August 15, 2022

Worst of all possible nights. Brother ‘coon gnawed all night, as though into a microphone, adding the space right beneath my bedroom window. I turned the fan up to high to drown out the noise. What is more horrible than a wild animal in your house, digging and gnawing to get out? It’s worse that the tribulation of the last year, which was listening for them trying to get in. Becky’s baited trap sits unapproached. I put a bowl of water out for him last night, and it looks to be untouched as well. He has no food or water, hence his desperation, hence my fury that all he has to do is accept some cat food, lie still for a moment, and be transported into his natural world free. I’m trying to draw a life lesson from this. I tried to imagine the people in Ukraine with bombs dropping on their heads. That doesn’t bring the comfort you suppose it will. Becky seemed to think he’d hop right into the trap, as I’m sure he would were he not a demon beast sent from hell to torment me and resist all redress. I phoned the window-cementing people to come bash a hole back in, so the raccoon can escape tonight the way he was used to coming in. Desperate need calls for desperate strategies.