The Postscript: Red squirrel thoughts

I drove my parents to their cabin this week.

My mom is having some terrible pain in her jaw and wasn’t sure she was up to the drive, and my dad doesn’t see well enough to drive anymore. I felt lucky to spend time in the car with them, driving north. There was almost no snow. It was strange to drive so far north in the winter and see the floor of the forest bare.

The first thing I did when we got to the cabin was look for Stubby, my mother’s pet red squirrel.

Of course, Stubby is not a pet. Red squirrels are not very friendly. They are not like chipmunks, who are almost fearless, or even like g...