Carfax speedily scuttled down the tangled vine that bordered the large
elm tree in the park, paused and quickly looked around. He was a
squirrel, his grey-brown fur slick and clean, his triangular ears
sharp and sensitive, capturing every kind of sound and his bright
brown eyes opened wide as he surveyed the scene.

It was early and the park had yet to open, these were the most playful
of times, no dogs or mischievous children to be wary of, only the fox,
Rudlow, who lived in an old empty rabbit-warren in the west of the
park. Of course, the rabbit-warren hadn't been empty when Rudlow first
discovered it. These days though, he was well-fed and normally stayed
away from squirrels, but who knew when the rubbish-bins and garbage
would be too boring for his palate and the scent of fresh squirrel
would tempt Rudlow to the other side of the park?

Carfax used the time to scan the paths for the peanuts and bread that
were dropped for the squirrels the previous evening, when it had
become dark early, for it was autumn and the sleepy chill of winter
approached. There was little that had been overlooked by the squirrels
in the fading light of the previous night, that the night rats from
the river had not found and eaten. Their eyesight was sharper in the
darkness than the eyes of squirrels, their noses too, but more than
that, the rats were happy to roam in the darkness, bold and unafraid.
While all good squirrels were asleep and warm in comfortable nests
high in the trees.

"Carfax!" said Daedalus the crow, "did you hear? Elspeth the pigeon
died last night."

"No!" said Carfax, more in shock than disbelief, Elspeth was an old,
wise pigeon that had given Carfax good advice before. Recently though,
she had been visibly sick and found it hard to fly to the highest
treetops when people came close to her, only able to fly to the low
branches, she had to climb out of reach, by walking along the
branches. No more though.

Carfax felt sad, but only a little.

"Her health was failing, life had become hard." he said to Daedalus,
who was perched nearby on a wooden park bench, his crows black
feathering was slick and shiny, yellow eyes glittering as the sun
filtered through the trees.

"Yes, we all knew." Daedalus said, his yellow beak quivered as he spoke.

"Where?" Said Carfax.

"Her body is near the sundial, we think the wind carried it there."
Daedalus spread his wings, uttered a Caw and flew off in the direction
of the copse of lime and birch trees just past the sundial.

Carfax quickly climbed his tree and entered the nest, returning with
his very best nut clasped firmly between his teeth. He made his way to
the sundial. There was Elspeth, limp under the sundial, eyes closed,
legs stiff. Cornelius, another squirrel and a good friend was there
too, with a fine nut between his teeth.

"The rats didn't get her." said Cornelius, dropping his nut and
catching it in his paws.

"Or Rudlow." said Carfax, looking around, his nut also dropped but
fell through his paws onto the asphalt path, rolled and stopped he
quickly scooped it up again.

"She was a good friend to us squirrels, warning us of dogs...and
Rudlow." said Cornelius.

Carfax said nothing, but raced up the sundial placed his nut on it in
the shadow on the dial and just as quickly raced down again. He came
close to Elspeth. Cornelius did the same.

Together, carefully, the two squirrels gently grasped the body of
Elspeth and climbed the sundial once more, lifting her body behind
them, placing it reverently on the brass face of the sundial, on the
shadow side, beside the two fine nuts. The two squirrels returned to
the base of the sundial and sat there silently.

"Caw!" said Daedalus, so loud that it echoed through the park, it
meant: "So it begins.", the pigeons, who had been watching from above
flew down and formed a circle around the sundial.

"We thank you. Elspeth was a beloved elder." said Edgar, the largest
of the pigeons. As one the circle of pigeons walked around the
sundial, circling it three times, clockwise. "The peace between the
park squirrels and the park pigeons endures."

Cornelius and Carfax nodded to Edgar in agreement.

"Caw!" said Daedalus again, this time it was a warning, the
groundsman, Mortimer approached, wheeling a green plastic bin, a big
loop of keys rattling on his belt. He was doing his early rounds
before opening the park, whistling as he walked.

The pigeons flew up to the treetops, the two squirrels scattered to
the trees. A rain of red and brown leaves fell down as they settled.
Daedalus himself flew to the yew tree, nearest the sundial.

The groundsman saw the pigeon on the sundial, approached it and picked
up the still body, examining it quickly and then placing it gently in
the green bin, along with the nuts. He went along on his rounds.

"Caw!" said Daedalus again, the pigeons and the squirrels both knew
that this meant, "It is done." And with a sense of finality they all
said their gooodbyes to Elspeth as the pallbearer carried her away,
into the unknown, before he opened up the gates.