The Creature in the Driveway

by Jim Tilley

It was sitting there dead still in the middle of
the driveway and I didn’t want to run over it,
couldn’t be certain which way it might dart at
the last moment. So I stopped, got out of my
car with my cellphone camera primed to snap
a few shots of this odd-looking, rodent-like
creature with a long, thin tail, squirrel-like
ears, and slightly humped back. The size of a
chipmunk, common in these parts, but no tell-
tale stripes, dark gray, not the rare albino I had
spotted recently, full-bodied for its overall
small size. I moved closer for a better view and
a sharper photo with the lens on zoom. Closer
yet and forward so I could see it in profile, not
from behind, and nearer still to get a view of
its head and eyes from the front. It was then I
realized that the animal and plant kingdoms
had converged in the middle of my driveway,
the object nothing but a wizened, oversized
oak leaf with stem, all somehow curled into
the deceptive form, and me left wondering
what had become of my perfect 20-20 vision
as a young man, now the sole creature past its
prime in the driveway that afternoon.