04-17-2024, 11:25 AM
The raccoon has lived a short life compared to some. It has only made it through one winter, struggling somewhat and spending most of his time huddled with the other two young males he’s taken up residence with rather than foraging like he should have.
Spring had treated them better and they had recovered their lost weight, but the young raccoon had been the victim of a violent dispute with a very angry fox one night. He had just captured a mouse (an opportune catch as he’d been grazing on a plentiful bushel of berries) when the tawny offender had confronted him, snapping at his face with near-unprovoked rage.
By the next morning, the little raccoon had fallen ill. Dizziness overtook him and by midday, his legs felt stiff. Alarmed by this near-paralysis, he had fled from their makeshift den and finds himself now wandering (with difficulty) through the forest.
He can hardly gather his bearings as the sunlight burns his eyes. He does not realize he has been walking in a spiraling sort of pattern, constantly looping back on himself as he moves gradually further from his home. His senses are too muddled to even notice his own scent trail among the forest’s undergrowth.
As he breaks through a particularly troublesome patch of brush, he stumbles and lies still for a moment, breathing heavily. How desperately he wants water! He licks his lips, alarmed by the dryness of his mouth, and dares to open his eyes again. Perhaps he has made it somewhere familiar enough by now to know where the nearest stream might be…
When he looks up, though, he is even more startled to see a towering creature looming over him. He has seen deer before, but he has not encountered horses before. His short life has been spent so near to the great mountain that he has not seen the likes of this heavier beast before.
Such is his shock that he does not immediately realize the numbness in his legs has faded slightly, his hearing has cleared up and his head doesn’t hurt quite as much. It’s not until he is habitually moving to stand, squatted on his hind legs to get a better view of this strange visitor, that he realizes he is feeling rather better than he had all day.
a raccoon