Re: skunks

i had a friend in my youth. curtis zahn. poet, short story writer, one-time editor with holiday magazine, but most of all, a pacifist who was black-balled by mccarthy. curtis owned a house on the beach at malibu. if you know the area, you know the houses kind of hang on a cliff--road above, sand and sea below. curtis left the sliding glass door between his living room and his deck open one evening while entertaining a guest elsewhere in the house. a skunk entered. that is, a pregnant skunk entered. and whelped [if that's the right word]. six or eight kits, i forget which.

curtis said it took nearly 3 months to get mom skunk and all skunk kits outside at the same time without, that is, an intervening accident, so he could shut the door.

all this happened some years before i got to know him. but whenever i visited him, skunks would assemble on his deck once the sun set and wait patiently until he fed them.

i have never known anyone, before or since, quite as gentle as curtis. i have no idea how he could have been an editor!




At 04:30 PM 2/17/03 -0500, you wrote:
In a message dated 2/17/03 1:59:00 PM, raynora.edwards@worldnet.att.net
writes:

<< Oh yeah Pasadena California did have possums , some skunks and rats, but

actually their population seemed to decline as I grew up. (skunks and

possums that is) >>

Nora, my brother lives in Morgan Hill and they have skunks there.  He knows
to well. He lives on the mountain side and one of the decks on his home is
elevated with supports extending down the mtn side.  This past fall a family
of skunks crawled up under and made a home.  He had quite a time evacuating
them.
    Ceres

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