From: "Frederick Sparber" Great levity!
> Christmas Tree Opossum Surprises Pa. Teen ... > ENGLEWOOD, Pa. - Mary Kathleen O'Connor, 16, doing some > studying for school about 6 a.m. Tuesday, said she was the > first to be startled by an apparent Christmas tree stowaway. > > "I'm looking at the tree and the angel just pops off," > she said. "And a second later, this head just popped up. The > eyes were, like, glowing. I was thinking, 'Oh my God!' And > I screamed." > > Other family members came running. "We looked > at it and I thought it might have been a fake," said her > father, Michael O'Connor, a Frackville attorney. "But then > it moved its head. And I thought 'Holy Jeez. We're in trouble.'" > > O'Connor called police, and William E. O'Donnell, a state Game > Commission deputy wildlife conservation officer, removed an > 18-inch-long opossum from the 8-foot Douglas fir the family > had bought, bundled, from a dealer in Seltzer. > > O'Donnell caged the animal and released it in woods about >five miles away. The tree, meanwhile, was still in the front > yard where Patricia had hurled it. "The lights are still on it," > Michael O'Connor said. "So is the stand." > Ten minutes after I had positioned the family Christmas tree in the living room we noticed a strange shutter emanate from within the branches. Upon further investigation we discovered that our ten month old kitten Zoey had decided that the tree was an important piece of real estate worth exploring. There I was staring back at too beady eyes that were staring back at me. I extracted her...and then, upon reflection of the matter had wished I had retrieved my digital camera to document her little adventure. Dang! Unfortuantely, Zoey has shown no further interest in playing a Christmas tree ornament. I think it was the pitch on her paws that she spent 30 minutes trying to lick off. I suspect her tongue was not in the greatest shape either. The holiday odyssey continues. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
