Smell Them Out

            I went for a walk last night. I don’t usually walk that far, just far enough to breath some fresh air, and to change things up a bit.

I was walking on the sidewalk, deep in thought, when I heard a hissing sound. I stopped. There was a juvenile skunk in front of me with his tail up. I immediately turned right, and walked down a driveway to the street to avoid him.

Wow! That little thing is so powerful that I instantaneously cowered to him. Skunks aren’t life threatening, they’re not going to eat you, or inflict bodily harm, their weapon is to create a nuisance for you. That’s all they have, a nuisance, a stench, a smell. I got to thinking, we don’t need to kill people. We can stink them out. We can create a stench so bad that people will move away, abandon ship, run for their sanity and comfort.

After my walk I drove over to my lady friend’s house. I was sitting at a stoplight, when I saw a skunk running around on a little patch of grass. It was a busy street, and he was running to the edge of the sidewalk as if he was contemplating running into the street. I whistled at him. I was trying to get him to move away from the street. He had a reckless side to him I could tell. I don’t think he heard my whistle, but I tried. I drove off, and forgot about him.

Who would eat a skunk? Do they have any predators? I wondered. I did some research when I got to my lady friends. They do, some birds can’t smell, and coyotes when they’re good and hungry will eat them.

In the morning I drove the same route home. I came to the street where I saw the skunk the night before. I smelled something funny, not pleasant. I noticed a skunk tail sticking up from the pavement. The skunk was squished but the tail was present. That tail. It fights on even in death. I tried to warn him. He wouldn’t listen.

            I added the motor vehicle to the list of skunk predators and drove on.