Some Noise is Hard to Mask
Noel Laflin
5-6-24
The sounds
of a mighty battle taking place in our old pear tree at 2am today brought me
out of a sound sleep. The tree is only
twenty feet from our bedroom sliding glass door – and with the door being
slightly ajar this time of year to let in fresh garden air, well, one would
have to be near-deaf to have missed the racket coming from its well camouflaged
center.
The sharp screeches
and screams (think of battling cats on steroids) were no doubt raccoons having
a brawl up in those branches. Or, perhaps a raccoon and a opossum having a territorial
dispute; I have witnessed those guys going at it before out back, too. Consequently, I am not exactly sure who the
second opponent was, but one of the fighters was definitely a young raccoon as
I watched him fall ten feet from the tree, land on the edge of the big pond
directly below, dust himself off (literally, as he was quite dusty and leaf
blown, so to speak), run across the garden and scamper up the opposite garden
fence and disappear.
Coming back
into the house and noting the time on the bedside clock, I noticed that David
had slept through the whole thing.
After 24
years, I know the fellow is not deaf nor nearly even near-deaf, but he’s definitely a sound sleeper.
When
cleaning up the garden later this morning, I saw where the raccoon made his
footing error in the tree, as there was a rotten portion of a branch above –
now laying on the screen covering the pond - where he must have mistakenly made
his last stand – quite literally – as it obviously gave way with him on it.
But, I am
sure he’ll be back to do battle another night.
Wish I could
sleep as soundly as David …
