Author Sherry A. Burton
  • Home Page
    • About the author >
      • Contact Me
    • 2025 signings and lectures
    • Photo's, Signings, fan pictures, and around the office >
      • Photo page! >
        • Pics from the Writers Police Academy!
    • Sherry's Blog
    • Contest Page
    • Reader photos and Dogs in public
    • Attention Book Clubs!
  • The Orphan Train Saga
    • Lectures Information >
      • 2023 Keynote speaker photos from Frankenmuth
    • Lecture photos
    • Awards and stuff
    • A tribute to two brothers who rode the orphan train to Michigan
    • Photos
  • The Jerry McNeal Series
    • Audiobooks
    • JMS Clean and Cozy Edition
    • T-shirt, bags and more!
    • JMS Book titles in order
    • Public Safety Dogs
  • Romance Novels
  • Psychological Suspense
  • Book trailers
  • Whispers of the Past, a short story

Disturbing the Peace

5/11/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
After seeing recent photo of my blinding white legs I  have decided I am in need of a bit of sun on my lower extremities. So for that   reason I have taken to lying out for an hour a day. I have found that if I lay out early in the day it is a bit more tranquil and I can toss around storylines
  in my head. In case you didn’t know a writer is always writing, even when they   look like they are not. 

Today was no different. I was laying there enjoying the suns  warmth when my tranquility was interrupted by the sounds of the neighbor’s dog.  “Quiet you beast,” I called from the recesses of my mind. He continued to bark,  and bark, and bark. What an annoying little brute I thought, wishing him to be  more like my Oliver. My good, quiet little boy who was lying at the base of the  shed, quietly willing one of the new little bunnies to come out and play. 
 
Once again the neighbor’s dog started blaring a round of
  woof’s when suddenly I realized that my Oliver, my quiet little gentleman had
  joined in on the tirade. I called to him but he ignored me. This was not like
  him. After several moments and many more woof’s from both sides of the fence I
  decided it was time to investigate. I slipped on a shirt, so as not to frighten
  the neighbors, and made my way to the back of the property.


As I approached the fence Oliver, who until this time had
  played the spectator, grew bold and began lunging at the fence. What had gotten
  the two into such a state, but a tiny little opossum who was clinging to the
  top of the fence, holding on for dear life!


My first thought was to try to help it make it to a
nearby tree. My second thought was to look around for the little guy’s mother as
it was without a doubt too young to be on its own.


As Oliver lunged once more the baby bared its teeth
leaving no doubt that it would use them if further provoked. Gone were the
thoughts of picking it up and helping it along its way. Besides growing up in
the country I have seen the damage these little buggers can do when cornered,
which is why I did not follow my maternal instincts in the first place.



Still I could not just leave it there quaking in its grip
on the fence post. So I reached through the fence and picked up a long, thin,
log from the firewood pile, and was able to maneuver it so that the baby would
take hold of it.


My thought was to get the baby onto the log and then move
  the log close enough to the neighboring tree for it to get out of harms way. A
  plan that worked well for the first few seconds as the opossum decided it would
  much rather be on the high end of the stick, you know the end where my fingers
  were. At that point I had no choice but to quickly lean the log against the
  fence post, which once again allowed the baby to climb up to the top of the
  fence. Luckily though this did take it several posts away from its original
  position, and a bit further from the clamoring dogs, who by now had seemed to
  tire of this game. I retreated to the house, sun and tranquility forgotten, and
  the dogs followed suit. Once again the neighborhood is quiet, and the baby
  opossum has lived to see another day.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly