Member-only story
It’s Groundhog Day!
My Friend the Woodchuck
House tucked away from humanity
enfolded by woodland flora and fauna.
Man-dredged pond hiding behind deep tree-screen
just back from the road.
Pond stocked with edible finned-ones
frequented by local frogs, whose chorus
deafened Spring evenings.
“Leave them alone!” was shouted at neighbor boy, who played at separating mating couples, or pulling apart long gooey-greenish egg strands. “Their whole life is here. Do not disturb!”
Pelting rotting cattail stalks and mud at one another, ruckus of neighbor boy and I left amphibians to their doings. Oh, to live between the worlds of earth and water! What was a bit of mud but this intricate union?
In the bank of this lively pond there lived a woodchuck, for this creature is so-named thereabouts. Its burrow was cleverly dug so as to be entered from land or water. In the deep cold of winter, the entrance could only be observed from iced-over, if one was patient and lucky.
Sitting quietly, I witnessed the owner of said burrow exit and enter, its wobbly gait efficient enough to elude marauding felines and raptors. The ungainly creature swelled in Autumn and appeared…
