"Damn! I was hoping to get a toaster."
"I think I saw a toaster back in the closet where we stash the extra stuff. Let me look."
He moves some furniture out of the way and opens a door which I have never noticed before. Takes a flashlight in with him and starts rooting around.
"Holy shit!" I hear him yell. "Come have a look at this!"
I go in and he hands me the flashlight and points out a sagging old cardboard box sitting on its side atop a big haphazard pile of boxes. I shine the beam of the flashlight into the darkness and am greeted by the sight of a prehistoric, fuzzy white face baring its fangs and hissing back at me, black marble eyes gleaming in the unwelcome spotlight. It looks like a giant albino rat, something that's evolved in some forgotten subterranean cave until now untroubled by the harsh electric glare of Mankind. It is plainly none too happy about encountering it now. It opens a toothy snout wide and hisses again, a mask of pure animal fear and outrage. I jump a little when I first see it, and then I start laughing.
It is an opossum.
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Today we found him dead in the other room. He had curled up under a sofa and shuffled off this mortal coil, and on his way out he shat himself. We call that "pulling an Elvis" where I'm from.
The smell was really pretty remarkable.
Posted by flamingbanjo at May 16, 2005 09:41 PM"pulling an Elvis" is pretty good. we had a bit about how "mom always told me to go before we went on any long trips, and this looks like a long trip, so..." but yours is much more succinct.
poor ickle possum. he probably just wanted some toast, too.
Posted by: anne at May 17, 2005 01:51 AM