14 April 2026 Tuesday

(written retroactively, 15 Apr 26)

after finishing work yesterday, i headed to pick up 
E out at his tower site. he'd gone up there to clean 
up and check on things, and his truck broke down. he's
been saying ever since we got together (december '22)
that the truck was on its last legs. something about a
cylinder misfiring and probably needing a new engine. it
started really acting up last week, and then yesterday
it finally puttered out. he let me know a few hours 
before i was able to wrap up for the day (i work with 
kids and their families, traveling around to homes in 
our county or a bordering county, trying to help folks 
shift troublesome dynamics and communicate better). so
he was waiting, and said he was starving. 

on the way to get him, i saw a small brown squirrel (bigger
than a baby, but probably pretty young) tottering 
woozily back and forth between lanes. i managed to avoid 
him, got a very short way down the rural backwoods 
highway, and turned around. 

i thought, 'he'll probably be gone," but he wasn't.
as i came back by, he was in the other lane, and i tried to 
honk at him to run off to the side of the road that had
grass. the other side, which he was closer to, was edged
by a rock wall. he moved really slowly and i could tell
now that something was definitely wrong. 

i looped back around again, praying that nobody would squish 
him before i could get there. now he was in front of me. i 
put the car in park and turned on my hazards, and cautiously
opened my door. 

i felt anxious because i saw cars starting to line up behind 
me. a man in a truck coming from the other direction stopped 
alongside me and said, "he's right under your tire." 
that helped me feel a bit less insane. i got out and waved
at the people behind me to go around. 

i had just found an old wicker fishing basket at the thrift 
shop last week for $6. i put it open in front of him. he was
crawling on his belly now, looking worn out. but i didn't see
any visible wounds other than a nosebleed. i nudged him gently
and he crawled into the basket, and flopped over on his side. 

i quickly got back in my car, closed the leather belt clasp
on the fishing basket, and set him in the passenger seat. i 
plugged the hole in the top of the fishing basket with a 
knit hat that had been sitting there. 

i called E and asked him to get a box ready. 

"who do you have?" he said. "is he alive?"

[journal entry in progress]