Perri Page #3

---

Perri comes at last

upon her nesting tree

and finds catastrophe.

Mother, sister, brothers, all are gone.

Not one is left, not one.

And now it's Perri's turn

to look upon the face of death.

(RAVEN CAWING)

(SQUEALING)

(MARTEN GROWLING)

Perri dashes for the brook.

The ruse succeeds,

for here's a barrier

that makes the marten pause.

She hates the water

and never swims except in direst need.

And so Perri's safe again,

but not for long.

(GROWLING)

The wildcat decides to wait.

He senses that his prey cannot escape.

(CHATTERING)

But now Perri hears

a voice much like her own

and very near.

This is Porro.

He's noisy, brave and brash,

and quite often very rash.

(PORRO CHATTERING)

He considers this

his sovereign domain,

and he's out to rout this pesky cat.

(GROWLING)

Lead the foe a merry chase,

lure him up a skimpy tree,

then shout insults in his face.

(CHATTERING)

This is Porro's strategy for wildcats,

and it always seems to work.

(CHATTERING)

(SNARLING)

(SQUEALING)

In the center of Porro's private estate,

there is an ancient log.

It's called a midden.

Here, many generations of squirrels

have stored their food

and hidden from their enemies.

The litter of shells and husks

around the log form the midden waste,

and this in turn becomes

a perfect place for hiding food supplies.

Nearby is Porro's private drinking pool,

and bathing in this water source

is frowned upon, of course.

(CHATTERING)

Being very young,

Porro has only recently claimed

this territory as his own,

and so he spends much of his time

collecting raw materials

of bark and grass

to build his bachelor home.

His house is nearly finished, though.

Just has to hang the door.

The walls are firm. The roof is strong.

In fact, the only weakness is the floor.

(SQUEALS)

(SQUEALING)

This would be a sorry plight

for a less determined squirrel,

but Porro sets to work at once

to mend his oversight.

It takes some time for Perri

to lose her lethargy of fear,

but with the danger gone, she's aware

that now she, too, is on her own.

Obedient to a natural law,

she will not intrude

upon the realm of Porro.

For the present, she will live alone.

Not far away, Perri comes

upon the ruin of a giant tree.

Although the penthouse here

is occupied,

down below and on the other side,

Perri finds an ideal home,

and by the law of Wildwood Heart,

she claims it for her own.

One look around

and Perri's off in search of food.

To the spotted skunk

who has the basement flat,

this isn't good.

It's always been a quiet neighborhood.

To be honest,

Perri is not the ideal neighbor.

Once she starts to chatter,

there's just no way to stop her,

and worse than that,

she's a chronic cone-dropper.

(SQUEALS)

Within the marten's brain,

Perri's image is fading fast.

Still, she feels the need

to overpass this brook,

and now she finds the means.

(CHIRPS)

Perri's fate rides on the fickle current,

but in the end,

the marten meets complete defeat.

(SNARLING)

(CHATTERING)

(CHIRPING)

And so Perri finds security at last,

and perhaps in some vague way,

she already senses

that her destiny is fast entwined

with her neighbor

in the nearby tree, Porro,

who still labors hopefully

with this vast unruly mess

of moss and grass he calls a nest.

The days grow short.

A time of change begins.

The air is crisp and cold.

Nature paints her trees

with autumn hues,

and all of Wildwood Heart

becomes a symphony in gold.

Autumn is a time of preparing,

and Porro, in a perfect frenzy of haste,

is determined

that not a single pine cone

shall go to waste.

Perri, too, is busy

gathering winter stores,

and on one of these crisp autumn days,

she goes beyond the limits

of her own territory,

deep into a part of Wildwood Heart

she's never seen before.

So far from home, she gets confused,

and to find her bearings,

she climbs a tree.

(SQUEALING)

This simple act

turns out to be a very grave mistake.

(SQUAWKING)

This is the grove of the crooked aspen,

the trees twisted and deformed

by some violent

and long forgotten storm.

To Perri, it's strange and frightening.

(CHIRPS)

The snake is really not a threat.

Perri senses this,

and yet she takes no chances.

It's just as well,

for in the aspen grove,

death also dwells.

This is the private hunting ground

of the swift and cunning weasel.

(GROWLS)

Perri has a small advantage in the tree.

The weasel isn't quite as nimble

as a marten,

and Perri might elude her enemy,

but now she takes a one-way path

and puts herself in double jeopardy.

(CHATTERS)

(SQUAWKING)

(CHIRPING)

(YELPING)

(SCREECHES)

The goshawk's talons find the weasel.

Perri's free.

(CHIRPING)

The winds of late autumn,

as though jealous of the lovely leaves,

rip through Wildwood Heart

and tear them

in a golden fury from the trees.

And these winds blow ill

for more than one,

for now down comes his castle,

Porro and all.

(CHATTERS)

(CHIRPS)

Well, this time, it's too late to try again,

so Porro takes refuge

inside his midden log.

After all, it's well supplied

and probably safer than his tree.

(PATTERING)

In fact, a squirrel

could be very happy here.

That is, if he enjoys noise.

(PATTERING)

(CHIRPING)

(PATTERING CONTINUES)

(SQUEALS)

To get a foot in the face

in one's dwelling place is bad enough,

but when an amorous grouse

uses your house to rehearse,

(THRUMMlNG)

that's worse.

(CHIRPING)

It's the raccoon that decides it, though.

(SNIFFING)

This time, somebody's got to go,

and, of course, it's Porro.

(CHATTERING)

And so night finds Porro

in his tree again,

but unprotected now.

(OWL HOOTING)

(PORRO SQUEALING)

Luckily, in a nearby aspen tree,

Porro finds a warm, inviting nest,

but before he even gets

a chance to rest...

(GRATING)

"Well, nowhere else to go. This is it.

"Look out below."

(CHATTERING)

(SQUEALING)

(HOOTS)

And so for poor, proud Porro,

there remains but one alternative.

Although he is by birth

a treetop dweller,

now must he live all winter long

beneath the earth.

Now, through many days and nights,

nature, grand mistress of design,

redecorates her stage in white,

and with each dawn,

another time of beauty

lies upon the land.

At first, this is a time of silence, too,

but as the morning sun

grows warm and bright,

it wakens

every sleeping bush and tree,

creates a rhapsody in white.

For Perri, with her store of winter food,

winter is a time of waiting,

but not for the marten.

Indeed, this is her time

of greatest need.

The snow provides a cover

for her natural prey,

and to allay her thirst for blood,

she's in a constant frenzy.

(CHIRPING)

Still, Perri feels quite secure,

and out for a touch of sun,

she joins her friend, the mouse,

the winter tenant

of a robin's empty house.

(SQUEAKS)

Just one look

at this tempting meal across the brook

makes the marten

try her luck once more.

On the water's whim,

Perri's fate rides once again,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes