Troubling Discovery – Photo: L. Weikel

Bad Day

You know you’re having a bad day when you reach for the apple you left in your car the night before and – ew – it feels like someone took a bite out of it.

When that happened to me this afternoon, I immediately leapt to a silent, if annoyed, and slightly disgusted conclusion that Karl had taken a bite out of the apple as we drove home last night. Maybe he didn’t like its taste, or maybe he just decided he didn’t want it after all. Whatever.

Like a flash of lightning, my inner “Ugh!” fired off, which was weird. For one thing, Karl’s not one to waste food. But even if he took a bite and didn’t like it, he wouldn’t just leave it in the console, where I keep my mask, sunglasses, and hand sanitizer. If nothing else, he would’ve ‘offered it to the deer,’ as we like to say, flinging it far into a passing field.

Ugh Oh

I reached again for the apple, not able to see it from my vantage point behind the wheel. My knee-jerk reaction to blame Karl felt hasty. There had to be another reason the apple felt wet and partially eaten. Maybe it had fallen on the floor during our road trip yesterday and a piece had gouged out.

Pulling the apple up to where I could see it, my heart sank. Ugh oh.

While the nibbling of the fruit was practically a work of art in itself, especially its unsettling symmetry, it was unequivocally and most certainly not nibbled by Karl. Of that I was certain.

The design was actually quite pretty in its own way. Perhaps what freaked me out the most, though, was the obvious recency of the ingestion. The flesh of the apple was only just beginning to brown at the edges! Yuck!

Was I actually riding around with a four legged hitchhiker? Or had this scofflaw invaded my car while it sat in the driveway, trying to escape the snow and cold and thinking it hit the jackpot when it discovered fresh fruit along with respite from the elements?

Not Waiting To Find Out

We’ve had the interior (and wiring) on too many cars wrecked by rodents. This was definitely a trespass. Time to reload the mothball pouches! And if they don’t work…well…

Ha – I only just this moment remembered my ‘pick’ for today. Mountain Lion – with Mouse underneath. I’d even laughed when I picked and said, “Looks like a cat-and-mouse kind of day!” Who’d have thought MOUSE would show up quite so literally? (Maybe I should lock Cletus in the car overnight?)

Hmmm.

(T-285)