Charmed

Charmed

Noel Laflin

11-26-17

I think I fell in love with Amy upon our very first meeting. I was young and impressionable at the time, being that this was some forty-odd years ago. One never forgets a first crush.

But Amy already had a young admirer by the name of Andy, a curiously nice, quiet kid who had an extraordinary way with animals; including the young, orphaned baby raccoon he had rescued prior to our meeting. He called her Amy.

And although I have forgotten the details as to her coming into our possession, I do remember the young bandit’s sweet nature.

You see, Andy had a natural way with critters, as they seemed to find him, especially when they were in need. I recall an abandoned baby owl that he also tended to that summer. Neither the owl nor raccoon feared the boy. Consequently, the rest of us could handle them without fear of a bite or scratch as well. I suppose they surmised that any friend of Andy was a friend of theirs. Those of us working the nature area that season used to hike the camp with Amy perched on a shoulder, or sleeping soundly inside a partially unbuttoned shirt. I remember the way she sometimes purred like a feline or chirped like a strange bird when content. She slept with Andy each night, snuggled up with the boy as naturally as any puppy or kitten.

By the end of that summer, however, it was evident that the raccoon was discovering that she really was a wild creature and needed to make her way into the Ahwahnee woods, minus the rest of us. She would take off on her own, returning less frequently as the days grew shorter. She had matured and toughened up too, so we did not fear for her safety as we once did when she was so very small.

Inevitably, one day late in the season, she did not return. And with that, camp closed for the season.

I never saw either Andy or Amy again.

But our resident ranger, Gene, told us later how he was walking through camp the following spring, when a full sized raccoon, accompanied by two of her babies stopped right in front of him as if to say, “Hey, there … remember me?” It was Amy and family. Gene said she showed no fear of him and yet did not stay long. It was, Gene reminisced, as if she just wanted to show off her youngsters and get on with raccoon living.

The thought of that reunion, all these years later, still makes me smile, and even wince with longing for youthful enchantments.