I know it’s spelled “Opossum”. I just don’t like spelling that way because I don’t pronounce it that way. Tonight was the third visit from this dude. I really don’t know if it’s male or female. All I know is that it startles me every time it shows up. They are so stealthy. They don’t make a sound when they walk. They just appear.
That’s the neat thing about it. I’ll be sitting out on the front patio with my mind far, far off somewhere and it lumbers out from the hedges onto my patio and just keeps walking toward me. I think Possums are as blind as Armadillos. I say that because I’ve had many encounters with Armadillos.
Armadillos are as blind as bats. And they’re mainly nocturnal, just like possums. I’ve had them walk right up to my feet at night, never seeing me, then catch a whiff of my scent, jump about two feet off the ground and then run for their lives. I don’t think their sense of smell is very acute either. The same seems to be true with possums.
Every time it has walked up on me as I’m sitting on the patio, for some reason it always walks directly toward me. And keeps coming. It neither sees me nor smells me. I don’t want it to bump into me, get frightened and then bite me so I start saying “Hey . . . Hey . . . HEY!” It never hears me. Then I start stomping a foot and eventually he turns his head (usually in the wrong direction) and realizes that there just might be someone else here. He then takes flight by taking about 3 or 4 seconds to turn around and waddle off in the other direction.
I know possums are considered vermin. And they are. I just can’t help thinking that they are cute. I love their crossed eyes, and their ugly teeth that look just like those of Quark from Star Trek. To me they are the perfect example of something that is so ugly that it’s cute.
Dissonance 