While I recuperate from my surgery, I’ve passed the time looking out my front window. Just like Jimmy Stewart’s character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, I’ve been watching the neighbors and getting to know them better. Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel have been feeling frisky lately and chase each other around the yard all day. The birds while away the hours sitting on their eggs by tweeting all the latest gossip. And each afternoon Chippy Chipmunk enjoys sitting on our stonewall to enjoy a pinecone snack. There’s something comforting getting to know the neighbors’ routine by secretly watching their private world. However, sometimes you see things you really shouldn’t see, like a murder!
It all happened so quickly! Mr. Hawk came swooping down out of nowhere and began attacking one of Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel’s relatives! Oh it was ghastly to watch as the squirrel fought for his life! I wanted to bark, but the best I could do was let out an odd squeaking noise. This immediately got Mom’s attention, who was sitting next to me oblivious of the life and death struggle taking place outside as she stared at her computer. Incorrectly assuming something was wrong with me, she began checking my stitches to see what made me make that distressed squeak. That’s when she noticed my gaze locked on the horrific events outside.
Mom screamed, “NO!” Which in turn got Chuck Billy and Dad’s attention downstairs. Instantly they came racing up the stairs to see what was wrong. Mom pointed out the window, and we all watched in horror as Mr. Hawk flew away gripping the lifeless body of the squirrel in his claws. We all sat in stunned silence trying to comprehend what we just saw. Sure we are accustomed to seeing Mr. Hawk eating the neighborhood mice and voles. He’s even dropped a couple disturbingly close to us a few times. However, up until now we had never considered him a murderer capable of killing someone as big as a squirrel.
That’s when I began to panic. What if Mr. Hawk saw me watching his fiendish act? In the movie, Rear Window, the little dog knew too much and ended up disappearing too! Chuck Billy assured me though that just my blockhead alone is too heavy for Mr. Hawk to lift, never mind the rest of me, and that he’d never be so brazen to go after one of us. But that afternoon, as I watched from my front window as Dad and Chuck Billy headed off for a walk, I couldn’t help but notice the troubled looks on their faces as they examined the blood stain on our driveway. The only evidence that the horrific event ever took place. We may never think of our neighbor, Mr. Hawk, the same way again.
Perhaps passing the time by watching the neighbors and getting to know their routines isn’t such a good idea? I wasn’t looking for trouble, but sometimes you see things you shouldn’t see. I wonder what our neighbors secretly observe of Chuck Billy and me that we don’t want seen…
