Gloworm and the Squirrelbotomy

We took the train from Montreal to Toronto yesterday, which was nice because I got to see the trees that had all changed colors, which apparently is something they do here. Then we took a local commuter train from Toronto to Burlington, where Cameron's mother and brother live and his aunt and uncle are visiting.

During dinner, the subject of toys came up. Specifically, Cameron's regret at not buying a Millennium Falcon model he saw once in the window of a comic book store, to replace the one he had had as a kid.

"But it's still here," his brother Ben said. "It's down in the toy room. I'm not sure what kind of shape it's in, though."

We went down to the toy room.

It was a closet under the stairs, with that same dusty-sweet smell that every basement room everywhere seems to have, The Millennium Falcon was not immediately visible, so Cameron started searching. Ben and I peered in behind him.

"Is that a Gloworm?" I said. "I always wanted a Gloworm*."

"Here." Cameron handed it to me an the head fell off. It turns out that a three-boy household can be kind of hard on the toy population.

I got the head back on without too much trouble, but the inner workings were long gone. We had it out on the kitchen table, trying to figure it out, and Cameron's Aunt Donna was peering into the head.

"There's something in here," she said. "I'm going to pull it out."

So she reached in, the head having been re-detached for this purpose, tugged for a couple seconds and yanked out: A stuffed squirrel. Wearing a little pilot's suit.

I'm not sure if this was actually the funniest thing I have ever seen, or if that was just the wine, but it is definitely in the top ten.


The Millennium Falcon was eventually located (along with a slightly gnawed-on X-Wing and two wings from a Tie-Fighter), dusty and with a significant number of pieces missing. I believe the restoration process is now underway. As for Gloworm, he is resting comfortably on top of my suitcase, free from his head-squirrel for the first time in probably twenty years. I think he looks relieved, myself.


*Also a Lite Brite**, but that is not relevant to this story.
**I did have a LOT of My Little Ponies.