O Possum, O Possum, Wherefore Art Thou?

There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart’s controls. — Aeschylus

“I’m scared!”

“What’s wrong?”

My friend Lori giggled on the other line in that what-this-time kind of way.

“There’s a possum outside my door and he’s staring at me!”

“What?”

“Here, I’ll FaceTime you and show you.”

“Wow, he does look kind of scary,” she admitted, “like the guy from Beetle Juice.”

“Exactly.” I agreed, having no recollection of what she meant.

Her boyfriend got on the phone and said, “It’s a baby. He’s probably scared.”

“I’m scared!!!”

“Just give him some food.”

“No way! Then he’ll be here forever.”

“Well, he’s not going to hurt you,” Lori promised.

“I don’t know why he is staring at me though!”

We stayed on the phone until I realized he wasn’t going to leave any time soon.

“I guess I’ll just do my laundry tomorrow,” I conceded. “Thanks for talking to me, you guys.”

The baby possum stayed there all night. Every time I looked out the door, he was still…