A Tale of Grandpa Possum or, "Just for Fun"

Early one morning a young squirrel was sitting in a tall oak tree enjoying the sunrise when something exploded near him. He ran around the tree trunk in panic, and peeked out to see what had happened. Then he saw a human. The human had crept up  near the tree and pointed something at him that exploded with a loud noise. Another explosion! And this time a big piece of bark was torn from the tree. Suddenly his parent’s warnings echoed in his head: “HUNTER – KILLER!! HUMAN!!”

Grandpa Possum was shot "Just for Fun"

He was very frightened and clung to the tree, shaking. Another explosion and the tip of his tail was torn off. He ran as fast as he could, jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree until he was completely out of breath. “I hope I am safe now” he thought. And then “Oh no! What about all my friends? What if the Hunter sees them? They might be killed!” Squirrel ran quickly to Rabbit's burrow and called out “RABBIT!! RABBIT!! Don’t come out. There is a HUNTER in the Valley.” Well, of course Rabbit did come out to see what the ruckus was all about and Squirrel told him what had happened. They decided to run to their other friends and warn them of the danger, so Squirrel went one way and Rabbit went another. They warned as many friends as they could and then went to Rabbit's burrow to hide. But they missed Grandpa Possum because he was sleeping and didn’t hear them. When he woke up from his nap, he wandered outside to stretch his legs and felt a sharp pain in his head, and then felt no more.

Two boys walked up to the possum, kicked it and one asked “Why’d you kill that nasty thing? I’m not going to carry it home. You want it?” “Naw,” the other said. “I just wanted to see if I could hit it. And I did. Dead center in the head. Never even knew what hit it. Stupid possum.”

Later that day the animals crept from their hiding places and found Grandpa Possum, cold and bloody. The Possum Family gathered around his body and cried and cried. A very young possum asked his mother “Why did our Grandpa die?” His mother just held him close and said “Humans are sometimes cruel and heartless. They kill and destroy for no reason, and they make no sense at all. You must learn from this to always be wary and afraid of Humans. Never trust them. And if you see one, run away and warn others.”

There was sadness in the Valley for several days after Grandpa Possum died, but gradually life returned to normal. Grandpa Possum was loved by all, and remembered by most. Tales of his life were always included when the animals gathered in a “story circle”. The story of his death too. As a lesson not to be forgotten. And later that year, two more animals were killed by the Humans. Just for fun.

Image: http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/bradyman1/1-24-11to1-31-111stpossum026.jpg