September

Then today, Daire, this second last day of 'our' month, at about five o'clock in the evening, I was standing at the window of Room 115 in the Seagoe Hotel, Portadown, Craigavon.

I was just standing there, looking out at some mowed grass, with fallen leaves on it - leaves from a mature oak tree that sloped up from the base of a railed, high, spiky-topped border fence of the hotel - a fence whose purpose was to mark out and protect territory, compound-like, in this northern land of borders within borders.

I looked up at the tree - tall and proud and oblivious to its political setting. I was straining to see if there were any acorns, it being the season for acorns, when suddenly, out of the bottom of my eye, I noticed a grey squirrel, perched purposefully at the base of the trunk, scanning the grass and the fallen, dead leaves for any sign of the same fruit.

- He knows where to look, I thought.

Then he came to ground, and fidgeted around, foraging, finding, picking and nibbling, but never wandering too far from the great oak. This lasted for all of half a minute.

- Éabha and Caomhán would love to see this, I thought.

Then, all at once, a lively, large golden labrador dog bounded along the public path outside the fence. And though he was completely oblivious to the little creature on the grounds inside, the squirrel was gone! Like a flash. Taking no chances, he streaked up, first the large trunk, then off right to a long branch, then darting back left, and higher again, along a smaller branch, and so on, away and up, changing direction every time, even moving eventually to a neighbouring ash whose branches shared the air-space high above the gaze or reach of all of us weary, heavy, clumbsy dogs or people, who merely inhabit the ground.

Two or three seconds was all it took for him to be perched again, but this time looking back and down at us from far away. Two or three seconds more he was planning his next forage below. Beautiful.

*

I'm away from home this evening, Daire. But it's nice here. Nice weather - overcast, but a nice peaceful end to September.

Nice people I met today too.

And that woman from the hospital rang - Anne. About the time for Thursday. 2.10, she said. Very precise. See you then.

Love, Dad.