THE CREATURE FROM OUTER TEN MILE

by Molly Bliska

One night last fall, in the middle of the night, I awoke to my cats romping all over the bed, bumping and scrambling. I quickly turned on the bedside lamp; I thought my 2 male cats were chasing Sweet Pea (female). But as I was glancing around the bed to figure out what all the commotion was about, there climbing up the side of the mattress right by me was a creature with big blinking eyes!!! I remember saying, "who are you?" - as I scrambled out of bed and ran into the living room. I closed the bedroom door with the 2 male cats in the bedroom; Sweet Pea and I curled up on the couch to go back to sleep. I figured the cats would take care of whatever it was.

When the sun came up, I opened the door to see what the cats had caught. They both sauntered out, a little peeved to have been shut in, winding around my legs, and asking for their breakfast. I searched the room looking for something chewed and dead. There was nothing!!! I quickly dressed, called my friends Bernadette and Fritz Kilander and described what I saw, hoping they could identify it, but they were as puzzled as I. So I began to take the bedding off to wash as there were droppings here and there. As I removed the pillow cases, under one pillow was a flying squirrel all curled up and sound asleep. She (I knew the sex: see below) was upset to be disturbed and immediately flew around the room; up the walls, into the bookcase and under the bed. After an hour of strenuous exercise, she was exhausted and then I gently put a towel over her and carried her outside to a nearby pine tree.

She had been our friend for several years--eating in the window box at night while the cats watched from inside. Last spring, she used a double roll of Charmin (shredded) for a nest in the outhouse.(That`s how I knew it was a female - she was in the process of organizing the nest).

Unanswered questions: How did she get in the cabin? And how come the cats didn`t kill her?