THE NUTTY NEIGHBOR

We had a flying squirrel as a pet when I was about thirteen. Smokey was nocturnal and spent his sleeping days in a little birdhouse placed over our window cornice – inside the house. Late at night he – or she, we were never quite sure – would daringly leap from his house and we would hear his little toenails sliding down our hallway. He liked nighttime explorations and scrambled all over the place. One weekend we had visitors and, as was the way back then, they slept on our fold-out couch/bed in the living room – Smokey’s room. We were all awakened at 3 am to Shirley’s blood-curdling screams. She was certain a snake was in the bed with them! We turned on the lights and Smokey dashed for his birdhouse. All the kids were roaring, it was so funny. Shirley and her husband Don politely declined to stay the rest of the night and got a hotel room nearby. Their visit was all around enjoyable, but that first night became part of our funniest family history! Zipper, here in the ShambleJam comic strip series, is my homage to Smokey.