Marsupial Machinations...

Possum babies are so cute!

My father was late tonight with my Cokes and cigarettes. It was almost 9 pm when he arrived. He usually arrives between 8 and 8:30 pm. Maggie had been on vigil for an hour.

"He's coming doll," I kept telling her.

Maggie squealed with glee the moment the beemer pulled up to the curb.

"Your cousin Johnny caught me on the phone and he gets his feelings extremely hurt if I try to get off the phone with him or cut the conversation short," dad explained to me. "I was stuck on the phone down at the pharmacy."

I had two cigarettes left so it was actually perfect timing.

"Let me check your medications and your bathroom," dad said. "And then we will feed and water Maggie."

I have to keep a spotless bathroom these days after Charlie went to all that trouble to clean it to perfection. I cleared the inspection with flying colors. Dad gave me my two sleeping pills as is his custom on such visits. As far as I am concerned, it is like giving me a placebo.

"Where are you going with Maggie's food?" Old Fuss and Feathers asked as I carried Maggie's food to the computer room.

"A possum is coming in every night and eating Maggie's food," I told my father. "We are feeding a possum and not Maggie if I don't do this."

Dad chuckled.

"And Maggie doesn't put up a fuss?" dad asked incredulously.

"She is sound asleep in the bed with me when it happens," I told him. "This possum is super stealthy. I've only seen it once in a chance meeting."

The Paramount Papa...

"Come over and get your medications," my father told me this morning. "I won't be home until about midnight tonight."

"Is Charlie bringing supper?" I asked warily. "Can he bring the medications?"

I would be hurting mentally and possibly physically by tomorrow afternoon with the current arrangement. I would probably be a miserable old pus of a human being.

"I didn't think about that. Good idea!" dad said. "I will call Charlie and see if he can bring him. And yes, he's bringing you a KFC meal with lots of soft drinks."

"Come over anyway because we need to put your new car tag on and put your proof of insurance and registration in your glove box."

Moments earlier Maggie caught a vine snake and brought it inside for my approval. It was a feisty little snake and bit my arm several times as I wrestled it out of Maggie's mouth. Out the front door, it went. "I guess you didn't like your treat and gift," was Maggie's look and demeanor.