Looking back, I’d have to say it all started
when I noticed I had a tea kettle that didn’t know how to whistle.
We had always had an arrangement, the critters and I. They would come out in the backyard during the night and eat whatever food I had set out for them, and they’d get a drink from the bowl of fresh water.
This had gone on for some time, and no one ever complained. Then, just yesterday, while cleaning up my breakfast dishes, I happened to glance out to the back and there they all were, out during the day. Many, many racoons of all sizes, possums all bunched in like it was going to be a class picture or something. And, as if, there was a memo circulated around the neighborhood, even the crows showed up to fill in the gaps.
What did they want? What did they think was going to happen? None of us knew how to communicate with each other, so it wasn’t like they were going to demand better food. Was I supposed to go out there and face them? Then what?
Thinking
back, there had been a change. Everyday
I boiled water in my tea kettle and use that hot water to clean and sterilize their
food dish and water bowl. That tea kettle
would whistle when the water was ready.
I’m sure that whistle could be heard in the backyard. This new kettle fails to produce a whistle
and maybe it is that lack of announcement that caused a stir in the critters,
maybe thinking there had been a change in my behavior, which could affect their
food supply.
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