By Scott Shephard
This photo comes from my 2002 archive. I remember looking out our patio door and seeing this squirrel calmly eating the remnant of a bagel chip. I called Deb and said we had a handicapped squirrel on our deck.
When she got to the door she said, "He's not handicapped."
Stating the obvious, I said, "He's only got one paw."
And that's when Deb said, "He seems to be doing just fine. Look how fat he is."
And so in that moment my whole definition of the word "handicapped" was thrown out the window. Deb was certainly ahead of her time 12 years ago and today the word "handicapped" isn't considered appropriate people who might be missing a hand. Perhaps the squirrel is a metaphor for the reason why?
Our cat Mac and dog Polly watched the squirrel and begged to go out. But I imagined the one- handed squirrel keeping those two domesticated cowards at bay with his one good paw and then running up a tree with his cheeks filled with bagel.
Canon D60 1/180s f/5.6 ISO200 400mm