Raymie trudged through the woods, her over-sized leather Romeos dragging along the forest floor. She was alone in this place, again her parents were arguing loudly. Things had been a lot harder since the war started for her family. Also, the Great Depression made things even worse. Now they had to ration food, but what her parents didn't know about was all of the food she was able to harvest in the forest.
Before the war, children would kick soccer balls around or swing on the metal swing-sets. Now, the street was as quiet as the forest. She had never liked the loud sound of the creaking, but she missed it now. She had never really had any friends in the city. Having Asperger Syndrome didn't really help with that either, but she, according to the doctor was very high functioning.
Her spot was in a larger juniper tree with an abundance of juniper berries. She built a platform on a spot where there was good shade and enough room. She had cleared some branches from above so she could stand. It was not very hard to do, as she was barely four feet. She loved the woods. It was a nice break from life in London.
A little skittering sound filled the quiet forest-like place. At first Raymie tensed, but when the furry mischief maker came into view, she smiled. It was Smokey. He had taken a liking to her, but still he was a little wary. The little squirrel squeaked when he smelled the nuts in Raymie's pocket that she had been saving. She took one out and reached her hand out slowly. Smokey was hesitant at first but with one quick swipe of his paw he had the nut and fiercely nibbled on it, dropping little bits of the peanut shells on the floor. Raymie softly giggled. She missed a lot of things about the Past but this is one thing that she was glad about. She had never had any friends and Smokey was a funny little companion for her. She was glad to have found this spot. She wouldn't be anywhere else if it were up to her at that particular moment in time.
She climbed up onto her platform. If she looked really far, she could see her parents house. She could definitely hear them. That was an advantage to Asperger Syndrome: You had excellent hearing. Smokey followed her, sniffing for more nuts but she kept the rest to herself. They were her rations, and she didn't want to waste it on a squirrel, no matter how cute he was.
Smokey was a peculiar squirrel. He looked sort of like a chipmunk, because he had a stripe down his back, but Raymie knew that he was a squirrel, for she had read somewhere in a book about the differences between them, and the only thing that made Smokey resemble a chipmunk was his practically invisible stripe. He had little ears and a bushy tail that, Raymie noticed, he shook whenever there was danger.
Raymie noticed lots of things. She noticed that ants communicate using their antennas and things like that.
She especially noticed a lot of things from her lookout. That was how she first found Smokey. She had gone to her lookout and saw him nibble off a Juniper twig and put it in his nest. Then he looked right at her, smelled the nuts in her pocket, and slowly, warily scampered over to her. She had put a nut for him 6 or 7 feet away from herself and he swiped it and ran back to his perch. He was getting more friendly lately. Raymie let him have a nut every time she went there.
The little squirrel had a feeling that she needed him.
And Raymie thought that he needed her.
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