The Squirrel War (Part 6)

Please read in sequence, if you haven't read the earlier parts. Scroll down.

In the fall, other people began to change their minds about the squirrels. It started weeks before the nut trees ripened. The busy little critters got a head start harvesting early and often. Then they got the gardeners angry by digging in vegetable beds, flower beds and even potted plants, burying food for the winter. Finally, they went after the goodwill of the bird feeders, when they went after the bird feeders. Bird watching ends when a squirrel arrives. They are fun to watch, kind of a cross between clowns and acrobats, but when they behave like burglars, the fun stops. The little nippers would chew holes into feeders, so as to get at the seeds more easily. So, about half of the town was having second thoughts about the squirrels. Maybe not a dislike, but certainly a doubt.

There were other annoyances. A steady trickle of curious sightseers arrived to have a look at the town buried neck-deep in attack squirrels. You know how stories get a life of their own. Especially when newspapers get to printing "the scoop". Mike Simmons was the owner of the little gas station at the beginning of town. Visitors often stopped to ask for directions, so he printed some maps that he sold for a quarter. A quarter was good money in those days. On the map, the "sights" were marked. The diner, the tavern, grocery store, drug store, all the businesses. The Reinholt residence, with a big "X" and Mr. Gramm's house, another big "X". Yeah, you can guess what started to happen. And to be sure, most people were respectful, they just drove by slowly, kids gawking and Parents pointing. Sometimes some would stop and go up to the Reinholt's house and knock on the door. Of course, nobody was home. Different story at the Gramm's. Word had it that some actually were real mean, like calling Mr. Gramm "the idiot that got that baby chewed-up". Mr. Gramm was very, very upset. He felt bad about bringing in "those damn squirrels", first time I ever heard him cuss. I felt bad for him.

Meanwhile, other than Mr. Simmons, Jerry Mac, the tavern owner and Mrs. Shelton of the (now) Squirrely Girly Diner just loved those squirrels, because of the visitors, because they ate at the diner and had a cold one at the lounge. Well, nobody I knew called them visitors. We called 'em Gawkers. Mom and I almost never went to the cafe, I mean diner, maybe once a year, since mom didn't make a lot of money. Especially now that the prices were more expensive. There was a lot of talk about that, that since the reporters, the prices went up. I didn't have a job, so I didn't know much about prices of stuff. I used to sometimes go around looking for empty bottles to take to the grocery store for the bottle refund or do stuff for people for a quarter, like pull weeds or find lost dogs, whatever there was to do. I was too small to mow yards, I tried, but those push mowers were tough to push if you were short. I only bought comics and candy, I was too young to buy a beer in the tavern, I mean, lounge, besides, I didn't like beer and I never could understand why somebody would pay a whole quarter for a glass of beer anyway. For a quarter, you could buy a comic, a coke and a candy bar! If you are careful, that can last you all afternoon.

So the town became sorta doggish and catish over the squirrels. I noticed that dogs didn't much like them, whenever a dog saw a squirrel, it would start barking loud. Cats liked the squirrels and would play jungle tiger with them. The squirrels would mostly ignore the dogs, but with the cats, they would keep an eye on 'em. If there was a cat around, playing jungle tiger, the squirrels would start making strange squawking sounds, maybe telling other squirrels that a cat was up to no good. The dogs, with all that barking just got in trouble with the humans, who saw no reason for the dog to be barking like that. So, the dogs would get beat for barking. Well, that's not fair, the dogs are supposed to bark when trouble is sneaking around.

So, about half the town and all the dogs didn't much like the squirrels. I didn't mind them either way. I liked them except for some of the trouble that happened, which I figured was mostly an accident. I didn't think they were cute or adorable, though they do have neat tails. I started to get mad about when school started. Not about school, I mean, well I would always get mad about school. Mad about the squirrels, I mean. One day at school, I realized that Jelly was missing school. I wondered when the Reinholts would come home. That evening I asked my mom about the Reinholts and when Mrs. Reinholt would get better. My mom said: "Never" Never? What? Why! I demanded.