The Odd Sock

 Growing up in the country and always being drawn to critters has left me with some very amusing stories.
I plan to share a few on here...

The Odd Sock

My mother wasn't one that cared for odd critters like snakes, mice, spiders, opossum, raccoons etc and would get hysterical over them. My stepdad had an older cousin that was always visiting and staying over a lot. He knew I was animal crazy, so when he found a baby opossum he placed it in a box and brought to me. This opossum was however old enough to survive on it's own. Let me tell you, when they snarl and hiss at you with all those teeth showing then they are intimidating. Anyway, he had it in the box and my mother told him he was not to leave it there. He just laughed and ended up staying the night.
The next morning when we awoke, he was gone and so was the opossum. We questioned why he had left the box behind but then figured he turned it loose in the yard. It was about a week later before he showed back up and something was said about the opossum. He swore he left it in the box, so my mother wasn't sure if he was joking with her since he knew her fear or if he was serious.

Fast forward about a month...
I was laying in bed one morning when mom screamed my name. I was known for having to be dragged out of bed in the mornings. I hated getting up early for school. Mom was standing in my room at my dresser where she was getting clothes out of it and screaming at me. It took me a little bit because I was disoriented and in my sleep haze still. Finally it dawned on me that mom was almost hysterical and it had nothing to do with me not wanting to get out of bed.
Apparently, when she reached in drawer to grab a sock, she noticed an odd colored sock. This odd sock turned and snarled and showed its mouth full of sharp tiny teeth. By now you know it wasn't an odd sock but that opossum. To this day, I am shocked that mom didn't have heart failure. I had to come to the rescue and do a catch and release on the little guy.
To this day, we are not sure how he managed to survive in our house that long, with five people and no one ever saw him.

Moral of story ... Watch out for those odd socks!!

 

Picture credit goes to http://wildlifeanimalz.blogspot.com/2013/04/Opossum-Fact-New-Photos.html.