Saturday, December 27, 2003


WE SEE WHAT WE WANT
by Al Batt

I was going for a walk in the woods with my wife's faithful canine companion, Gus.

Gus loved my wife, The Queen B, and only liked me when I let him ride in my pickup or took him for a walk. This day, he liked me.

The woods were alive with birds, flowers and insects. I was happy to see them all. The mosquitoes were even happier to see me. I was meals on wheels to the skeeters.

Gus went exploring. I could hear him snuffling as he investigated the various scents. Suddenly, I heard a commotion in a thicket. I ran to the sounds.

There I found Gus. He was staring intently up a tree, making odd growling noises while a bit of drool danced on his doggy lips.

I looked up into the giant bur oak tree to see if I could determine the object of his attention. There in the crotch of the tree, maybe 15 feet above the ground, was a young raccoon.

I find baby raccoons cute and mischievous. Gus found them irritating at best, and well worth chasing.

The little raccoon was looking down at Gus. I could see the fear in the young animal's eyes. (Don't worry, the raccoon was never in any danger.) Gus, being a dog, could sense the fear. Because he could think of nothing else to do, Gus began to bark.

This wasn't what the little raccoon wanted to hear and he had seen all that he wanted to see of Gus. He put his paws over his eyes.

I found it cute. Gus found it confusing. Evidently, Gus had been focused in on the raccoon's eyes. Once the eyes disappeared, Gus got the oddest look on his face. He stared up in the tree for a couple of minutes, uttered a single, last bark and bounced back off into the brush.

We see what we want to see.

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