Squirky Gets Ready
The Age
Thursday September 15, 1994
AS RARE and difficult as it was for squirrels to be exceptional in any way at all, Squirky was, none the less, an exceptional squirrel.
All the other squirrels in the woods stored enough nuts to get them through winter, but most of the time they just lived on whatever nuts they came across from day to day.
Squirky, however, had a huge storehouse of nuts he was always adding to, for Squirky had a theory, a theory about the future.
``You must save for the future, plan for the future, prepare for the future," he would say to his fellow squirrels. ``What if there's another Ice Age, or a flood, or some toxic cloud that drifts over from the city and renders all the nut-bearing trees barren? What will you all do then?" ``Steal from you," they joked.
``No way," he would answer. ``I have my eyes on the future, always on the future."
Squirky was admired for his forward thinking, but it did make him a drag when it came to afternoon coffee at his place.
``How about a few nuts with the coffee, Squirky?" his friends would ask.
``No way, I'm saving them for the future," he would say, offering them a digestive instead.
``So you have your nuts, but what are your plans for the future?" they would ask.
``To be ready for it," Squirky would say. It was as specific as he ever got.
This made his friends crazy, and drove female squirrels away, even those who wanted to share the future with him.
Eventually all the squirrels grew very old, with barely enough eyesight left to keep them from bumping into trees and falling off branches.
One by one they died off until Squirky was alone, alone with nothing but his nuts, no future, and a life made empty by the fallacy that the future is something you wait for.
© 1994 The Age