We swam for awhile and I needed to visit the (practically open-air) facilities. Since people use this small restroom to change, the door is sometimes left open to facilitate the floor drying.
This time when I entered, I was in for a surprise. I was in that sort of Chlorine daze that comes from swimming underwater with your eyes open. The edges of my field of vision were pleasantly blurry. And I saw something brown in the toilet. Inside, I panicked just a little bit.
Then I saw that it was... moving? For fractions of a second, my mind struggled to comprehend, until I realized that what I was seeing was a wet, and rather frantic, chipmunk. It seems the little thing had seen fit to drink of the cool, clean water contained within (think about it- muddy stream or toilet water? And you're a chipmunk...) But he/she wasn't prepared for porcelain. After it had slipped in, it certainly wasn't prepared for the utter hopelessness of claws on wet porcelain.
Luckily, I had come along. But having been the proud owner of numerous hamsters (including one right now) I knew better than to grab a panicked rodent with my bare hands. I found a chocolate milk drink box in the trash.
The chipmunk seemed to comprehend the plan quite quickly. It grabbed onto the cardboard drink box, and I lifted him from his smooth white near-tomb. On the floor he shivered with what I assume was a combination of cold water, lots of chipmunk adrenaline, and t exhaustion. I wrapped him up in paper towels and carried him out to the warm sidewalk. He didn't seem very wild as I carried him. Perhaps because he was so tired- but I like to think because he knew I was a friend.
There it sat for about 10 minutes, warming up and regaining strength. Then off it went. I wish him or her well.
Does this mean I have a 'spirit animal' now?
Best post so far!
ReplyDelete