CALL ME SNAKE

My mother-in-law called tonight after everyone else had gone to bed. As we spoke on the phone, I looked out the window and saw something white scurry in the park across the street. Knowing the park pretty well, I figured I’d see the creature–whatever it was–emerge before long. And sure enough a skunk came out a minute later, walking down the sidewalk across the street from me, before turning down a sidewalk towards a friend’s apartment.

A couple of nights ago, I saw a rat just below the steps as I came outside my house. The rat was as surprised to see me as I was to see him (her?). He ran down our sidewalk onto the driveway and cut across towards our neighbor’s house. Would he be back to visit again? I was hoping not but I felt like I’d interrupted him on a path toward our door.

Nature is all around us, even in a dense urban jungle such as I inhabit. Being a night owl, I’m often awake when most people are sleeping. But eventually I turn in too. And that just leaves the animals to attend to whatever business they care to. And odds are, we’ll never know what they’ve been up to behind our backs.