Three times now, I’ve gone outside at my office, only to be tricked by a squirrel. Maybe it’s the same one each time, or maybe they all have magical powers. Or maybe I’m just seeing things.
When I first go out the door, there is a suspended stairwell leading up. To the left of the stairwell is some space. To the right is some space and then open grass (where the squirrels usually are). And, since the staircase is suspended, you can walk underneath it, if you crouch a bit.
I walk out, and go to the right of the staircase, near the grass. And I see a squirrel on the sidewalk. He’s afriad of me, so he darts under the stairwell. I continue to walk further along the right of the staircase, while monitoring the only other exit available to the poor guy. I imagine he’s scared and just wants to leave, and I don’t want to stop him from doing that. So I move as far as away as I can while still being able to see.
The squirrel never leaves. So, eventually, I go back around to the other side of the stairwell to see the very small (3′ x 3′, max) patch of space that I can’t see from the otherside (the portion directly behind the part of the stairwell that touches the ground). He’s not there. He’s not anywhere. He’s gone. But how? There’s no way to leave except going back under the stairwell, where I’d see him clearly. Or by going in the front of the stairwell and then out which would be more difficult for me to see, but, still, he couldn’t actually get out of the this enclosed space and into the grass without me seeing him.
Of course, I guess he could be sneaking around the far corner of the stairwell, and going up the stairs. And I might not see him there for the first 8 steps or so… but, by the time he got the platform I’d surely see him, as I’m standing right next to it and it is as my direct eye level. But I never see him leave, and he’s always gone.
This has happened three times now in the past week or so.
I think there’s something in the water. Either mine, or his.