a furlesses stomp, and he is terrified that one of them will find him and eat him raw.
Today, he had a particularly good scavenging day, and now he climbs up the tree, bringing his fourth round of food to his family. He holds onto the seeds in one of his paws and climbs with the other to bring them home. Usually, the four older siblings in his family, including him, and his mother go down their big tree, their home, to scavenge after eating breakfast. They spend some time on the ground to have a good meal before making rounds to go up in down the tree with seeds and nuts for the rest of their family. Then, they finish a while after the sun is at its highest point and go up the tree with their last round of food to spend the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying themselves.
The rest of the family, the 4 younger siblings in his family tend to the house and his father takes care of them. All 11 members then gather after the scavengers are back and have a good family dinner. These dinners are always Birch’s favorite part of the day, where he just gets to relax and finally let go of his terror of the furlesses. Now, as he climbs up the tree for his second to last time, he thinks about the dinner they will have, right after he goes back down the tree to get his final batch of seeds waiting below.
Birch after depositing his share of dinner into their dining room and scrambled back down, to the roots of the tree. He was less scared than he was usually, as that day he had not seen a single furless near his tree. Near the biggest root, he had buried some of the seeds and nuts he had collected before he had made his rounds up and down the tree. He started digging for the seeds, louder than usual and not as aware as usual, which gives the loud furless behind him the perfect advantage. He doesn’t hear it when the furless walk closer with his long cloth-covered limbs; he doesn’t hear it when the furless brings the gun to its beady black eyes; he does feel it though when the furless start towering over him with his incredible height, but by then, it was too late.
Birch fell after a deafening pop, but as he did, his small paw opened and released the seeds he had dug up for dinner. They drift slowly down onto the dirt, next to the roots of the big tree and while the furless took Birch’s body, it left the seeds laying in the dirt, including a birch cone among them. As spring passed and summer came, the little birch cone grew roots into the ground and branches up into the sky until it became a real birch tree, the living memory of the small squirrel Birch.
