by Ann T Bugg
“Do you think the possum is in there, Val?”
“It must be. I don’t think Otter would go this crazy if it was just one of the cats.”
Val opened the door a crack, then flipped the light switch. When it didn’t work, she tried it a few more times. “Darn it. The bulb's burned out.”
Valerie looked down at Otter. She realized she hadn’t gone running into the tack room ahead of them like she normally did. Oddly, she just sat at the doorway.
“What’s up, Otter?” Valerie asked.
Otter stayed put and wagged her tail, giving the dusty cement floor a good sweeping. The girls walked past, leaving her sitting there.
The tack room wasn’t much bigger than a walk-in closet or a large pantry. There was a trashcan in the right corner to store grain for the horses. On the wall to the left, there were three wooden brackets to hold their saddles. Beside them were hooks for the bridles, halters, and lead ropes.
Squatting down, they searched with flashlights. First looking behind the trashcan, then under the saddles. Sam stood in frustration, placing her hands on her hips.
“Come on, Otter. Where is it?”
Otter got up and walked to the far corner, opposite the trashcan. She sat down in front of a tarp that was draped over something square and flat, like a small sheet of plywood. Facing them, she tilted her head again with a “now what?” expression.
The girls shifted their lights to the tarp, then down toward the bottom of it where it pooled in a pile on the floor. After both letting out a small shriek, they covered their mouths in surprise.
“Eww,” Samantha whispered. “No wonder your mom was so freaked out. It is ugly! Gross!”
“Shh. You’ll scare it and it will rush at us, Sam.”
Unsure what to do now that they’d found it, they stood for a minute, staring at the long, fat, bald tail.
“Do you think it’s sleeping?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it thinks we can’t see it.”
Otter had lost interest in the game and sniffed her way back out the door.
Valerie frowned. “See? She doesn’t care what it is ’cause it’s not running away. She just likes to chase things.” Their attention briefly shifted to Otter as they watched her walk out. When their gaze finally returned to the tarp Valerie cried, “It’s gone!”
Samantha walked over to it slowly. “I’m sure it’s hiding underneath the board. There’s no way it got out.”
Valerie’s voice was a little louder than before. “Careful, Samantha! It could still jump out at you!”
“I’ll be careful, but I didn’t sneak out to just stand here and stare at its butt!”
Sam was hesitant to lift away the tarp, not knowing which way the possum could be facing. With great caution, she pulled the top of the board away from the wall and adjusted her stance so she could run away fast if needed. After shining the flashlight to the ground she screamed.
“What the heck? Where did it go?” She let the board fall back against the wall. “How did it go anywhere? We were right there the whole time! Darn it! If we weren’t watching Otter we would have seen it!”
“There must be a hole in the wall somewhere.” Valerie walked up and down the back wall, looking for a crack big enough for the possum to escape through.
They spent five more minutes searching every inch of the tack room before deciding to call it quits for the night. Slowly strolling back to the house the girls kicked pebbles, silently scolding themselves, wondering how they could have missed the possum’s escape.
Otter was sitting at the door, waiting to be let in. Again being careful to keep the noise to a minimum, they silently filed into the house. By the time they crawled into bed, it was well on the way to midnight. They closed their eyes and fell asleep almost before their heads hit the pillows, both sad at the non-eventful endeavor.
Chapter 4