Rickied

Image by Sascha Barth from Pixabay

Felix couldn’t believe his luck. He had, for the first time in months, finished work early and come home to a blissfully empty and quiet house. Not only that, but there was one beer left in the fridge and an empty hammock waiting for him in the backyard. He spied a half-full bag of chips on the counter next to the sliding door. Might as well enjoy those too.

He settled himself into the hammock, looking up at a bright blue sky with nary a cloud in sight.  A gentle breeze cooled his skin as he sipped his beer and munched on the chips. This was the life. This was what he worked hard for.

His eyes, heavy, began to close. A few minutes later, he startled awake to a weight landing on his stomach. Ready to yell at one of the kids, he froze as a racoon, mid-grab, stared back at him before taking off with the chip bag and disappearing over the fence.

Felix bolted upright, barely catching the beer bottle he had forgotten he was holding. Stunned at what had just happened, he returned to the house, relieved that at least he still had his beer, and the racoon hadn’t been rabid. As he sat at the table, shaking his head in disbelief, Arlene came through the door.

“You’re home early,” she said before simultaneously dropping a peck on his cheek and relieving him of the beer bottle to take a sip.

“You’ll never guess what just happened.”

“Were you outside on the hammock?”

“Yes?” Felix answered, surprised she would guess that.

“And did a raccoon come to visit?”

‘Yes! How could you know that?”

Arlene laughed. “The Hendersons have been raising a raccoon whose mother died. They called him Ricky. They’re doing a soft release and he’s been wandering the neighborhood stealing food. You’ve just been Rickied.”

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This story came to me as, for some reason, I remembered a family who had raised an orphaned raccoon. I remember having dinner with them one night as the raccoon—named Ricky—played with our kids.

Ricky was persona non grata at that moment, though not for stealing chips. He had, earlier that day, managed to break into the enclosure of a breeding pair of Pekin robins and eaten their eggs.

I’m happy to say that Ricky was forgiven and made a successful transition back to the wild. Here’s a link to a wild animal rehab site. If you scroll down, you’ll find information on soft releases, which are common with orphaned wildlife raised by humans.