It's a Possum!

It's 4:08am and I'm awake. Why am I awake? The dogs were barking like crazy. It wasn't ordinary barking either. It was the way they bark when a stranger comes to the door. So, naturally, my first thought was "someone's in the yard." I stumbled into the kitchen, turned on the porch light, and looked out the window. I couldn't see anything; but, the dogs were still going crazy. I walked back over to the back door and yanked it open hoping to surprise anyone who might be lurking on the other side. There was no one there, just the cat sitting right across the treshold from me, eating the cat food. No wait, the cat looked strange...kind of greasy and shaped funny. I leaned over to reach down and touch her. Then, the cat looked up. I saw sharp, pointy teeth. Being kind of slow on the uptake at 4:00am, I said in amazement and to no one but the possum, "it's a possum." At that, it turned around and lumbered off around the side of the house. It was in no hurry to leave, but then, I'm not sure how fast a possum can run. Now that I think about it I've never seen one that moved very fast.

I think I'll tell the kids there was a marsupial at the back door and see if they can figure out what it was. Perhaps I'll offer some reward to the first kid to hand in a page on what they think it was, why they think so, and some interesting facts about it. Maybe they'll discover why the dang things won't move out of the road even when you're blowing your horn and flashing headlights at them.

Oh man, I'm going back to bed.