The squirrel stands frozen where it stopped on the plank of wood that serves as a bridge for the stream that trickles through my woods.
A satellite photo of “my woods” courtesy of Google Maps
A property map courtesy of Taunton city hall so there is no confusion about my woods vs my neighbors woods
Tabor, a 130-pound red-gold lab, hasn’t noticed the squirrel yet and is still snuffling around the edge of the raspberry patch where a family of rabbits made their home. I stand still so I won’t startle the squirrel, glancing between it and Tabor who is now lumbering back to me. His tongue lolls out of his mouth and his drooping eyes, almost level with mine since I’m a small seven year old, smile at me. He sniffs the air once and his tail stops wagging. He sniffs again. Suddenly his head snaps to where the squirrel sits on the bridge and with a deep throated BARK he takes off. Giggling, I run after the two animals while swinging a stick that serves as my imaginary sword at unseen squirrels around me. My head is always full of swords, talking animals, and great battles when I am walking in the woods.
Artist’s approximation of my stick-sword
Tabor
I had learned to read a little over a year ago and since then had been going through books as fast as my parents and teachers could provide them. Books were too exciting for me to wait to finish one until I started another. I always had at least two or three books going at once, my record was six, and one or more was always a from the Redwall series (click the link to buy all the books because you really should, or click here to visit the official website and read more about the world of Mossflower). Brian Jaques’ stories of noble warrior mice,
crafty otters,
and nimble squirrels,
fighting off the evil hordes of rats
and foxes entranced my mind.
Walking through the woods with Tabor I would wield my stick-sword with him at my side and protect our eleven acres of woods from whatever I envisioned lurking in its depths.
Tabor’s nails click as he crosses the linoleum floor in the kitchen. My mom kisses the top of my head as I walk by to the living room to get out a piece of paper to record the adventures I had that day.