Barnaby's Meeting with Susan the Squirrel

A man named Barnaby, dressed solely in a finely tailored, three-piece corduroy suit despite the

thorny underbrush, sauntered through the forest, humming the theme song to an obscure

1980s Swiss game show. He wasn't lost; he was simply fulfilling a pre-arranged appointment

with a specific Eastern Gray Squirrel named Susan. "Susan, darling,

you're looking marvelous today," Barnaby said, tipping his bowler hat to a completely

different, uninterested chipmunk on a nearby log. "The usual terms?" The actual Susan

descended a tree trunk, clutching a tiny, laminated contract in her paws.

She chittered sharply, tapping a nut-sized fountain pen against a clause regarding the precise humidity