On my desk I have a pencil holder that may look like an ordinary yogurt container. But there’s a story behind it.576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5SxHnjdtk
By Elizabeth Sherrill, Hingham, Massachusetts576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDMitj3dQ2
It was the rustling in the woods that made me look out the window 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWms0XgtAU
next to the computer. At the edge of the trees I spotted a skunk, whose black and white pattern reflected a point of light. He seemed busy - perhaps digging? My knowledge of skunks began and ended with their terrible smell. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9F3BTIBkr
The next moment, however, the animal emerged from under the trees and zigzagged across the lawn: a fuzzy tail, a striped back, and... where its head should have been, a strange-looking yellow helmet. As he approached, I saw what the "helmet" was: a plastic yogurt container. The cardboard box hit a rock and the creature spun the other way to hit our picnic table. He stood still for a moment and shook his head frantically. But the yogurt package quickly broke. The skunk blindly jumped back into the forest. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGT7mRi4K6
I looked at him upset. How long did he run in darkness and fear? 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DyaaOJRJg
I thought it would take time to get this thing out. But the thought of hunting skunk 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2TUMhwCiB
through the thicket kept me motionless at the window of . How could I ever catch him? So what? 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxaAw2Bwho
He wouldn't spray me? 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2HoNcrJaP
I sat down and tried to pick up the thread of story that was sent in the afternoon. But I could only think of , animals that ran until they collapsed from exhaustion. Hasn't something like this happened before? Do animal experts know what to do? 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHC3xp9U1T
I called the local SPCA. "We only handle domestic animals," she told me. "You want the wildlife department." He gave me a number in New Paltz, New York. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoivK6XxvGV
Skunk was probably far away by now. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36rYeISLSc
Maybe someone else would see him. Someone braver and more athletic. I called a number in New Paltz. A man from 's wildlife department listened to my story and then joined 's silent conversation. "If the skunks can't see you," he said, "they won't spray." Well... that sounded good until the skunk's head was in the tank. "What happens after package opens?" I asked. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBNtcY9xFI
"Make sure," the man suggested, "that she doesn't feel threatened by me." I wonder how the frightened skunk calmed down. "You can throw a blanket over him," suggested the beastman , "and then run when he finds his way out." 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJFln5VIWs
"That might work," I said, but I must have sounded as unsure as I felt, because the man asked where I was calling from and started looking up the names of the security people in my area.576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeu3r2SnS6
How long does it take for someone to get here? So where would the zinc be? I was torn by a sudden strange rush. I thanked the man, hung up and ran out. Without stopping to change into my best pants and without forgetting the blanket theory, I ran from our driveway to the freeway. Of course, Stink wasn't there. I didn't know why I was . In his madness, when I last saw him, the animal went in the opposite direction, straight down the hill into the forest. But my legs never slowed down. I turned left and hurried down the street as if in a hurry to a long-arranged meeting. I ran maybe a hundred meters when a black and white streak appeared from the 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IfyKAeFM9
bushes along the road, running straight at me, box hitting the pavement with every step. I bent down and grabbed the yogurt container before I was surprised to find a skunk. Animal suddenly pulled and twisted so hard that escaped. His front claws scraped against the slippery yellow plastic, his body retreated and he still couldn't 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnvZtYZEUd
free himself from the vise-like neck of the cardboard box. This took both my hands pulling the other way to hold the - until the black head suddenly came free. And there we were, facing each other, two feet apart. I don't know what he saw and how threatening or not the apparition was, but there was a sharp quivering nose, two small round ears and lively black eyes that looked straight into my eyes. We looked at each other for exactly 10 seconds. Then Skunk turned, ran a few meters and disappeared into the drum that goes along the road. I stood there and looked 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIdnSqamJg
after him. Three minutes could not have passed since I hung up the phone. 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQwCKuadP9
But I thought the timeless parable played itself out, when I started driving back. Skunk was all the needs I was hesitant to participate in: It takes time to participate and I have deadlines to meet. I probably won't be able to do anything with 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9VWYr84WL
. Someone else can do it better. Moreover, the intervention can be ugly and the smell can rub off on me. And all these things may be true, of course. But I have a 576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZfmcSos1G
yellow pencil case on my desk, pretty scratched and broken, as a reminder that sometimes God's answer to a need is me.576Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYuD8C93aq
