#sun squirrel

Mutable Sun Squirrel Heliosciurus mutabilis

A squirrel found in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They nest in holes in trees or in dense clumps of vines high in forest trees. The species is diurnal, and is either solitary or found in pairs.

Sun Squirrel came out of history with a mix of trepidation and excitement. They had been assigned a project to work on with partners, due the following week. Sun Squirrel had decided that Hunk Hunk Squirrel would be like the Cloud Squirrel of school. They just needed to get closer, and what better way to become closer to someone who would be your brother at boarding school than a history project?

“Hey, Hunk Hunk Squirrel, wait up.”

Hunk Hunk Squirrel turned. His entourage stopped and turned to look at Sun Squirrel as well.  Sun Squirrel hesitated. He had planned on asking Hunk Hunk Squirrel by himself, not with all the fools he called friends.

There was a pause, until Hunk Hunk Squirrel spoke up. “Did you say my name?” It was in a sociable enough tone, like he genuinely didn’t know if Sun Squirrel had spoken.

Sun Squirrel cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you would want to work on the history project with me.”

There was a silence. Bird Squirrel, the squirrel with the stupidest name Sun Squirrel had ever heard, coughed. Hair Squirrel, the creepy one, just stared. Rock Squirrel, lurking behind them, wiped his nose with his sleeve.

Then Hunk Hunk Squirrels friends started reacting.

“You? Why would Hunk Hunk Squirrel want to work on a project with you?”

“Hunk Hunk Squirrel’s the smartest squirrel at SQUASH. He doesn't need you.”

“You’re such a teacher’s pet. I bet Lancaster keeps you on a leash outside of class.”

“Guys, shut up,” Hunk Hunk Squirrel scowled at the morons. It was like Cloud Squirrel was fending off the rogue chipmunks in the glade behind the public school all over again!

“But, sorry Sun Squirrel. It’s just that I don’t really know you. I'm not quite comfortable working with you, y’know? You have kind of a reputation.” And with that Hunk Hunk Squirrel walked away.

Sun Squirrel was sure one of them had misunderstood or misspoken, until Hunk Hunk Squirrel turned back and kept walking away. Sun Squirrel bit his lip hard to try and stop the tears, but it just made them come faster because he still had his cut there.

“Damn you, Balthazar.” Sun Squirrel crumpled the assignment sheet in his fist and sniffed. Then he remembered that he needed to turn it in with the report and tried to unfold it. He sighed as he tried to hold back the disappointment welling up, like a wave crashing in to drown someone. He guessed it would be a solo project after all.

“Hey Sun Squirrel?” It was Gardenia. “Do you think, for the project, I mean, if you’re ok with this…do you think you could put my name on the report as well? You need a partner and I need a project to turn in so it’s win win!”

She took Sun Squirrel’s lack of words as an affirmative. “Thanks Sun Squirrel! You’re the best.” Gardenia ran off without a glance backward.

Sun Squirrel picked himself up and dragged himself out of bed the next morning sore and stiff. He had bruises from the wrestling match everywhere, even in places he couldn’t see. He went to the cabinet and pulled out the special heat salve stocked in there for this purpose. He rubbed on through his fur as best he could and could feel it penetrating the skin, soothing the bruises and loosening the muscles.

Sun Squirrel wearily pulled on his uniform and wandered out into the common area for the boys in his class. Remembering the ill-fated wrestling match of the previous evening, he stuck to the fringes, keeping his head down. He didn’t want Clay Squirrel to have any access to his face ever again. Though it was healing fast, Sun Squirrel could still feel the black eye and puffy lip, and knew if anyone looked at him, they would see it too.

After last nights “wrestling match” Sun Squirrel had developed an intense dislike for his dorm-mates. Loathing didn’t begin to describe it. It was more of a deep, concentrated beam of hatred burning its way from his soul to theirs. Or something like that.

All except for two squirrels who had neglected to participate in Sun Squirrel’s humiliation.

One was another squirrel on the small side, Leaf Squirrel. Sun Squirrel could see the fear in his eyes as he retreated to his bedroom. Sun Squirrel had seen Leaf Squirrel on the various obstacle courses and knew that he was agile and strong, but knew that sometimes it wasn’t enough. It didn’t stop him from resenting Leaf Squirrel slightly, but he didn’t feel the need to take out his stress ball and deform it at the sight of Leaf Squirrel.

The other was Hunk Hunk Squirrel. He too had been writing in his journal, though Sun Squirrel didn’t know how personal he was getting. As the taunts and insults began to fly, Hunk Hunk Squirrel looked up and shook his head. He had watched Clay Squirrel pin a writhing Sun Squirrel to the ground, but had intervened before things could get too far.

“Idiot, get up.”

“But Hunk Hunk Squirrel, we were just having a bit of fun with him.”

“I don’t care. It’s getting late and we all have training tomorrow. We don’t want to be sore on the almost obstacle course.”

“Giving us a break, Hunk Hunk Squirrel. We is not to be sore from wrestling this small rodent!” This came from Kill Mice, the only non-squirrel at SQUASH. No one really knew how he had gotten into a private school for squirrels, but no one really seemed to care.

Sun Squirrel sat in the corner of the common area outside of all the bedrooms that night, while the other squirrels were being stupid and wrestling. Sun Squirrel pulled out his journal instead. All the students were encouraged to keep journals, but it was no secret that the staff read them during the day. Sun Squirrel found it an entertaining pastime to write completely untrue things, or even true but unbelievable things, and see how the teachers treated him (but mostly the other students) differently.

Clay Squirrel wet the bed again tonight. I don’t know how people can stand to be around him.

Sun Squirrel read it again, and then scribbled it out. He wasn’t cruel.

…stand to be around him. I feel…confined. I want to get out of here. Not get out as in outside, but get out as in go somewhere where no one knows me. I don’t want to stay here and be treated like some sort of outcast just because I don’t believe we should attack every bear or fox or whatever that we see.

Sun Squirrel read the last sentence and scribbled it out.

…whatever that we see. I don’t want to be forced into using the creepy shower just because I'm the smallest.

Sun Squirrel took great pains to hide his distaste of SQUASH, and he knew any sort of pacifist talk could earn him a spot in the counseling group. He also really wanted them to fix the creepy shower.

“Hey you! In the corner! What’s your name again? Love Squirrel?”

“Wait, I think it’s Baby Squirrel!”

“Mama’s boy Squirrel!”

Sun Squirrel watched the lesser minds amuse themselves with a detached look; he had already thought of a thousand infinitely more clever names to call them. However, he knew resistance was futile. They wouldn’t understand half the things he said anyway.

“Hey Tiny, come wrestle with us!”

“Yeah, we’ll go easy on you,” this came from a squirrel with patchy fur and a funny nose. Why would they associate with this lowlife, but make fun of Sun Squirrel because he was small?

“Rock Squirrel, go blow your nose. You look disgusting.”

Never mind.

“No thanks, I’m fine,” Sun Squirrel gritted his teeth, knowing he could take them all down in theory, but not particularly wanting to test that theory.

“Oooh, is the ittle wittle baby scared?” Of course Sun Squirrel was scared. He was stuck in a room full of stupid squirrels who wanted to try and pin him to the ground with their muscle and body weight.

“Of course I’m scared. I’m stuck in a room full of stupid squirrel who want to try and pin me to the ground with their muscles and body weight.”

The room went silent. Even Rock Squirrel, upon entering the room was able to read the signs and keep silent.

It was the third day at the Squirrel Academy for Super Heroes, more commonly known as SQUASH, and he had already screwed up.

Sun Squirrel sat in the tree on the edge of the almost obstacle course, a precursor to the pre-obstacle course, which in turn came before the actual practice obstacle course. As SQUASH was primarily a school for defense training, the curriculum was comprised of many interactive training courses. However, as he had been pulled out of that day’s lesson, Sun Squirrel merely dozed in the warmth of the afternoon.

The light filtered through the trees and his vision was drawn upward by a fly circling around his head. He swatted at it with his right paw, but missed. Just like everything else I've been doing lately. Sun Squirrel had been unhappy since the initial day at the academy, but there was nothing much he could do. He had no friends.

The small squirrel ran both paws over his face and shook his head. He stared at the beautiful sky, clear with just one cloud shadowing the sun. The cheerful sun seemed to mock Sun Squirrel and, not for the first time, he wished he had been named something else. All his life, he had been expected to keep his chin up, but his stature had drawn bullies to him like flies. He wished his tormenters would actually turn into flies so Sun Squirrel would be the biggest for once, but was reminded that flies tormented him as well.

He took another swipe at the fly, this time with his left paw, but it was ineffective. Sun Squirrel wanted a vacation. He wanted, no, he needed a change of scenery. He needed a whole new world.

Sun Squirrel knew there were other planets out there, but since no one he knew had ever been to one, everything he knew was basic, rudimentary knowledge. On other planets, children of five IS years knew more than he. But at SQUASH, no one ever mentioned interplanetary travel. It just wasn’t taught.

His eyes refocused on the other squirrels leaping through the trees. He longed to join them, but ever since the combat suit incident he had been banned from physical activity with the other squirrels for one week. It wasn’t his fault, not really. He just had an excessive amount of energy and an overactive imagination. Although, to be fair, he supposed he wouldn’t like it if someone had punched a hole in his training suit because they thought they saw a spider crawl into it.

Sun Squirrel wrenched himself out of the unpleasant memory and gazed out in the other direction, but all he saw were more plastic redwoods.

Sun Squirrel was not a fighter. He was clumsy, and more inclined toward diplomacy than any sort of physical combat. However, he seemed to be the only one who realized it. His parents, not knowing what to do with his energy or unorthodox ideas had sent him to SQUASH with the hope that he would learn how to dedicate his mind to something, but so far all he had learned was not to touch the other students’ clothing.

He sighed, and turned back to Gardenia, the only other squirrel not participating. Gardenia had notoriously bad eyesight and was excused from participation in GYM class, the general youth mountain-climbing class. But, since they were in the SEP class, squirrel exercise program, Gardenia was just skipping class.

Sometimes Sun Squirrel wondered how Gardenia had ended up with her name. It was out of the ordinary, and while on another squirrel it might have been interesting, on Gardenia herself it was simply distasteful.

“Do you ever think about what would happen if one of those buffoons fell to their death?” Gardenia was a bit morbid.

“Never,” Sun Squirrel actually didn’t mind the thought, because he was not overly fond of any of them. Not even Gardenia, though his ban from SEP had forced him to spend more time with her.  He had often thought about escaping the monotony of Forestia for a more exciting life, but there had never been anywhere to go. Woodlanimaltopia was out of the question; there were bears out there.

Sun Squirrel was aware that Gardenia had continued talking, but he didn’t really care, so he closed his eyes and tried to listen for the sounds of the river. It was ridiculous, there was no river anywhere near the school, but when he lived at home, a river ran outside his window. Sometimes he could still hear it if he was homesick enough.

He imagined his home, an expansive tree house that was always full of life. Most of the life was Sun Squirrel, because he had the most spastic behavior, but his four siblings added to the noise and confusion that had made up Sun Squirrel’s life from the moment he was born until one week ago.

Sun Squirrel missed his family, but he missed his brother Cloud Squirrel the most. Cloud Squirrel was six years older than Sun Squirrel and had always looked after him. He may not have taken care of him, he actually had put Sun Squirrel in danger many times, but Sun Squirrel had always known he was cared for.

“BRAAAAAAAP,” a bullhorn sounded the end of SEP. Hathaway, the coach, yelled at them to get back inside. “You! Sun Squirrel! Inside, now!”

Sun Squirrel dragged himself up. Gardenia never shut up, did she?

“Gardenia, shut up.” And still she didn’t stop! What was wrong with Gardenia? Did she have trouble understanding things?