Donny and his Unlikely Companions

He sat on a bench at the far corner of the Public Garden looking slightly down, to the side and behind him. It was an unusually warm day in the city; everyone was enjoying the warm air. Of all the passer bys, he stood out. He wore a simple t-shirt, denim shorts, baseball hat and sneakers and he held a white plastic shopping bag close to his outer thigh. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him; he then picked up the bag and shook it just a bit, and within seconds three squirrels were at his feet, sitting next to him and hiding around the foot of the bench.

Inside the plastic bag was a mix of acorns in various sizes. He had been collecting them from all parts of the garden and bringing them over to the area where the squirrels were a bit smaller and were not able to fend for themselves.

I was curious to know how this man had formed a relationship with what most people in the city called the next level of rodents. I walked closer and closer to take a few pictures, before I knew it I was introducing myself to Donny and his little friends that were now sitting close to me feet. I wasn’t scared, I didn’t stomp my feet wishing they would go away, I just stood there and watched them watch me.

Donny is a middle aged, former construction worker; he’s been laid off for a few months caused by the housing industry virtually stopping new construction. Donny is not the stereotypical construction worker as I quickly found out; as he fed each squirrel that demanded his attention, we spoke of the mortgage crisis, the ramifications of rising and lowing the interest rate, subprime lending, the greed on wall street and how people like him on main street would continue to be hit hard financially, longer than what the financial guru’s were predicting, he was articulate and well-versed.

I asked Donny how he came to have so many companions in the garden with his background, he asked me to take a seat and he shared his story…“I was walking through the garden thinking of what my next steps would be and noticed a thin squirrel; it was odd since most of the squirrels here are pretty big. When I took a closer look the squirrel had a few broken teeth, and was very skittish. I slowly walked over, bent down and grabbed a few acorns, with my keys I opened the acorn and laid it down. It took a few minutes but he walked over to the acorn and ate it, ate it like it was his last meal. I opened a few more and when he had, had enough he was gone, my good deed was done for the day.”

He continued, “I returned to the same location the next day and there he was it seemed like he was waiting just for me, someone, something needed me. It’s been four months that I’ve been coming here and that one small squirrel has become many, they are my therapy, pets without the mess or cost, they need me as much as I need them.”

I really don’t know much more about Donny, nor do I need to. For a moment on a warm autumn afternoon I enjoyed a conversation with a man that was intelligent and had such goodness in his heart, that taught me that even in hard times it’s always a wonderful feeling to be needed, no matter how small the need!