First Flight

Short story. Flying squirrel inspired.

Sabrina is about to reach her 3-month birthday. This is a big deal because this is the age she starts gliding on her own. Out of all her siblings, she’s the last to take to the air, and they are really teasing her about it—from a tree they glided to 40 ft. away, just to rub it in. As a “flying squirrel” she wants to surprise her BFF by gliding from her home tree to her best friend’s tree about 22 ft. away for her first long attempt. An impressive goal for a wee squirrel like Sabrina. She is nervous about taking her first flight, or more accurately, her first “glide” at this distance. She is even more excited about the independence that comes with learning to glide among the trees safely. Sabrina has practiced with a few hops and small leaps. And while her landing spots within her home tree are good ones, she’s still learning to navigate around pinecones and small branches when coming in for her landings.

Just four days ago, Sabrina mini-glided down to her mom about 4 feet away landing on a large branch, but then propelled forward a bit, hitting hard against the trunk of their tree.

She rubbed her head. “Mom, I feel so clumsy,” Sabrina groaned, ignoring the laughing chatter coming from her siblings. From a tree 45 feet away this time.

Her mother reassured her, “That is perfectly okay, Sabrina, everyone feels clumsy in the beginning—even your brothers, you are just learning! You are doing great with choosing your landing spots.”

(Her mother had to say that. Sabrina is actually quite unusually clumsy for a flying squirrel. Her family knows it, her BFF knows it, but they love her and support her along her journey. No matter how bumbling.)

But these rough landings were becoming squirrelly, intrusive thoughts in Sabrina’s head. She was starting to lose confidence in her abilities. Her best friend noticed this. Yesterday, Sabrina swooped down to her from a higher branch and bowled her friend right off the branch. Sabrina gasped, partly from the hit and partly from the sight of her BFF taking it in stride as she glided ever-so-gracefully to a neighboring tree.

“I’m okay!” she squealed back to Sabrina. And they laughed.

Sabrina watched her friend run up the tree she just landed on, leap from a very high branch, and glide down, down, down. Landing solidly on the branch next to Sabrina.

Sabrina winced, “So sorry! I was distracted, I thought I was going to hit that pinecone,” she said pointing to a pinecone just above them while rubbing her head with her other paw, “and I ended up crash landing into you!” They giggled again.

“I have something for your big day tomorrow.” Her friend barely finished her sentence before she quickly darted up the tree, grabbed something out of a tiny hole, and quickly darted back down the trunk with what looked like an acorn in her mouth.

Uhh. An acorn cap without an acorn? Sabrina thought to herself, noticing a string threaded through the cap. Then her stomach growled in response.

“Oh wow okay,” Her friend dramatically stepped back with a raised eye towards Sabrina’s stomach. Of course they both giggled. Then she stepped forward with her prize, lifting it up, presenting it to Sabrina and cheered, “It’s a helmet!”

“What? No way!” Sabrina was excited now. She grabbed the helmet and placed it on her head.

“Yeah! So about 100 yards that way, there’s a huge oak tree and the ground is covered with acorn pieces—of course. And I saw your brothers playing around and they were using the old acorn caps like hats for whatever stupid game they were playing, but then it hit me—like you’ve hit me with a few crash landings, wink-wink!” She laughed at her own joke, Sabrina laughed too. Her friend continued on, rapid fire, “Anyway, I thought, this would be a great helmet for you to try and maybe you wouldn’t worry so much about hitting your head on stuff and then if you’re not worried about all that, your landing would be more…well, focused!” she wiggled her outstretched fingers in the air between them. “Most of the caps are kinda cracked or broken, but I did find this perfectly intact one. Also don’t tell my mom, but I snagged some string hanging out of a blue jay nest and we can tie this around your face to hold the helmet in place! Okay? So what do you think?”

Sabrina’s little fingers gently pulled along the string. “I think you’re a genius! Thank you, thank you!” Sabrina squealed. Then they both squealed and bounded off together as BFF’s often do.

After snacking on those delicious red berries everyone loves, the girls decided to practice some gliding with the new helmet Sabrina had yet to take off. There is a tree next to Sabrina’s home tree that is close enough that some branches almost touch. They climbed up high in Sabrina’s tree and surveyed the landing tree for a good spot. They found one about 8 feet away. Her friend tried it first, then leapt back into their tree and ran back up to Sabrina.

“I think it looks good! What do you think?” her friend asked. This would be Sabrina’s furthest glide.

“I like it.” And then she thought to herself, this will be my furthest glide. To a totally different tree!

Sabrina eyed the branch she would land on. Her friend helped her tie her new acorn helmet in place. “Well, that’s certainly a look!” Her friend playfully teased, knocking on the cap snuggly fitted to Sabrina’s head.

“Fool proof.” Sabrina knocked back on her acorn cap helmet.

“Do you want me to go first?” asked her friend.

“No, I have to do this myself,” Sabrina answered confidently, already leaping off the branch.

She felt her breath catch, her body recognizing this milestone. She felt her membranous flap fill with resistance as she glided into the next tree. Pine needles grazed her helmet but she remained focused and landed with an extra little hop to accommodate her incoming force. Easy-peasy.

“WHOO-HOO!“ her friend howled (yes, howled), as she came flying in, landing right next to Sabrina.

All afternoon they practiced, eventually extending their glides to a solid 10 feet. Sabrina was thrilled and so grateful for her friend’s thoughtful gift. This helmet changed everything! Sabrina’s confidence soared with every glide. She was excited to surprise her friend tomorrow with a 22-foot glide to her tree!

Even if I come in a little hard, my helmet will protect me, I really don’t have to worry anymore, Sabrina thought happily.

“You have one more in you?” her friend asked, “before I have to get home?”

Sabrina was already scampering back up the tree, “Try and keep up!”

They chased each other to a craggy old branch near the top. Sabrina looked over to her home tree, “Ooh! Look, from here I can land right by my nest!”

“That’s like twelve feet, you can definitely do that!” her friend squealed.

Sabrina’s siblings were gathering below, on the branch she was planning to land. They were all wearing worn out acorn caps on their heads, but it wasn’t mean-spirited, they were cheering her on! She squinted and scrunched up her nose in mock annoyance. “Watch and be amazed, weirdos!”

Sabrina and her best friend were laughing when suddenly they heard a loud crack. Tiny squirrel squeals from both trees filled the air. Sabrina and her friend were falling, hitting pinecones and bouncing off branches.

She heard a loud voice inside her head, “GLIDE! GLIDE!”

Sabrina immediately stuck all four paws straight out, her patagium catching air, slowing her fall just enough for her to take control and land on the next branch instead of bouncing. She had stopped falling. She didn’t move, she just held on tight for a moment. Then she called out for her friend.

“I’m okay!” she squeaked back to Sabrina from a few branches above.

“Okay. I’m okay too!” And they shared a little nervous laughter.

Within minutes all of her siblings and her BFF were gathered on her branch.

“Whoa! Are you guys okay? all the brothers were chattering at once, “that branch just broke and all of a sudden you weren’t there!”

“Yeah, we’re okay.”

Sabrina felt something crumbling off the top of her head. She reached up but all she felt was the little string that was once threaded through her acorn helmet.

“Oh,” her friend said quietly. She looked at Sabrina, “I’m so sorry, uh, your helmet.”

Her helmet was crushed.

Sabrina was crushed.

Her flying squirrel spirit was crushed.

Devastated by what happened to the helmet given to her by her best friend, Sabrina led the way home, climbing (not gliding) down the trunk of the tree and up the trunk of her home tree. With her best friend and brothers behind her, she didn’t see the exchange of hopeful smiles between them.

Sabrina woke the next morning, wondering if it was all just a bad dream. Her mom greeted her with excitement.

“Happy Birthday my youngest! Today’s the big day! How are you feeling Sabrina?”

“Mom, I don’t know if I can do my big glide today. I don’t know if I even want to.”

“You had quite a fall yesterday, but you can’t let that shake you up.”

“It’s not that, mom. My instincts kicked in, I was able to stop my fall. I’m not afraid of falling. It’s the landing. I’m just so, so dreadfully clumsy.”

“Hmm. Well, this is a big deal, the whole scurry is gathering for your first long glide, along with two other 3-month-olds who are ready to take their first flights too. And you wanted to surprise your best friend. Hmmm. What can I do to help you feel better?”

Sabrina didn’t answer. She felt so silly. She knew an acorn cap couldn’t really protect her, but she did like the idea of it. She thought if she spoke a single word she might start to cry, so she didn’t say anything.

“I know! How about a birthday present?” Her mom moved behind her, “Sabrina?”

Sabrina turned to see all of her brothers and her BFF huddled together, beaming with smiles, all looking at her. “Happy Birthday!” they all cheered.

Sabrina was a little confused about why everyone was so happy for her, especially after all that happened yesterday. Then she saw it.

A helmet. A brand new helmet, very aerodynamic and shining with the bright colors!

Her BFF stepped forward, “So the acorn helmet I made you was supposed to be a silly distraction, until you were gifted THIS. It’s from all of us!” She added, “I’m so sorry losing the acorn helmet ended up making you sad, but I hope this REAL helmet with REAL protection makes gliding fun for you again. Especially today.”

“Is that a helmet cam?” Sabrina couldn’t believe it! She excitedly strapped on her new helmet.

Her friend playfully teased her, “Now, THAT is a look!” knocking on the helmet snuggly fitted to Sabrina’s head and giving a thumbs up to the helmet cam.

“Fool proof.” Sabrina knocked back.

The moment had arrived. Sabrina was higher in her tree than she had ever been before. She was all alone now, fitted with her brand new helmet. All eyes were on her. The forest was quiet. No squirrel chatter, no birds. The forest had taken its deep inhale of this moment. And twenty-two feet away she could see her BFF sitting in her nest tree. This is it.

Sabrina purposefully, carefully walked further out onto the branch. A breeze was moving the smaller branches up here. There was a collective sway in the tippy-tops of the trees, encouraging one more step from this little squirrel. She moved one step further feeling the branch give way, gently bowing under her weight and just like that, Sabrina was airborne.

She felt her breath catch, her body recognizing this new milestone. She immediately extended all her limbs, feeling the familiar sensation of her membranous flap catching the air as she began her glide across the forest. She used her arms and legs to steer and her big, bushy tail for stability and to change direction as she lined up her landing. There was her BFF, arms out, huge smile, wide-eyed. Sabrina pushed her arms and legs forward and raised her tail creating maximum drag—and the curious site of a tiny, furry parachute landing softly on little padded feet. Right on target. Easy-peasy.

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©2025 Michelle Hedgecock

(Image: Inktober 2021 “Helmet” ©2021 Michelle Hedgecock)