Monday, July 20, 2009

Something behind the door...


I'm back from Kentucky. I miss it already and wish there were some way to be both here and there at the same time. When I first got to Kentucky I told my mom at the airport that I'd written about her house and the raccoon. She said "Well, there's something else in the pantry now. " She said she didn't know what it is, but it sounds too big to be a mouse, squirrel or rat...maybe it's the other raccoon. They were only able to catch one of them. But she said you can hear it rummaging around in there, and when you go to open the door you can hear it frantically trying to scramble away, little paws making scraping noises as it tries to catch its footing and run before the door is opened. She said she always gives it a minute to escape before she opens the door. So I was instantly curious.

For the whole visit I listened for the thing in the kitchen pantry. And for the whole visit, the pantry was silent. I had the room right next to it, so perhaps hearing me moving around at all hours (when left on my own, I revert to my old ways of staying up until dawn, or later). But on the second to the last day of my visit, I heard it. Well, first I heard the squirrels in the attic running around. They were also dragging something. Maybe insulation or clothing, because it sounded like a blanket sliding across the ceiling. Soon after, I heard noises coming from the pantry.

At first I thought it was my mom searching for something in there, until I remembered she said she doesn't go in there anymore. So I got up, grabbed my camera, and approached the pantry door. As I turned the knob, I heard frantic scrambling, like a plump body falling over itself and slipping on boxes to get away. I must confess: I hesitated before flinging open the door. At the last minute I got this image of opening the door too fast, panicking the creature, and it now feeling cornered and with no other choice but to leap for my face in self defense. So by the time I opened the door it had vanished, leaving in it's wake a pile of violated boxes with their contents strewn all over the carpet. Not sure if the creature was huddled in an unseen hole somewhere amongst the boxes, I snapped a quick picture of the inside of the pantry (this is the above photo) and shut the door again, leaving it to continue with what it was doing.

7 comments:

Alicia said...

"At the last minute I got this image of opening the door too fast, panicking the creature, and it now feeling cornered and with no other choice but to leap for my face in self defense. " hahahahahaahah...girl, I am at work cracking up! My coworkers are looking at me sideways, but I don't care. You are freakin hilarious. Why would it jump to your face out of all the rest of your body? lol. It is so funny to me b/c that is definitely something I would say!

Former Mushroom-Haired Child said...

Hi Alicia, thank you so much for your comment! You have me cracking up too reading what you said! I know just how it is when you start laughing out loud, and the people around you start looking at you from the sides of their eyes. When I imagined the raccoon as I opened the door, it was always flying in midair towards my face. Not sure why it wouldn't go for my knees instead (less effort on its part), but when I imagine it, it's always launched towards my head.

Anonymous said...

Hi!
I accidentally found your page after doing some research on no-poo washing. I haven't taken that leap yet, but I must say that the information on your website has given me the courage. My story is the exact opposite of yours. As a child and teenager and young adult, my hair was gorgeous. But somewhere along the way..getting married, having kids, etc..I think I forgot how to take care of my hair! So now, I'm stuck with half-frizz, partially strait, flipped out hair. I want MY hair back!! First I have a question, though. Does it matter that I am Caucasian? (well, mostly..give or take some Native Am, Italian and who knows what else) My hair is coarse and thick. Do you think your method will work on my hair?
Thanks for the input!
Sara

Anonymous said...

I love your blog. I want to say thank you for sharing the information on how to care for very curly hair. If you do not mind, I would like to share my hair story. I am African/American but no one in my family has hair like me. As a child my parents would tell me my hair looked liked actress Rae Dawn Chong because it was so bushy and curly. My sister had perfect shirley temple like ringlets that required little to no product to maintain. (So we were always told she had "good hair" but I was the nappy-headed one) My mom and her relatives had hair that was very loosely waved and soft. No one ever used a relaxer or pressed their hair. So they did the best they could with plaits or twists or sent me to a hair salon. My dad (who is White and Afr.Am) also had fine loosely curled hair but all of his sisters had very long, shiny, straight hair like my White grandad. So when I spent summers with them no one knew how to comb my hair and it just hung wild. The only good thing about my hair was that it always grew very long

I got a relaxer at 10 yrs old, and my hair stayed long but after a few years it started braking off in clumps. My moms solution was to just cut it every time it broke off. Soon I got the dreaded asymmetrical cut that the rap group Salt-n-Pepa was wearing at the time.

I grew my hair out again and tried several other trendy cuts that a Black hair stylist talked me into. I finally said enough and decided to grow it out again. Now it hangs right below my breasts. I still relax it but since I go to a Dominican hairdresser my hair does not have much damage...but anytime you relax your hair it is damaging it right? I want to grow out my relaxer. So I ask you... can you do the roller set during the transition period? I have tried to twists but I feel they are not cute on me. So I just wash it and condition it. Comb it out with a liquid leave in and wear a single braid or bun. Once I get about 3 inches of new growth it gets harder to comb out so I relax again...AARGH!!! I'm going to try it again and I may do a big chop after Christmas.

Sorry for the long post. But I have one more question...Once all the relaxer is out will I be able to color my hair because some grey is starting to creep in??? Thanks.

Carlotta said...

Oh my, whatever creature that is lurking in your mom's pantry is having a free for all. It must get pretty expensive having to replace everything that it's eating at the all night buffet.
~Tootles!

Anonymous said...

HAhahahahah, OMG Teri, u r most hilarious. I just love to hear your creature stories. I love how you describe the body of the "creature" as plump! Too cute.

Anonymous said...

Call an exterminator quickly! That think could have rabies. If you are bitten, you'll need to have a rabies vaccination and they are very unpleasant. Also, stop feeding them. Remove the contents of the closet and place all shelved food in metal containers. Put the Grey kitty on a feeding schedule. Only give her what she can consume in 1/2 hr. Good luck.

-Choirgirl