Summer…What’s not to love…finding a patch of green grass in the back yard on a sunny day and catching the rays…Mother Earth below your belly…the sun radiating heat and energy…zapping you with revitalizing energy…. Moving to the shade once you are done like a dinner… Then demanding re-entry to your air conditioned home…sprawling out on the cool hardwood floor……
But uh, oh those Summer nights….because we all come together…at the front porch… around the cherry tree…and like the Garden of Eden… we connect…yet remain aloof…respect…yet don’t invade the invisible circle around each family… We observe…we learn…we retreat…all glad of our own unique relationships and abilities that we were blessed with…especially with Momma and Wonder Boy (who won’t even step on a snail or kill a spider)… a bit overboard but the cats, often get there before him…and it doesn’t end well for them – the snail is sent airborne…the spider pawed….because, well, cats are predators…they can’t help it any more than I can help being…square built….
Recently, on a balmy Saturday night when the stars were high in the sky and the moon enticing our attention, Wonder Boy and I went out to sit on the bench, at the front door, which faces the cherry tree. In a flash, Bad Boy Andy and Diva Calico Gen were at our side, lying facing forward with their paws tucked underneath their body, heads erect, taking in the ambiance, no aggression but alert to all possibilities…. A welcome to the Jungle Sphinx look….
It didn’t take long for Mr. and Mrs. Grey Squirrel (who are are on first name basis with Wonder Boy) to arrive with their latest batch of baby squirrels, now old enough, brave enough and foolish enough to try to get closer to the cats then is probably advisable but although our Bad Boy and Diva wouldn’t hurt them, they would gladly bestow a cautionary ‘back off’ flick of a clawed paw.
Mr. and Mrs. Grey Squirrel have zero fear of Wonder Boy and seem to depend on him to give them and their offspring three square meals a day …a Cash for Life agreement…never signed…strictly honored. If Mr. Grey Squirrel is off on some Secret Mission and doesn’t show up for two days, Wonder Boy can’t help but worry….. Trust me…I know those grey squirrels…and Mr. Grey Squirrel is especially wily…he carries battle wounds to prove it…but if any squirrel will live 25 years…bet on it being him…
Still, I hadn’t seen our Lonely Old Possum tonight, who hangs upside down from a branch in the tree, keeps to himself, but surveys….if he was around, he was camouflaged so expertly, not even the Special Forces Sharp Shooters would get a bead on him…
Fr: Morguefile By: pippalou
Still a lonely life…no apparent family or friends…his only relief from the boredom seems to be observing the rest of the world interact from rusting leaves on the trees, to swaying flowers, chattering squirrels, snarling cats, barking dogs, the inexplicable Two Foot…not even anyone to report his data collected ….Must suck to be him.
Someone was missing….oh, here they come… our cats, Bad Boy and Diva, tails twitching, the squirrels, sitting on their haunches, paws folded together in prayer, watch as The Rocky Raccoon Family approach, their eyes glowing in the dark night…
DSC_0221.JPGBy Irishbrewer7 FR: www.morguefile.com
Suddenly, Rocky Junior streaks past his family, headed towards, the steps, where he is sure the already congregated are being fed to die for treats that he wants, he needs, right now. A blood curling screech emitted from Mama Raccoon stops him dead in his tracks with an uh, oh look on his face…. Apparently Rocky Junior had surpassed that invisible boundary…again….would you just chalk it out like a crime scene so all the world could see the boundaries…Is that too much to ask, ya think?????
And so we gathered in a loosely knit semi-circle of sorts, the Two Footed Wonder Boy, the Four Footed cats, squirrels, raccoons, maybe a Lonely Old Possum, and, was that our Jimmy the Skunk peeking out from under the rose bush, all in our own world, all in our shared world, gazing at the twinkling stars, the man in the moon, deep within our own heads….and maybe I imagined it but it seemed to me…
The fairies came alive in the front garden, twirling in joy as the angels and gnomes cheered and clapped them on because:
Summer, summer…. have me a blast…Cause uh, oh those summer nights…Oh well, oh well, oh well oh, uh….Tell me more, tell me more… Was everyone there? Tell me more, tell me more…
Was it magic in the air? Tell me more, tell me more…Could you see very far? Tell me more, tell me more…Did you wish on a star? Cause uh, oh those summer nights… (Paraphrase Grease: John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John)
