Making It Up As I Go Along #315

MONDAY...
— A lazy day at home. I take the day off work to do some writing on a self imposed long weekend. Write for a couple of hours... get a shwarma for supper... and watch some hockey playoff preview shows in the evening.

TUESDAY...
— Dayshift. I’m tired as I didn’t sleep great. But it’s a fairly easy going shift all the same. Lunch with Megan and Kiyomi is nice and, at the end of the day, I decide to start my straight evenings tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY...
— Quiet morning at home. Work the evening shift. It’s the start of straight evenings for a while. Doing some team leader tasks... having to deal with some computer system troubles... but making it through okay.
— Supper is Greek food with Melissa. From 7:00 on, I’m by myself in AFIS. It goes okay.
— Some playoff hockey on TV when I get home. Colorado beats Minnesota in overtime... that Joe Sakic... the guy’s alright.

THURSDAY...
— Cindy works overtime tonight... so it’s her and me in AFIS until 9:30. Then me alone. I get Cindy, Larry and Lise to not share the hockey scores with me too... as I’m taping the Montreal game to watch after I get home. It works and Montreal looks good against Boston.

FRIDAY...
— Long day on the office compound. In for 11:30 to have lunch with Kiyomi. Work at 12:00. To the officer’s mess for the hockey pool draft at 3:30. Back to work at 4:45. Supper with Megan... and work until 9:00.

SATURDAY...
— Some movies today. Reign Over Me on the Movie Network is good. And then out with Karl for supper and There Will Be Blood. That’s really good. We run into a raccoon on the bridge walking back to Karl's. An interesting little standoff there.
— Watch the Hab game on tape after I get home.


A Raccoon’s Life
Life along this river is usually pretty good. Lots of little tidbits dropped into the bushes by those passing humans. Little critters for me to hunt down if I want to go that way. A Spring cornucopia of duck eggs. And all the water I’d ever want.

But things have been tough lately. There was so much snow for so very long... and now that the snow has gone, my river paradise has become a raging sea.

The place I’ve called home for these last two years is now some fifteen feet out into the river! I don’t understand how the hill moved out into the water... I guess raccoons just aren’t all that bright.

So now I’m left wandering the shoreline. I’m pushed further up the hill and closer to those humans. They may be good for leaving an easy meal for me, but I don’t trust that crowd and I have no desire to get closer to them. Plus these great big, noisy machines are flying along that hard ground area up there. I had two brothers and a sister get squashed by those things last year. I tell ya, I want nothing to do with trying to cross that hard ground... those machines will make me seagull food in no time!

So I’m left here looking at my river and wanting to get into my little home. But the fish have access to it now and I’m out of luck.

It used to be that I could wander through the still water alongside the shore. You could get little fish there and easily wade over to the bridge foundation that sits in the river. That was always a nice get away from those people.

But the river is moving so fast now. And there’s no still water to wade through, it’s all a swim and with the way the current is, I’d be washed away and drowned before I’d get to the bridge foundation.

So here I am, on this little strip of land between raging waters and monstrous killing machines. Perhaps if I go across the bridge... maybe the other side will offer a better way of life? I’ve seen the people walk across the bridge all the time. They even have a barrier between them and the machines. It looks like it would be safe. I’m going for it.

I’m here... I made it. I thought that as soon as I came up out of the bushes and onto the edge of that hard ground, the speeding machines would see me and come for me as they did my family. But I was able to scurry over to the bridge and I’m just like a person now... I’m walking over the water! It’s so high... and that water looks so big and fast from here... oh I hope I can hurry and get to the other side soon, I don’t like it here at all.

ARGH! What’s that? Shadows coming towards me! It’s... people! Oh my mercy they see me. The people see me! Hey, wait a minute, one of them just called me a cat! And I thought raccoon’s weren’t too bright. Why should I be afraid of such stupid animals as people?

Uh oh.. They’re coming towards me. I’m sorry Great Sky Raccoon... it’s right to be afraid of people... if you get me out of this I’ll never doubt you again! Here they come! Here they come! Oh help me Great Sky Raccoon... HELP ME!

Abort the bridge cross, get back to the bushes... abort... abort! WHAT IS THAT!?!?! That’s the biggest of those speeding machines I’ve ever seen! Only this one isn’t speeding and it’s so noisy! And a big flashing light on top! Sweet Sky Raccoon what have I done to deserve this? Go back! Cross the bridge cross it I say!

Oh yeah, the people. They’re just standing their watching me. They’re plotting my doom... that’s it... plotting how to murder me. Curse those fish that have found a home in my little riverside den!

Maybe if I jump over this machine barrier here... uh... no... speeding machines on the bridge!

I think the slow machine with the noise and spinning light is moving away. Maybe it doesn’t see me? But it’s so big and noisy... I’m crazy to think of getting closer to that thing. Oh but there are the bushes. Maybe I can make my way to them before the machine sees me?

Those people are edging closer... they want to throw me into the slow, noisy machine. I’ve got to go... I’ve got to do it now!

Easy... easy... almost there... almost... there... I MADE IT!

Run run... through the bushes into the dark! Ah, I hate the river like this but at least I feel I have a buffer from the people and machines again now. The other side of the river will never be reached.

I need to find a new home. The fish will not give up what they now have. Well if I can’t get across, I’ll go along the shore. Up the river through the brush. I wonder are those people still watching me? Don’t look... just go... don’t look back!

Keep me safe in my journey Great Sky Raccoon. And please fix the river. I used to like it so much more when it was slow and gentle.