I am not referring to an unpleasant neighbor; I like my neighbors. The skunk I refer to is furry and black, with a vivid white stripe down his back and along his large fluffy tail. He’s about the size of a large house cat.
I’m not sure why, but my mental image of skunks is that they’re kind of slow. This little guy is quite agile. I saw him Wednesday night, returning from rehearsal around 10:30 – as I came into the last block of Patton Street, he ran across the street in front of me, tail rippling, and dived into the schoolyard. Fortunately, I was never close enough to him to scare him.
Tonight at about 10:40, I realized that I’d never taken in the mail – the mailman was very late, I went out for dinner before he got here, and I must have forgotten to check when I came back in. I opened our front door – to find a full mailbox – and the skunk was at the end of our front walk, on the sidewalk. He was no happier to see me than I was to see him, so he turned and ran into my neighbor’s yard. I hope nothing annoys him while he’s there. It’s right under our bedroom window.