Anonymous Poster
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- Sep 27, 2005
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Let me preface this by saying that there is nothing funny about an animal getting run over in the road. It's something that we have all learned to live with as a species that zips around at upwards of fifty miles an hour almost everywhere we go.
I guess all of us have had it happen. A squirrel or a raccoon will suddenly, at the very moment you are passing by, decide to test his skills at outrunning or out maneuvering a three thousand pound speeding vehicle, and there's really nothing you can do, short of causing an accident but grit your teeth and just try to forget about it.
I saw the squirrel the minute we turned off the dirt road onto the hard road, but I wasn't fixin' to say anything, because my daughter Jenny was with me, even though I immediately had to choke back a giggle.
Jenny my twelve year old, is very sensistive about these things. Every morning on the way to school it's 'ohhhh......poor armadillo.....poor raccoon....poor possum.' She has a definate dislike for buzzards and even when the buzzards are standing on the side of the road not doing a dang thing wrong, she will stick her tongue out at them. This time, however, was just a liitle bit different.
"Mama....I want you to LOOK at that squirrel!"
"I see it. I saw it right away, but I wasn't going to say anything." Already defending myself even though I hadn't done anything wrong.....yet.
When she made that 'huh!' sound that is usually her prelude to an all out laugh fest, despite the sadness of the loss of the poor animal, I knew that I was not as cold and jaded and unsympathetic as I thought I was. If a twelve year old could see the humor, a very sensitive twelve year old, then I knew there was hope for me.
This squirrel had been hit and was mashed as flat as the proverbial pancake. I mean FLAT. All except one thing. His tail was standing straight up in the air, all twelve inches of it, rigid as a poker, with just the tip of it dangling down, looking for all the world like a flag of surrender.
"That's the weirdest thing I ever saw!" Jenny said, trying hard not to laugh, but clearly struggling with herself.
Her eyes were wide, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. I didn't remind her that she had only been on the earth twelve years and hadn't seen everything yet, why bother, because I hadn't ever seen anything like it before either. One of us had to break the ice.
"Kinda looks like he ran out in the road, saw the car coming, and said
"I surrender.....I surren....!" Thump. "
Giggle giggle.
"Or maybe that's what a squirrel's tail does when their last thought is ...'oh crap!' "
That was all it took. She bent over, put her hands over her mouth and giggled until her face was red as a beet.
"You out to be ashamed of yourself, laughing at that poor old squirrel." I scolded her.
Then the giggles were replaced by out right laughter that went on for several minutes. I just sat there and enjoyed her laughter, waiting for her conscience to kick in. Finally it did.
"Ohh.....poor squirrel."
I guess that's what they refer to as morbid humor. I don't think she will ever look at a run over squirrel again without saying..."remember that squirrel with the tail?"
I still can't figure out what would have caused this odd scene. Maybe my 'oh crap' theory has some substance.
I guess all of us have had it happen. A squirrel or a raccoon will suddenly, at the very moment you are passing by, decide to test his skills at outrunning or out maneuvering a three thousand pound speeding vehicle, and there's really nothing you can do, short of causing an accident but grit your teeth and just try to forget about it.
I saw the squirrel the minute we turned off the dirt road onto the hard road, but I wasn't fixin' to say anything, because my daughter Jenny was with me, even though I immediately had to choke back a giggle.
Jenny my twelve year old, is very sensistive about these things. Every morning on the way to school it's 'ohhhh......poor armadillo.....poor raccoon....poor possum.' She has a definate dislike for buzzards and even when the buzzards are standing on the side of the road not doing a dang thing wrong, she will stick her tongue out at them. This time, however, was just a liitle bit different.
"Mama....I want you to LOOK at that squirrel!"
"I see it. I saw it right away, but I wasn't going to say anything." Already defending myself even though I hadn't done anything wrong.....yet.
When she made that 'huh!' sound that is usually her prelude to an all out laugh fest, despite the sadness of the loss of the poor animal, I knew that I was not as cold and jaded and unsympathetic as I thought I was. If a twelve year old could see the humor, a very sensitive twelve year old, then I knew there was hope for me.
This squirrel had been hit and was mashed as flat as the proverbial pancake. I mean FLAT. All except one thing. His tail was standing straight up in the air, all twelve inches of it, rigid as a poker, with just the tip of it dangling down, looking for all the world like a flag of surrender.
"That's the weirdest thing I ever saw!" Jenny said, trying hard not to laugh, but clearly struggling with herself.
Her eyes were wide, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. I didn't remind her that she had only been on the earth twelve years and hadn't seen everything yet, why bother, because I hadn't ever seen anything like it before either. One of us had to break the ice.
"Kinda looks like he ran out in the road, saw the car coming, and said
"I surrender.....I surren....!" Thump. "
Giggle giggle.
"Or maybe that's what a squirrel's tail does when their last thought is ...'oh crap!' "
That was all it took. She bent over, put her hands over her mouth and giggled until her face was red as a beet.
"You out to be ashamed of yourself, laughing at that poor old squirrel." I scolded her.
Then the giggles were replaced by out right laughter that went on for several minutes. I just sat there and enjoyed her laughter, waiting for her conscience to kick in. Finally it did.
"Ohh.....poor squirrel."
I guess that's what they refer to as morbid humor. I don't think she will ever look at a run over squirrel again without saying..."remember that squirrel with the tail?"
I still can't figure out what would have caused this odd scene. Maybe my 'oh crap' theory has some substance.