The shadows were getting a bit long when we pulled into Brevard, NC around 5:30 PM. Situated at 2,225 feet above sea level, the town of 7,775 is the seat of Transylvania County in the Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. We were there for the white squirrels and their accompanying swag, but it was Sunday Night, and most of the merchants of Brevard had already rolled up their sidewalks.
There were a few establishments open for business, though, and when we entered one of them a little after 6, I replied to the friendly greeting the clerk gave me with a terse, "When do you close?"
He laughed it off. "I'll be open for at least another 30 minutes," he said, and then waving to the sidewalk displays outside, he added," I won't even start bringing that stuff in for another half hour, so take your time."
I thanked him, but before I could follow Heidi deeper into the shop, he asked, "What brings you all to Brevard?"
"We're just passing through," I started, and then, in a quite uncharacteristic way, I filled him in on the fact that we were from the Washington area and we saw a white squirrel, so I researched them and found out about the colony in Brevard, then we were visiting my sister in Atlanta and decided to stop in Asheville on the trip back, so how could I not stop in Brevard?
He nodded politely, and when I was done he said, "My sister lives in D.C. and she has a white squirrel that she feeds. Are they common up there?"
"I don't think so," I replied. "I've never seen one before. Has your sister seen many?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "It's kind of a long story," he told me. "I've never met her before. We just connected over a DNA test."
I nodded. "And white squirrels, I guess."
"Yeah, those, too," he said, and then he started in on the flying squirrels he and his wife have at their home outside of town.
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