Chris Lora

The Barn Owl

Streaks of light beam from the horizon over a forest of deep green trees, the sun radiating the last of its’ warmth and brightest of its’ light for the day. Deep below the horizon and the canopy of branches and greenery, a six week old baby squirrel sits on the ground atop the soft soil and decaying foliage. Barely having opened its’ eyes for the first time two weeks earlier, the squirrel enjoys indulging its’ curiosity of the terrain outside of the nest for the first time. As the young squirrel looks around searching for anything that catches its’ attention, it hears the chirps of other squirrels sounding off from every direction throughout the forest. Suddenly something catches the little squirrels’ eye, a small piece of a broken acorn. Curious, the squirrel excitedly scampers over to it and pokes at it with its’ little paws. After a few moments, the squirrel picks it up and takes a tiny bite of the fibrous substance layering the inside. It happily emits a squeak after the first bight, never having tasted anything like it before yet somehow feeling as if it was an incredibly familiar flavor. The young squirrel gleefully begins nibbling at the remainder of the acorn.