Squirrels, Dragons, and Snacks
by tannim
February 11, 2010

	"Go away...  Go AWAY, you damn gnat." The small wingless dragon muttered while swinging a hand at it irritably.

	The gnat buzzed off after a few moments and his tail swished lazily back and forth over his back.  He lay on his belly in the soft tall grass of a soccer field.  The sun beat down on him, despite the promised clouds and rain that had been predicted.  He had his book on the ground before him, his bowl of salty mixed nuts just a few inches away from that.  It was a quiet day, not counting the light wind, and he was determined to enjoy it, hot sun or no.

	His light brown scales shone in the sun where not partially shaded blades of the tall grass.  He really was quite little.  At seven inches long, as he lay, he was smaller than the squirrels who regularly pestered him. They all wanted his chips or his pretzels whatever he brought.  They were especially eager to steal nuts when he brought them.

	Not only was he a bit shorter than the squirrels, he was thinner than they were as well as well, but what he lacked in size he made up for in intelligence.  The squirrels didn't like to be too far away from their trees, and he was quite a distance from the nearest one.  Still, some of the little blighters just couldn't resist trying to sneak up on him.  Some didn't even bother to sneak, they'd just walk up to him, and try to grab something and run.

	With no wings he couldn't fly away from them.  With no magic he couldn't make them leave him alone.  His teeth and claws were smaller than theirs as well.  Even so, he had his ways of dealing with them.

	The small dragon glanced up at a rustling nearby.  The tall grass nearby swayed as a squirrel hopped through it in a quick run.  It stopped when it saw him, nose twitching and tail flicking behind it curiously.

	Sighing to himself he carefully spread a clear plastic sheet over both open pages and dug out a single nut.  An unsalted pecan, he knew too much salt wasn't good for squirrels, from a little bag he kept under the book.  The squirrel scurried closer, with the dragon waiting patiently.  He held the nut up  so that the squirrel could see it better.  His hand swayed back and forth gently.

	The dragon dug his other hand into his bowl and crunched one of his other salted nuts.  The animal's ears perked at the crunching.  It was sizing the little dragon up and decided it could take him easily enough.  It crawled closer, carefully.  The dragon set the nut on the plastic on the book and pushed it towards the squirrel with one finger.

	He smirked when the animal cringed back and looked around after he moved it.  "Hurry up, you little bugger..."

	It took the squirrel a few more moments to decide to risk it, though it stared at the nut the whole time... Almost the whole time.  When it glanced at the bowl of nuts he pushed the nut around the book closer to the animal.

	He tensed, the beast was going for the bait.  His target reached out it's right forepaw slowly then   darted back suddenly.  The dragon rolled his eyes while still watching his target as it again reached out for the nut.  The dragon pulled his hand pulled back, the squirrel did too.  One final reach with tail flicking in annoyance and the squirrel jerked back and ran back to the tree line when the dragon SNAPPED the book closed around it's paw.

	"Yeah! Go on, stop trying to pester me!" He yelled after it.

	He knew the trick only worked on new squirrels a few times before the got wise to it. He knew they'd be less likely to run each time he did it too.  Still, the trick worked for now and that gave him time to think of a new way to put the excessively cute little moochers off his favorite snack.  Maybe a small squirt gun next time, he thought to himself.  That'd show them...

	"Nah... they don't make those my size." He shrugged and tossed a few more nuts  into his mouth. "Damn, how'd that Brazil nut get in there, I thought I picked all of those out."

	He frowned and spit it out, then munched on the rest. A smile formed as he heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.  A quick glance up showed him the cloud line was finally approaching.  The dragon opened the book again, ate the pecan, and slid the plastic back into place under the book.  That squirrel wouldn't be bothering him again for the day, but the others might.