Hopping Buddies 🐿🐿🐿🐿

Have you ever befriended a squirrel? A baby squirrel? If you had you would know, how it could wriggle its tail and make you giggle. It would hop near you, hop around and move away hopping. Only to return to you.

One day, a baby squirrel came to me and said, "Hi ! I am Pecko ! Will you be my friend?" I jumped with joy. It gave some tiny jumps too. Hop ! Hop ! Hop ! 

Papa, Mummy, Koka, Ennai and Mainu Mama... they all said, "Let's find its Mommy!" We searched everywhere. We couldn't find. We waited for its Mommy to come. It didn't come. So, I let Pecko eat a slice of watermelon. It licked and licked and went to take a nap near it. I wrapped it with soft baby towels and put it on its new bed; atop my study table. 

"How to take care of a baby squirrel?", I asked Google. As Google showed, Mummy  warmed a little formula milk and let it cool. She pulled the milk with a syringe; without its needle. I held Pecko up as she fed the milk. Drop by drop. It licked and licked with glee. Then mummy gave a gentle rub on its tummy. Plip came its pee. Pop came its poo. It stretched its arms and legs. It yawned. And said, "Ayan, let me now sleep." 

Hop ! Hop ! hop ! Both Pecko and I would jump with glee. 

1. 2. 3. 

Snd just like that many days passed. 

Its Mommy never came to see. 

It's always roaming free. 

Inside home. Outside home. 

Near the walls. Near the big tree. 

It would roam all around but always came back to me.

One day it fell sick. We did everything just as the Vet Doctor asked us to. It didn't play with me. It didn't drink its milk. It didn't smile back at me. But went to sleep. 

Next day when I woke up I looked for Pecko everywhere. It was nowhere. Papa said it was in a hurry. It met its Mommy and went back home. Mummy said it went to God's home. It's cozier up there. I cried and cried and cried. But it never returned to me. 

Does it not miss my friendship?