The Possum Encounter

My daughter came home from school and showed me a picture someone had sent her on Instagram. It was a picture of a dead opossum.


"Why would somebody send that to you?" I asked.


She laughed. "Because the kid who sent it is twisted and thinks dead possums are funny."


I frowned. "Whatever."


Fast forward to the next day. I was standing at the bus stop with my son, when I noticed a putrid odor. "Dude," I said. "What is that awful smell?"


Bubba shrugged. "Probably the dead possum."


I raised my eyebrows. "Dead possum? There's a dead possum around here?"


"Yeah, Mama. It's right over there." He pointed to a place about twenty feet away on the sidewalk. Sure enough, it was a dead possum.


"Do you know why there's a dead possum on the sidewalk?"


"Um hmmm." The boy said. "My friend took it out of the street and put it there."


I looked at the kid. "Seriously? And let me guess. He took a picture of it, too, didn't he?"


Bubba grinned. "Yep."


Obviously, it was the same possum my daughter had showed me on her phone. It was far worse encountering it in person. Good thing Instagram doesn't have smeller vision, or that picture of the dead opossum would be making a lot of people sick!