An Ode to Scratchy Mearl Squirrel (in memory of Itchy Pearl Squirrel)

Here is a story of a boy and a girl and their squirrels....

Once there was a boy and he decided to work on the shed in the backyard. When he did he made a bigger mess than he ever thought possible. The boy was tearing wood off the shed and out fell two tiny baby squirrels. The boy wrapped the babies in his shirt and brought them to show his girl. The girl said "put them back" and the boy said "I can't". So the boy and the girl built a home for the babies with cardboard, tshirts, and rags.

The boy and the girl had to get up every two hours to feed the babies milk from a syringe. The babies then needed names. The boy and girl could not agree on names for the babies so they named them both names they each wanted. There was a boy and a girl squirrel. The boy squirrel was named Scratchy Mearl Squirrel and the girl squirrel was named Itchy Pearl Squirrel. The squirrels were loved very much by the boy and girl even though the naked little squirrels were still kinda creepy looking. The boy and girl checked on the babies every day to see if there eyes were opened yet. The girl left to go out of town for a week and when she came home Itchy Pearl Squirrel had gotten very sick because she missed the girl so much. The little girl squirrel could not handle her sadness and the night that the girl came home from her trip Itchy Pearl passed away. The boy and the girl were very sad. They decided to try really hard to keep Scratchy Mearl alive and well. (Incase you don't know, baby squirrels are very hard to keep alive if they don't have a momma squirrel while they still have their eyes closed.) One night the girl woke up to feed Scratchy Mearl and when she picked him up, he opened his eyes and saw her. He thought that she was his mommy, and the boy was his daddy. Scratchy loved the boy and girl SO much.

The boy and girl took very good care of baby Scratchy squirrel and told him stories about his sweet little sister Itchy Pearl every day. They would give him lots of milk, give him a bubble bath (only with Arbonne baby wash!), and then tuck him into bed. Scratchy loved baths so the boy and girl would give him baths everyday.

As Scratchy grew the boy and girl began to feed him all sorts of delicious squirrel treats such as carrots, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, celery, apples, and best of all...pecans! Scratchy squirrel grew up fast and loved the boy and girl even more. Scratchy began growing too big for his cage so the boy and girl made him his very own room on the screened in porch. The boy and girl were trying to teach the squirrel about how real squirrels lived outside. But Scratchy loved the boy and girl so much he did not want to leave. Scratchy squirrel would be so excited when the boy and girl came home from work that he would bounce and run all around his room and crawl all over the boy and girl as they brought him his favorite treat...pecans!! Many of the boy's friends and the girl's friends loved Scratchy squirrel too and would come visit him.

The boy and girl started letting Scratchy play outside, but Scratchy didn't like outside much and would rarely go outside alone. The boy and girl were worried that Scratchy would never learn how to be a real squirrel. One day they decided to leave the door open to the outside all day while they were gone to work. When the girl came home she could not find Scratchy squirrel anywhere. She called his name and he never came. She waited and waited but he never came home. The girl saw many other squirrels and would hurry out to see them but they would only run away, they were not the squirrel she had raised and loved. The girl left some of Scratchy's favorite treat for him...pecans!! But everytime she checked they were still there. When the boy came home he sat outside and waited for his favorite squirrel to return. It started getting dark and Scratchy was nowhere to be found. The boy and girl were very sad. They thought that it was not like the squirrel to stay out so long and thought that he would come home at night...where else would he go? He had no other home. The next morning the boy and girl hurried to Scratchy's room to see if their baby squirrel had come home. They were even more sad to see that he was not there and that the pecans had not even moved. The boy and girl had to leave for work. The girl was sad, she thought Scratchy must be dead. The boy was sad, he thought something bad had happened to the squirrel. The boy was so sad he forgot his lunch at home. He went back to get his lunch and decided to look in the squirrel's room one more time. When he did, there was Scratchy Mearl Squirrel, a little disheveled and hungry from his long night. The boy was so happy he called the girl and she was so happy she cried. They were so relieved to know that their baby squirrel was still alive and survived a night in the wild like a real squirrel, but that he hadn't forgotten where his real home was! The boy and girl and baby squirrel lived happily ever after.