Holy Cow Moly! Arly got an opossum today....or should I say an "Opossum!" When I first saw him, I mean Philip I, I chuckled a bit because he was just a tad 'weird looking,' then I remembered how I looked and decided he was pretty handsome...as possums go. I knew about opossums, but what I knew didn't fit the bill for Philip. Late at night, especially when the moon chose to stay hidden, I would feel the prickle of tiny fingernails across my back and at first think I was saved. Sadly, once the cold, wet nose would start rooting around I would realize it wasn't my knight in shining armor coming to rescue me but an opossum, a grub hunting, bug snorting opossum! I didn't particularly care for them. When Angel Face was little, one got into the trash can and scared us both half to death when we took Mama's garbage out. He hissed, like we were wicked or something, but Philip seemed a lot different than those opossums. Philip seemed....friendly.
His eyes were the same color as mine and Arly told me he was found under a car and left for dead. Oh, my heart broke because it made me remember that feeling of being left for dead, and I knew that I would instantly love Philip. Found Friend wasn't so willing, in fact, she was scared hairless and decided to stay far away from Philip. That meant he was all mine, which made me secretly happy on the inside. For the life of me I couldn't quit looking at him, his whiskers, his long piano fingers, and that tail! I figure God's imagination started to work overtime when he created opossums because they were one interesting critter.
Philip seemed to like me too, but keeping his attention and carrying on a conversation took a bit of a go. Good thing I smelled like dirt I figure, kind of made him feel at home. We spent a swell bit of time playing in our bucket of dirt today and it wasn't so bad. I mean, it didn't bring back horror thoughts of being buried, in fact, it was the first time ever that I could remember loving the feeling of dirt on my skin. Guess that was because having an opossum to share the dirt with wasn't such a bad thing after all, and glad as goats I wasn't something he was prone to eating.
Before I could reach my hand up toward his face his eye caught the light landing on something at the base of the stairs. I gently looked over and realized he had no idea what this was.....but I did, and it would change everything. Sitting ever so still on the stairs was a small brown package, wrapped in twine and a message scrawled across the front.
Ardith Goodwin
"A Clue To The Answers You Seek"
Wilson B. Chinaberry
My heart exploded out of the dirt.
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