The possum

There is a possum living in our garage. I first met it in the autumn when I peeked out the window and saw it sitting on the deck, scarfing down the food that we put out for our outdoor cats. My favorite outdoor cat was sitting just a couple of feet away, but when it inched towards the food, the possum turned its head very slowly to look at the cat, and the cat backed up again in a hurry.

I rushed to the porch and flung open the back door, shouting, but the possum did not seem afraid of me. It turned its pinched white face to look at me then lumbered off the deck almost leisurely, trailing its hairless, rat-like tail behind it. Without thinking about what I was doing, I picked up Emily's patent leather shoe, which was sitting by the door, and I threw it at the possum. The shoe bounced off its rounded back, and it sped up just a bit and disappeared under the deck. I slammed the back door and stood looking out its window. I did not want to go outside again, but Emily's good shoe was now sitting in the dirt by our deck. When I gathered up enough nerve to open the back door again, a deep growl rose up through the deck below my feet, and I stepped right back inside the house. I finally retrieved her shoe, armed with a broom handle.

Earlier this month, I literally walked right into the possum. For some time, I had been feeling rather annoyed at my husband for placing a big pile of leaves by a stack of boxes in our garage. I had to get something out of those boxes, so I waded into the leaves, and my ankle brushed something warm, furry, and solid. I leapt onto a plastic storage container, which crackled under my weight, and I listened to the possum wiggling around in hiding space he had found in a stored set of shelves. When he started turning around to look at me, I fled again, grabbing a big box that I could throw at him if needed.

On Christmas, when the outdoor cats did not come eat their dinner at the regular time, I suspected the possum would soon show up, and it did. Even after I had scared it away, the cats were wary and would not eat unless I sat down with them, which I did. As the rest of the family laughed over a board game, I picked up one of my favorite books, Testament of Devotion, and I tried to calm down. The first thing I read was about how we are connected through God to everything else on earth. And I held that idea in my heart as I thought about killing the possum.