Two Squirrels in a Tree
Two Squirrels in a Tree[树上的两只松树]\"Holly, there's a phone call for you,\" a girl from downstairs told me when I opened the door. I ran downstairs to the only phone in the entire dorm. It was a sad-looking, clunky payphone, placed in a corner of what used to be the front parlor of a grand house but was now just an empty, dark space that was especially cold on winter nights.
It was a friend from back home, Jared. \"Zoe's dead,\" he said.
I stared at the colored glass window next to the phone. The lamp outside lit it up and cast colors on the wall. \"What? You're kidding me,\" I said in disbelief.
\"No, I'm not kidding you,\" Jared said bluntly.
\"No, she can't be dead,\" I said, rather matter-of-factly.
\"She was at a party at someone's house,\" Jared continued. \"And she and this boy were sitting on a dresser by the window, on the fourth floor. They were leaning against the window, and it just gave way and she and the boy fell out.\"
One of my best friends had fallen out of a window. It sounded like a freak accident. It sounded like a lie.
\"The guy is in the hospital, in critical condition. But Zoe didn't make it, Holly,\" Jared said. \"I couldn't believe it either when they told me. I was late to that party, and when I got there, everyone was outside talking. I rushed to the hospital, but she was already dead.\"
Jared's voice seemed to fade away. I remembered a time the other day, when I was out walking by myself, and I saw two squirrels fighting in a tree. I had never heard the sound of squirrels fighting, and it stopped me in my tracks. Overhead, the squirrels were wrestling, screaming strangely. Then they fell from that great height — as if in slow motion, because it took forever for them to hit the ground. They hit the ground with a loud plop. One of them got up and limped away, but the other one just lay there, not moving. It had left me jolted and shocked — but only a fraction of what I felt now.
Then I knew that it was real, because no one would play such a cruel joke on me. I stayed by that lonely payphone for a while, even after I had gotten off of it, staring at the peeling paint and the dirty, translucent window. I realized it was actually a beautiful window.
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