A possum ran to the edge of the road this morning. It was 4:35 am, I was groggy and a possum’s general well-being wasn’t high on my to-do list. He looked at me with his little beady possum eyes and paused. And then he proceeded to run out in front of me.
The easy option would have been to turn him in squash casserole. It was 4:35 am. Possums aren’t high on my “I care about you” list. He should have turned into roadkill.
But there were no cars coming. The road was dry and I didn’t have to run him over. So I didn’t.
I’m not Mother Theresa. I’m not trying to earn my wings. I just didn’t feel like needlessly taking a life today — even a beady-eyed rat-looking possum.
I missed him because thought about how there doctors missed my melanoma. I thought about how I escaped drowning when I had a chain wrapped around my leg.
Someone swerved for me.
The possum lived another day. And so do I.