White Squirrel

On the walk back to my car from work on Monday I had a rather strange encounter. Along the sidewalk in an underpass of Michael Reese Hospital I was shocked to find a white squirrel. I had recently taken to identifying any squirrel that came my way, but this one was a shocker. It had no real definite color just paper white with gray-brown eyes. I figure it was an albino version or some genetic mutation, but something still wasn't right.

As I observed it I noticed its movement patterns were quite odd. Most would agree that wild creatures do not dodle and walk in straight paths. I recall from a lesson in a nature class as a child that only domesticated animals would wander about. The white squirrel that I ran into had a confused walking pattern. It would run from the left of the sidewalk to the right and then straight up and down the street, reminicent of a troubled person looking for their keys. More odd was its attraction to people. Several times it approached pedestrians minding their own business and made eye contact before darting away into its ambigous mission once again.

Quite frankly with this one I have officially had enough. If someone would care to ID it from this post be my guest, but I am done with my squirrel gazing. Grey, fox, albino, their all just mush on the road at the end.