A Short Story About Love

Marilyn Wright Dayton

maredayt@yahoo.com

Chic 'N Cheek, a love story

This is a love story about two chipmunks.

I write stories. I sit in front of a wall of windows that overlooks our backyard, which is a woods full of critters. When I occasionally look up from concentrating on my next words, I sometimes witness wild animals going about their days. This story is based on something I saw a couple of weeks ago.

I shall call HIM Cheek, as his cheeks are usually full of food. He sits on the storage bin where we store our patio chair cushions. He watches the world go by from his high (to him) perch. I have yet to see him jump down, instead he moves to the spot where the two bins connect. There is a safer spot for him to shimmy down face first. He is a pretty fair acrobat, but sometimes he goes too fast and falls into the grass on his face. I try not to laugh when that happens.

Sometimes we like to imagine scenarios when we see wild animals, like I wonder what they fill their days with. I wonder if they fall in love. I wonder how long they live. I am guessing this particular chipmunk is a HE.

This particular day, as I was sitting, not enjoying a lull in my writing which had become frustrating, I saw the usual brown lump on top of the storage bin. When he moved, I saw that it was him. It was Cheek, with, as usual, full cheeks. But, he was just sitting there, still...for a very long time, like several minutes. He moved to the other side of the top of the bin. Then he seemed to be waiting there again...for something. So, I stared, wondering, what was he doing? We do have large hawks, and he was tempting fate. Then, suddenly, his head moved higher, sniffing the air, looking around. He stopped and looked at me. Did he see me, on the other side of this huge window? I waved. He looked away, but still sniffed the air. Then he stretched his head forward, leaning as if he would fall down. And I saw movement in a nearby bush. And SHE came out to stand in front of the bush, facing him. I looked back at him, and he was leaning even more forward towards her with his legs very stiff. Please don't fall on your face and humiliate yourself in front of this cute female chipmunk. She turned her head away and began preening herself. Was she ignoring him? Playing hard to get? Hmmm, this was getting interesting.

So, he couldn't jump off and go over to see her, as it was too high for that. So, he slowly moved to the spot between the bins where he shimmies himself down. With the best confidential gymnastic manner he could accomplish, he slowly crawled head first down to the ground. And he stopped.

She turned her head and looked at him. He looked at her. And I swear they smiled at one another. She began moving towards him, being only two feet away. He stayed where he was and watched her. When she was closer, he moved slowly towards her. She stopped and waited. He came up to her and they touched noses.

"Aw," I thought out loud, "they are in love." They both jumped and then began a chase. He chased after her. Then she turned around and began chasing after him. "Yes, definitely love is in the air," I said, almost whispering so they wouldn't hear me. As if they could.

As they scampered off, I thought, "I should write about them. And I need to name her. She is so cute, she is Chic." I wish you had been there to see them, chasing one another, taking turns, jumping up and running after one another. Some sort of a ritual. Chipmunks feel emotions...they feel love...they feel patience (or at least he did).

So, here we are two weeks later. They now have moved in under that storage bin here in our backyard. And I see them almost every day, jumping and running together. She's a bit tentative in her movements. He is always excited, jumping and running. Shall we be seeing little "chippies" running around sometime soon??

Here are a couple of pictures I was able to take when they would sit for a few seconds. One is him on top of the storage bin, watching for her. The other is her, preening herself. She does that often.

Contact her at maredayt@yahoo.com.

See the Author's Amazon Page at https://www.amazon.com/author/marilynwrightdayton

UPDATE: Today, I happened to be at my desk and looked up as I sensed something/someone moving out there. And there they were, the two chipmunks running around, chasing each other, having fun. I went back to my work. I looked back up a couple of hours later, and nothing. Went back to work. After another hour or so, I looked back up as I sensed something. I knew a storm was coming later on, and wasn't surprised when I saw Cheek, on top of the storage bin, his usual place. He was pacing, stopping, saying/calling something, then pacing again, then calling again. Strange. And he did it all repeatedly. So, I figured she had gone off with her girlfriends and had lost track of time. He probably wanted her home before the storm hit. When I looked back up about 30 minutes later, he was still doing it. Calling, pacing... Then I saw her. He stopped and looked over at her. She was moving slowly out of a bush nearby, taking her sweet time 'coming home'. He called out to her, then went down to meet her. He chattered away at her, touched her nose with his and she followed him back to their 'home' underneath the bin. Rather than telling her she was a bad girl, I hope that he was just telling her that he was happy she had come back. Isn't it funny how we transfer our human thoughts and feelings to the animal world? I have to say that they are darn cute, adding some fun to my day. And they are both safe as it starts to rain. Happy day!