“Screeee! Screeee!! Ahhhh!” My goodness! There were strange night sounds as two raccoons were pulling at each end of a trash bag. Tears and splits popped here and there; trash flew everywhere.
“It’s mine!” yelled one raccoon with an extra long tail.
“No! Mine! Mine! I found it first!” cried the other raccoon, whose tail was a bit bushier and his fur a bunch disheveled.
Back and forth they tugged till the contents of the bag were strewn between them. Hurriedly they picked through the items, cans, bags, old tomatoes and half a taco. They each ate fast and when lights flashed on at the nearby house, they grabbed as much as they could and scurried off.
A gray tom cat sat on top of one of the garbage cans and laughed at them. “Silly raccoons.” But he jumped when he heard a human voice yell, “Scat cat!!” Oh well, no surprise he was getting the blame.
Later the raccoon with the bushy tail and the disheveled fur came upon the tomcat who was prowling for mice.
“Hey there Big Cat! Got any grub to share?” asked the disheveled raccoon.
“Not for you Raggy. Go get your own. I know you can. I saw you with that other raccoon at the trash bags. And I got yelled at for it by the human.”
“Well, well. Don’t those humans know everything is not always what it appears to be? Sorry mate, we know it wasn’t you,” replied Raggy.
“Yeah, well. I still don’t have anything for you. But I know where you can find some yummy crunchy food,” informed the Big Cat.
Eyes widening, mouth watering, Raggy asked, “Where? Where?”
“Right over there,” Big Cat pointed to a neighbor’s house, fenced in. “It’s right there on the back porch in a big round bowl. Better get there fast before someone else finds it first.”
“Thank you Big Cat. I surely will,” Raggy replied and ran as fast as he could to the neighboring house.
Raggy climbed the fence easily, using his stealthy hands to hold on to the chain-link. “This is so easy. Why didn’t I look here before?” he snickered to himself.
He sauntered over to the big bowl, full of wonderful crunchy morsels, and just as he reached his hands into the bowl, holding the delectable delight before him, a bright light flashed on.
“What? I made no noise,” whispered Raggy. Barking from indoors could be heard. “Bark! Drop that food! Bark! Get out of here! Bark! Bark!” ordered the growling voice.
Then a human came along, looked out the kitchen window, and said, “Ah, it’s a raccoon! Let me get my camera. Come on Bravo.”
Bravo, the barking dog, looked at his human, then looked at the raccoon, torn between what he should do. “But bark! Bark!” he yelled.
Raggy the raccoon, who initially was frozen in fear with that delectable delight of crunchies held in his hand, slowly began to munch on one morsel at a time.
“Ah, silly little raccoon,” said the human. “He looks like he’s eating popcorn watching a movie! Ha-ha-ha!” Human took a picture from the window. Bravo, whimpering a bit now, seeing that his human was not angry or in fear, felt a bit confused, and offered a mere “Yip!” in response.
Meanwhile, Raggy was filled with his fancy of crunchy morsels and wandered off into the night. He stopped to stretch out his paws and yawn.
“Ah,” said the human. “I think he’s saying goodbye to us, Bravo!” The human waved at Raggy.
Bravo, forever trying to figure out his human, simply sat down, dropped his head to his paws, and mumbled, “Hmmph! Humans. Raccoons. Such silly creatures.”
Moral of the story: Well, Raggy said it earlier: “Everything is not always what it appears to be.” 😊 Theresa M
