Chipmunk

We live in Manhattan and we love the hustle and the bustle of the city life,  but we also love communing with nature on weekends at our woodsy retreat in the Connecticut foothills.

On one recent country weekend I came home from the market with a load of groceries and parked in the cul de sac in front of our garage,  a few yards from the house.  I got the shopping cart I keep in the garage and unloaded the grocery bags from the car.

When the cart is full I find it easier to push rather than pull it and so I pushed it down the path,  past my neighbor Jane’s house,  and down to ours.

A bit later I came out again to take the shopping cart back to the garage,  when I saw a chipmunk on the path ahead.   Surprisingly,  it didn’t scurry away as I approached,  and then I saw it was motionless except for a feeble swish of its tail.  Obviously it was injured and in fact one of its little legs seemed to be lying at an unnatural angle.

I felt heartsick seeing the helpless little creature lying there,  and suddenly I had a horrible thought.  Earlier,  as I concentrated on pushing that heavy load of groceries was I blind to what was on the path ahead,  and had a wheel of my cart rolled right over the chipmunk irreparably wounding it?

Back in the house I couldn’t put that little guy out of my mind,  and so after dinner I went out with a flashlight to see if the chipmunk was still there.   It was in the same spot,  and on the ground beside it was a paper plate – and then I realized that Jane was standing on the path.

She’d also seen the wounded chipmunk and had brought an offering of chopped nuts in the hope of nourishing it back to health,  as far-fetched a possibility as she knew that was.  Then we two teary-eyed animal-lovers hugged and commiserated,  and I confessed to Jane that I may have been the culprit,  and told her about the shopping cart.

But Jane allayed my fears – she and her husband had been out for the day and discovered the injured chipmunk when they got home about 4:30.  My car was not in the cul-de-sac then,  Jane said,  and in fact I knew I hadn’t gotten home until after 5:00.

Absolved at least of my guilt,  I was still heartsick and Jane and I agreed to check on our chipmunk in the morning.  When we did it was gone.

And although one might assume a night predator had carried it off,   Jane and I choose to believe our little friend ate the nuts,  regained its strength,  and is still out there leading a happy chipmunk life.

And nothing you can say will dissuade us!

– Dana Susan Lehrman