A Real True Story About Possums (and Signs)
I was driving home last night, late, and saw a dead possum on the side of the road. Minutes later, I encountered another dead possum--the SAME dead possum--futher along. I say it was the same because it was: the same size, the same position, the same place in the street.
It occurred to me that this was a sign, that I might be set up to kill a possum during the course of the short trip from my mother's to my father's house. I began to drive cautiously.
A minute from my father's house is a blind curve over the top of a hill. There aren't any streetlights. I crawled around that curve at 5 miles an hour to find the SAME DEAD POSSUM once again--but this time, with a LIVE possum by its side. The living possum hovered by the dead one for a moment, then walked straight towards my car and halted to stare (it seemed, at ME) before darting back into the woods. The rest of the ride home I saw no possums.
The only story that ever entered my mind about these events is also the only story I believe could be true about them: that a husband possum (I'm resolute that the dead possum was male) was out with his mate when he was struck and killed by a car. His disconsolate wife possum stayed close to the body, despite the risk to her safety. The husband, in spirit, appeared twice to me in my car as a sign, a caution, to watch out. All this in order to save his wife from being struck as I (as I usually do) rounded the corner with no time to stop for possums.
It occurred to me that this was a sign, that I might be set up to kill a possum during the course of the short trip from my mother's to my father's house. I began to drive cautiously.
A minute from my father's house is a blind curve over the top of a hill. There aren't any streetlights. I crawled around that curve at 5 miles an hour to find the SAME DEAD POSSUM once again--but this time, with a LIVE possum by its side. The living possum hovered by the dead one for a moment, then walked straight towards my car and halted to stare (it seemed, at ME) before darting back into the woods. The rest of the ride home I saw no possums.
The only story that ever entered my mind about these events is also the only story I believe could be true about them: that a husband possum (I'm resolute that the dead possum was male) was out with his mate when he was struck and killed by a car. His disconsolate wife possum stayed close to the body, despite the risk to her safety. The husband, in spirit, appeared twice to me in my car as a sign, a caution, to watch out. All this in order to save his wife from being struck as I (as I usually do) rounded the corner with no time to stop for possums.