Letter from jalundhar

The tiny body was barely moving.  When I looked down,saw the body ever so lightly moving.  I touched that furry body. Eyes still closed. I took it on my hands without thinking twice.  It fits inside my Palm. I held it close to my chest and walked fast towards home as I wasn't sure by the time  I reach the baby squirrel would survive or not. With all my heart I  hoped it would. 
Reaching home I got a towel and wrapped that tiny baby in it and kept it inside the bedroom drawer. As soon as it was down it started squealing. That squealing put on the panic button and I was worried to death. Then I thought may be feed it some milk soaked in cotton ball. That idea worked and it went back to slumberland. 
 Eyes were still tightly shut. I felt good seeing it drinking mikl and going back to sleep in the middle of it. 
Closer to evening son came running home and I found myself saying 'shhh'. He stopped and looked at me with a question mark face. His whisper was as loud as shouting. ' what mother'. I pointed to the opened drawer and he shouted,'whoa'. I rushed in to stop him from touching that bundle. Not yet. 
I took my son aside,and told him the story of how this tiny little squirrel baby fell in front of me, from the tree top,during my evening walk.  He was so excited and said, 'let's keep it with us ma' . It was easier to nod my head than going through the complications of explaining otherwise. 
At night I found myself falling in to a disturbed sleep. Atleast a minimum couple of times I woke up and tip toed to the drawer to check on it. Coming back to bed, I waited for the dawn. 
After a couple of days it opened its eyes.  It won everybody's heatrts. uch a heart. It spend most of the times inside the drawer and at night I let him spend sometime in the bed with all of us. My son said, family time. It will run around and pause to sniff at a toe in front of him or looking curiously in to your eyes. It was amusing to see it looking, squinting too close to our face. Its actions made everyone laughing and our days needed up with laughter. One time caught the rare sight of him holding husband's chin and trying to give him a kiss. The whole room burst in to uncontrollable laughter seeing that. Everyone welcomed the new addition to our family with open arms.  Not just a member, but an important one at that.
Yesterday, I saw a lethargy in him. Thought a full tummy might have made him sleepy and lazy. I Went for my walk. First thing I check up on arriving back home is that drawer. Only after seeing it sleeping as most of the times it does I can do other things. I saw something wrong that day. That small heart tummy was not moving. Panic hit me like anything. I hesitantly touched it's paws and a shiver ran through me. It's body feels stiff. It's not breathing. I didn't know what to do. I tried to wake him up. I gently shook his body.  No use..  It moved like a stick.  I slowly picked him in my hand along with the towel and held him close to my chest, for a few more minutes. Hoping against hope for a miracle.. 

I sat on my bed.  A seering pain went through my heart, tears rolled down my cheeks. 
I felt numb. I just sat there until the darkness slowly covered the whole room. I didn't want to move, or do anything. After a while I slowly leaned on the head rest and stayed there.  My son came running in to the room and suddenly stopped.  For the first time, he whispere in a voice  barely audible. 'Ma', he found his way to me and put his arms around me. He might have felt something wrong. He touched my face with his tiny fingers and felt my tears. He tried to wipe them away and hugged  me tighter. We both lay there till others started coming in. Finally the reality I had to accept.  Mechanically I moved out of the room while others took care of its body. 
That night,bedroom was silent.  No laughter. All quietly went back to sleep, or trying to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep, as I listened to the clock ticking away.  Finally sleep took over and I slept.  In the morning felt everything that happened as a dream. 
Afternoon came and I forced myself to go for the walk. When the spot where I found that baby squirrel came, I saw only beautiful pink fluffy flowers down there. A smile came to my lips,and I walked the rest of the way feeling happy that even for a few days it seems, it made us all happy, and that the memory of it is going to be there as a happy memory all our lives.