“What Is It?”

Kevin was a normal boy in every sense of the word. He played, he got dirty, he got into mischief and he was curious.
His poor mother never knew what he was going to drag home next…garter snakes in his pants pocket, frogs, toads, kittens, dogs. Once he’d even carried a pheasant home to her with tear-filled eyes begging her to save the car-struck bird’s life.
“You’re a nurse, mama, make it well!”
This time, however, he literally dragged something home…this something was dead.
He’d found it just around the block from their home. It was just lying there…of course it had flies buzzing all over it but that didn’t concern him.
Shooing the nasty pests away, he squatted down to take a closer look at this critter.
“Hmph!” he grunted aloud. “I don’t know what you are…but you sure do stink, whatever you are!” he said as he reached up to plug his nose.
“Mama will know what you are!” he said confidently, as he stretched out his small hand to grab the road-kill’s lifeless tail.
And off he started for home.
When he’d reached his house, he knew better than to take this thing inside, so, instead, he opted for hollering out for his mama through the front screen door.
“MAMA!”…he shouted, “MAMA, WHERE ARE YOU?”…
Emerging from the kitchen, she answered him. “Yes, Kevin, what is it, honey?”
Her warm smile now disappeared as she spotted the flattened scrap of fur her young son held up for her.
“Oh, no… now what does he have?” she thought to herself in silence.
But the small boy was oblivious to her reaction as he blurted out “mama, what is this?”
Coming closer she could now make out what it had been in life. The poor animal was surely dead and from the looks of it, it had been for quite awhile.
“It’s dead! …that’s what it is!” she said grimacing.
Still undeterred, he persisted. “I know it’s dead but what was it?”
“It was an opossum…now take it back where you found it!”
“Yes, mama…”
He was content now…until the next time…

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