Little Leothoss swatted his chubby hand at the curious squirrel, who neatly dodged the innocent attempt at contact and proceeded to run circles around the child several times. He squealed in delight as he fruitless wagged his head back and forth trying to watch the little creature. Suddenly it stopped, right in front of the child and eyed him with a single black beady eye, anticipating his move. Again, Leothoss reached out to touch it – still to violently for the animal’s taste. Again, it bolted. This drew more squeals and head jerking.
Bregoàn sat just outside of the mad circles the squirrel was making around Leothross and watched amused. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the child’s attempts to pet the creature. Finally, when the squirrel had again stopped in front of him and again eyed him, he knelt beside Leothross.
“Here. You have to be gentle. You don’t want to scare him.”
He guided his hand slowly toward the squirrel until the child could feel its coarse hair. His face beamed with a toothy smile. Unconsciously he closed his hand, pulling some hair in the process. The squirrel bolted. The smile froze on his face and he watched stunned as the squirrel ran off into the scrub, made a circle and came back to sit a much safer distance away from the little hands.
Bregoàn chuckled out loud, “Now see what you’ve done? You really scared him this time. You have to be more gentle.” Seeing that Leothross was about to burst into tears, he quickly hauled him onto his back, piggy-back style. “Come on, now. No harm done. We should go. Wave good-bye to them!”
He waved his little hand in the air at the creature. The squirrel almost winced at the threat of the hand, but with a bounce of his tail he too disappeared.
