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Dear Readers, we are about to embark on an exciting search for an albino squirrel. Read Part One of the following story by Vicki Moss. After the story you will find details about a contest we will start next week called "Where in the World is the Albino Squirrel?"By next Saturday when we post the second part of Vicki's story, you will have all the necessary components you need to search for the albino squirrel. The entrant who tracks down the squirrel hidden somewhere in cyberspace will win a $15 Amazon gift card and a can of mixed nuts.
Well, enough from me. On to the story with more details about the contest following.
WRITER RAT
by
Vicki H. Moss
Eating lunch one day beneath an oak tree at Vine Street Market, an
assertive squirrel crept closer to the table I shared with my friend
Suzanne.
“Shoo-getaway!” growled Suzanne as she stomped her foot at the encroacher.
The varmint refused to back off. With a that-turkey-sandwich-is-mine
look mirrored back through dark beady eyes, he jumped a half foot closer.
Suzanne shrieked and stomped again. The squirrel retreated and hung
upside down from gray bark to glare at us.
“What’s the big deal?” I asked. “It’s just a squirrel.”
I’d grown up with a flying squirrel living in my brother’s pocket and a
forever escaping hamster named Ambrose who could be found in my
brother’s dirty clothes pile.
Suzanne shivered with disgust. “A squirrel is nothing more than a rat
with a fluffy tail. They’re nasty and they give me the creeps!”
Wow. After that, I never looked at my mother’s squirrel and dumplings
the same. Suzanne was right. They were also a home for fleas. Rats had
been known to carry infected fleas harboring bubonic plague. I’d just
never before pondered a squirrel’s downside.
Later, while on vacation in Beaufort, South Carolina with my mother and
girls, I spotted an albino squirrel. Cool! A squirrel with pink eyes. I
threw the stick shift in park. I grabbed the camera I always kept on
hand for cute and extraordinary Kodak moments.
“Sit still.” I eased the car door shut.
Mother adjusted her glasses. “It’s just a squirrel.”
“I know – a rat with a fluffy tail.”
“It’s just hanging on a tree!” said my observant ten-year-old daughter.
“Yeah,” piped my eight-year-old with the bobbing ponytail.
She squinted. “He’s not even doing anything special.”
“Look closer, gang,” I said, my mouth near drooling from anticipation. I
whispered, “He’s albino.”
At first glance, everyone failed to recognize that this rat with a
fluffy tail was extraordinary. White instead of gray. There was a story
somewhere in this freak of nature. For he had to be a freak because he
was different, right?
Bio – Vicki H. Moss is an award winning writer who’s poetry and many
stories have been published in magazines. With a two time award winning
YA novel waiting for the right publisher, she’s presently working on
Christian romance novels and a couple of women’s nonfiction. To find out
more about her work, go to www.livingwaterfiction and hang out awhile.
As for "Where in the World is the Albino Squirrel?", next week I will give you a list of blogs to search for the same Albino Squirrel you see pictured here. Visit each of the blogs listed to see if the squirrel is hidden somewhere in one of that blog's current posts. Send me a list of every blog where you find the albino squirrel. The entrant who finds all the squirrels will be the winner. As I'm sure there will be multiple winners, Vicki and I will utilize the scientific method of drawing the winning name from a hat.
Because of different countries' regulations, we regrettfully restrict the contest to entrants living in the U.S. only. Sorry. Now don't forget to check back next week for a list of blogs where the squirrel may be hiding.
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