Piggybacking

So this entry is a piggyback entry off of Pat's blog post. Some of you have heard this story more times that you'd like, but for those of you who haven't...read on my friends! Ya might just have a laugh.

This is part of a journal entry from when I was working at camp in California. Keep in mind, I worked with 6th graders from the city...& we were in the mountains. Ok, here it goes:

"Never a dull moment! First of all, it's Snakes & Line Dancing night, so it's been a high energy night - that much is a given. So we get back to the cabins and the fun really begins. "There I was, knee deep in the jungles of Owl Cabin, 6th graders all around!" (*Boz, that one's for you buddy!*)

First, 2 of my girl come to me claiming to have felt a "baby raccoon" on a bed inside a sleeping bag. I dismiss this absurd notion and tell them that off to bed they go, lights out - sleepy time. Of course there couldn't be any wildlife inside our cabin! What a silly thought!

Not 10 minutes later I have a girl crying frantically from a bad dream. The cabin leader from our other half of the duplex cabin (Genevieve/GV) & I talk her down from it, give her a group hug and send her off to the land of happy dreams in the hopes that bad dreams won't return.

Another 10 minutes go by and a few of my girls come running frantically into the lobby with excited talk of a chipmunk in someone's bed! In Genevieve & I go to do a little investigating - and sure enough - a chipmunk had indeed made a valiant effort in setting up camp in a campers sleeping bag.

We attempt to chase it out of my cabin, which surprisingly only took about 5 minutes or so. The poor thing was clinging to my kitten slippers for dear life at one point! Once in the lobby, we must finish our mission & get the creature out back out into it's real home outside. Sure enough the little thing makes a mad dash to the couch & underneath the cushions it goes! GV & I open up both the doors leading to the outside, close all doors leading inside, & are now ready to confront this beast!

We tip toe to the couch, the poor creature praying he's found a safe refuge & cowering in fear just beneath the pillows of the lobby couch. GV & I stealthy pull the cushions off the couch, careful not to hurt the little guy. He looks me straight in the eye. He looks GV straight in the eye. He looks across the room to GV's open duffel bag filled with the weeks clothes. He sees his opportunity for freedom - for greatness - and he takes it!

One last ditch effort to avoid spending another night in the cold mountain winter air! Off of the couch he flys, across the floor he speeds and is hiding somewhere inside GV's clean clothes the very next instant. Little does this poor little guy know that he has just sealed his fate, for GV's bag is lightweight & portable.

We close both of the outside doors, gingerly lift the duffel bag and carry it outside to the porch. Once outside, making certain that the door closed behind us, we begin to carefully take GV's clothing out of the bag. Soon we uncover the intruder. Foiled again! He reluctantly jumps out of the duffel bag and runs to the nearest tree, where he spent a much colder night than he would have had his plan would have prevailed!

What lesson can we learn from this escapade? That my friends is the easy part: Always take "baby raccoon" sightings seriously, no matter how absurd it may sound or how unreliable the source."