One fateful night Thomas befriends a magical statue of a Silver Squirrel in a bar in Downtown Los Angeles. The statue gains life only when surrounded by weed smoke. While the statue cannot speak, Thomas can hear the thoughts of the Silver Squirrel. These are the stories of their adventures…

Silver Squirrel: Quarantine

Part 7: Think like a Squirrel

More canisters of tear gas clattered between protester’s feet. Officers with batons and shields mobilized and quickly made arrests. Protesting was officially over.

Squirrel sprung to all fours ready to escape. He knew Downtown Los Angeles like the back of his paw. There were many hideaways, shortcuts, and alleys that no one knew about or rarely used.

Eve scooped up Squirrel and held her arms around him protectively. At first, Squirrel balked at her motherly instincts, but Eve calmed as she held him close. Squirrel smiled. He would let her hold him just this once.

“I think they have us trapped!” said Eve. Squirrel felt her pounding heart.

Eve, we can escape, said Squirrel, but only if you trust me.

Eve looked down at him and nodded.

See that dark corner there? said Squirrel and pointed straight ahead. Eve nodded again.

Run! shouted Squirrel.

A gruff policeman seized Eve’s upper arm and pulled her away. Squirrel struck like a silver bolt of lightning. In an instant, he bit down hard on the officer’s hand, and Eve was free.

Run! said Squirrel. Climb the ladder past the bushes. Go!

Eve bolted for the shadowed corner Squirrel had pointed out. The furious cop gripped Squirrel by the tail and slammed him against the ground over and over. Eve glanced back. She gasped as the officer smashed the silver statue against a nearby curb.

She couldn’t stand by! Wasn’t this why they were protesting?! Tears spilled from her eyes as she realized there was nothing she could do. If she went back she’d probably get shot. The officer ceased the beating and raised Squirrel by his tail with one hand. The officer’s other hand was dripping blood from Squirrel’s bite wound. The silver statue dangled upside down, lifeless.

Eve slapped her hand over her mouth and spun around. Panic nearly took over but she remained calm. She remembered Squirrel’s words: …trust me…climb the ladder…

She had to escape.

“The ladder…,” she said to herself, “he said to climb the ladder.” She went past the dark corner, then muscled through tall, dense bushes and came upon a rusty ladder. It led straight up a narrow fire escape. She climbed until she reached the top of the building, then went to the edge of the roof and looked down. At first nothing but then she spotted the officer. A medic was wrapping his bleeding hand behind the police shield wall. But where was Mr. Squirrel?

She squinted and scanned from the rooftop. She couldn’t see through the cloud of tear gas wafting through the air. She wiped her tears and blinked her eyes into focus. There was no sign of Squirrel. She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. The world seemed to be on fire.

It’s funny how humans never look up.

Eve spun around to see Squirrel behind her lighting up a joint. He was scuffed up but otherwise, he seemed to be fine.

And humans certainly never think to climb, said Squirrel with a smile.

“Oh my god!” Eve laughed and cried at the same time. “How are you okay?” asked Eve. “I watched that policeman as he…”

Squirrel came closer to Eve and wiped away her tears.

Well, that’s the thing about silver, said Squirrel, it’s rather difficult to destroy by just hitting it. Squirrel held out the joint to Eve.

Eve laughed away her tears and instead of taking the joint Squirrel offered, she picked him up and held him tight. He placed the lit joint between her lips and she took a small hit.

“You’re really quite amazing,” said Eve, “do you know that?”

Squirrel smiled. Thomas tells me all the time, said Squirrel.

“I’ve really got to meet this friend of yours,” said Eve.

Why don’t we go meet him now? said Squirrel. He must be worried sick.

“Yes, but how will we get there?” asked Eve.

Still don’t trust me? asked Squirrel.

Eve put him down and performed a little bow. “Lead the way Mr. Silver Squirrel,” she said.

Squirrel stuffed his homemade cape into his backpack and led Eve through the rooftop door and down a long flight of stairs until they reached the ground level. They heard the chaos outside: bellows and shouting between police and protesters. Eve covered her ears and followed Squirrel into a freight elevator. Squirrel hopped and pushed the button for the lowest level.

“Where does this lead exactly?” asked Eve.

To the underground tunnels. They spread under the entire city, said Squirrel. I personally would have stayed above ground, but humans don’t climb along power lines so well…

“Yeah,” said Eve, “I don’t think that would’ve worked out so well. Tunnels are much better.”

Squirrel nodded as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened with a ding and Eve couldn’t see a thing. She scanned the dark void before her.

I hope you’re not afraid of the dark, said Squirrel.

“Uh…, no. I’m good,” said Eve and dug into her pocket for her phone. “You’ve been down here before, right?” asked Eve as she took a cautious step forward.

Nope, said Squirrel.

“What!?”

It was a strange sensation. Eve could not see a thing and the only thing she could “hear” was Squirrel’s voice inside her head. She turned on her phone flashlight and could see now that she was in a large arching tunnel made from old brick. Squirrel was a few feet ahead and she focused the light on him.

C’mon, said Squirrel. The cops aren’t stupid. They’ll know about these tunnels too. We’d better hurry.

“Right,” said Eve and jogged to keep up with Squirrel as they continued. “So what do you mean, you haven’t been down here before?” she asked.

Well, I wanted to explore these tunnels, said Squirrel, but they were occupied by the rats during the war.

“Rats!?”

You’re more scared about rats than war? asked Squirrel and analyzed Eve.

“Well, rats are quite scary…,” said Eve.

Squirrel recalled the bitter battles of the Rat Wars and pondered for a long moment. Squirrel shuddered, then shook his head to bring himself back.

Wait! he said, did you hear that?

Both Eve and Squirrel held their breath and listened. Garbled chatter of police radios came from the way they were headed. They turned around and saw flashlight beams from a connecting tunnel. They were trapped!

Shit! said Squirrel, this is why I stay above ground. He approached a 5x5 metal door at the base of the brick wall and popped it open. C’mon, he said.

“Wait, where does that lead?” asked Eve.

C’mon, said Squirrel.

“That leads to the sewer doesn’t it?”

C’mon, said Squirrel.

“Shit,” said Eve and flapped her hands as she took in sharp breaths. Then she shimmied through the passageway and closed the metal door behind her.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment…

Thomas checked his pulse. His chest felt tight and his breathing was shallow. The commotion between the protesters and police had been going on for a while now. He expected Squirrel to return as soon as it started. It wasn’t like Squirrel to just leave him worried like this!

Thomas rolled a spliff and a joint. He preferred spliffs but Squirrel loved joints. He went to light his spliff but paced the room again then went to the window and gazed outside.

“C’mon little buddy,” Thomas whispered. He lit the spliff, took a deep hit, and held it. He closed his eyes and reached out with his thoughts, but he heard nothing back. He exhaled the smoke with a sigh.

There came three knocks at the front door which startled Thomas. He pushed off the window sill and ran to the door. Squirrel usually used the window, but just maybe…

Thomas opened the door and immediately pinched his nose. A strange woman holding muddied shoes stood before him. Squirrel sat atop her head, nested in her afro.

Hi Tom! said Squirrel, This is Eve.

“Hi, uh…,” said Thomas looking down at the shoes, “is that mud or — ”

“It’s shit,” said Eve and let out a sigh. “It’s a long story.”

You’d better get a plastic bag for her shoes, said Squirrel.

“Right,” said Thomas and grabbed a recycled grocery bag from a kitchen drawer. Eve placed the shoes in the plastic bag and tiptoed inside. Thomas closed the apartment door.

“You probably want to clean up,” said Thomas.

The dread of the night melted away and a grateful smile spread across Eve’s face. “A hot shower sounds fantastic,” said Eve.

Squirrel still sat on top of Eve’s head. See, he said, now do you trust me?

He patted her head and smiled proudly at what he considered a very successful first protest.