I was sitting up straight on the floor by the porch door last night.
Lovely and Socks were whipping through a tube, and the trampoline I made
of a large box and king size comforter was being bounced on by Sunny
Rhino Mudd and Waldo directly in front of me.  Ma-we-ah was attacking
my left hand with her minuscule being wrapped around it when a figure
trotted by the porch window and stood just behind me.
 
My lower back splinted up, and I can barely move.  My sisters are helping
me out until I can function without pain pills and Drs.  So I did not --
could not--turn more than a fraction as I opened the screen door to let
in Cat.  Typical cat joke--Cat likes to come in and out, in and out, and
in and out again, and often stands in the middle of the doorway letting
bugs in.
 
I scooted back along on the floor on my butt so that I could either push
Cat in or out before a ferret escaped.  It was then that I realized that
I had made a considerable mistake.
 
There-standing mere inches from me with no fear- looking up into my
face-was a fox.  It was tan, and fawn like, and very slender and leggy.
 
He snapped around on spindly legs and trotted casually away down towards
where the geese had nested for the night..
 
Seeing them on the porch through the glass is a thrill.  Seeing a wild
carnivore inches away from me and my family of tiny fur people with only
air separating us?
 
What if he had come inside and gone bezerk, tearing and ripping
everything up?  What if he had rabies and bit me?  What if he ran around
killing all the ferrets?  My mind was a whrrl.
 
I shot the screen closed, turning my body,literally screaming in pain,
and saw the next in line to enter.  The goofy baby racoon was hanging
upside down on the table and rugs staring in at me.  He practically
landed on its head when I screamed, and dashed off.
 
I counted ferrets.  I counted blessings.  I thanked God for the beauty
surrounding me.  And I thanked him for the lives of my little ones that
could have been lost.
 
What an adrenaline rush.
[Posted in FML issue 3850]