rosco vs the possum

that's fine. you can sit there and pout all you want. you deserve what you got.

one of the gates to my backyard doesn't shut fully. and it has a small gap under it as well. usually i check it after a storm to see if it has blown open, but i didn't today. after letting rosco out before dinner, i wish i had checked it.

a few minutes later i walked past the back door and realized i'd better call him in. sometimes he gets into trouble back there, like digging muddy holes or chasing rabbits and getting stuck between the fences. i called and called. no rosco. crap. i bet the gate blew open, i thought.

i suited up and went out the front, because he usually makes a bee line to the neighbors festering wildlife preserve they call a yard. i called and called, then heard barking in the back. had he gone back to our back door? i walked between the houses and caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye lunging at something. sure enough, it was the possum that we had seen scaling the fence in the back yard the day before.

rosco had the slow, lumbering beast cornered and i knew that was trouble. the eerie hissing noise the goofy possum makes pales in comparison to their bright white choppers. i reached for rosco but thought better of it...putting your hands between two animals, however small, with mouths gaping is never a good idea. they engaged again and i panicked. i swung around looking for something like a stick, and grabbed a head sized rock. i threw it right between the little monsters, which startled them enough to cause a gap between them and i grabbed rosco and ran.

keep in mind that while all this was going on, the ground was saturated with water, and i was standing in a couple inches of mud between my house and the wild life preserve. rosco was covered in mud. i tossed him into our yard and went into my front door. the beautiful mrs k was already checking the little cage fighter for bite marks when i walked into the kitchen. she really didn't want to touch him because he stunk so bad. i promptly took him to the bathroom and bathed him. he hates baths, and i hate giving them to him.

but, he asked for it.