Dad’s Respect for All Living Creatures…

Playin’ Possum

Today’s story is from Val Padar.

Has it happened to you?
A moving blur darts out in front of the car.

A sickening thud…your heart jumps to your throat. Your stomach tightens, sours and churns.

Val’s dad, Sandor, when he was growing up.

It happened to Sandor. He was my dad.

He screeched to a halt and jumped out of the car. He hoped he was wrong, but learned he was right. A possum lie stretched on the side of the road. My father hated to see a creature of nature die this way. He thought, “Was it dead or could it be stunned?”

Dad knew these cagey critters are known to feign death in times of great stress. It’s how they outfox their prey. He lifted the possum into a cardboard box he kept in the trunk. He looked at it closely and guessed it was just stunned.   READ MORE