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Terror At Ten!

© Barbara M. Martin

Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

"LOOK AT IT!" My daughter screamed in total terror as only a child can, our quiet evening shattered. Without a second look at the nameless horror she half crawled and half stumbled across me and over the sofa and fled. Adrenaline pumping, I looked frantically around the living room eyeing the floor. Had the snake in the basement somehow found its way upstairs? As it turned out, the "it" she had pointed at was a creature on the window ledge. And "it" was thumping on the window to get in.

THIS is what she saw. It was ten o'clock at night and the critter was pressed against the glass, spotlit by our reading lamp; the furry thing had large ears, very large ears, and oh so many little teeth in its surreal wide open mouth. And big round eyes for its size. I was horrified too, even though I recognized it in an instant.

The poor possum. Furry, the size of a cat. Granddaddy sized for a possum. Gray. Not too awful in terms of damage potential, really, and according to my handy reference book, suspected to be one of the stupidest mammals alive. That made us feel a little better. And after all, it was still outside.

I don't know why he (she?) decided to climb up through the foundation yew bushes and sit on our window sill just then, or why it paraded back and forth a few times lolling its way obscenely along the narrow brick ledge. Or why it decided, finally, to turn tail and lazily dollop itself down into the bushes and off and away into the night. The last I saw of it was its naked tail disappearing downward into the darkness in a highly undetermined way. I don't know where it went or where it came from, except to say it seemed truly a primeval creature of the night. I was happy to see it go.

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