there have been a series of violent squirrel murders. i'm almost certain that one of our neighbors is in possession of a wild dog, (okay, a guard dog). i have a particular dog in mind though i cannot confirm or deny that this dog is the culprit in question. my neighbour, a middle aged women, cloaked i the skin of a grey jogging suit, purposely walks this dog at the very earliest of mornings. she keeps a harness on its mouth. it looks like a large wolf, (but it isn't a large wolf), and my bias in calling this dog the culprit of such squirrel murders might stem from the one time i stepped out of my house at around 7am, a couple of autumn's back. my father was about to drive off in the car, and i, as usual, denied his offer for a lift, because i favour ipods, walking, and thoughts - but as i stepped off the curb, this women walked by with her dog, and at that moment this dog would lunge at me with a violent growl. it was incredibly startling, and i remember mostly, that it pissed me off. what the fuck, my brain voice said. my body language too, no doubt. most surprising was when the women turned around, and acknowledged what had just taken place, by then sharing (with uncomfortably great sympathy) that she was, "so sorry! i didn't see you!" to this day, i find this comment very unsettling. what difference does it make if you saw me or not - are you saying that if you weren't around, you're dog had the mindset to attack me? so now, i think the dog kills squirrels.
one of the first murders i saw took place at the stem of a tree. i didn't see the murder itself, but i saw the body. and the squirrel lay sprawled across the ground, bloody, with pieces of its pale fur scattered around. like it had been violently ripped apart. as is custom in this city, the roadkill lay dormant for weeks, and each day i would pass the squirrel seeing it rot as the bugs charged at it. this was upsetting. it remained upsetting the second time i saw a similar rotting corpse, this time in a different location. most upsetting was the day a lady in distance, waiting at the bus stop, frantically waved at me to stop walking, only for me to notice that if i had continued at the pace i was going, i would have stepped on tiny grey fetus-like bodies on the ground. they looked to not have formed eyes yet, and in my total shock, i looked up to the strangers waiting for their respective buses with a look of horror and a need for answers. they looked on sympathetically as they too had been stopped on the verge of realizing they were about to step on the dead bodies of baby squirrels. we deduced that their mother must have gone missing, and somehow their bodies had been knocked down from their nest in the tree. i quickly thought back to the decaying body i had seen all those months ago.
and now i believe that the squirrels in my neighbourhood live in fear of this dog, (it should be noted that this is all very much a theory, yes), and i believe that they are fighting for their streets back. this seems to be the only way i can justify their complete lack of fear in any and all human contact. they do not fear my steps anymore, nor do they fear my tall presence. my self-deprecation has come to weigh to such a degree that i now fail to gain the respect of things less than half my size. just now actually, i saw three of them chasing after the other. a fight club. now these creatures passionately run across streets as cars screech by - as if something has instilled a squirrel death wish on them all. and today, when i saw this line of 3 bounce across the street, the last paused, perked up, and heard my footsteps. it turned around, looked directly at me. it had a black eye. i stared back. after a pause, it charged straight at me. i jumped and ran for my house. "oh my god, does anyone else see this squirrel chasing me?!" i audibly mumbled. panting, i reach my doorsteps, only to turn around and see nothing but an empty drive way.
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