Monday, August 4, 2008

4:30 in the morning one day in Kelowna

I reached with my hockey stick to pull the trap out from under my trailer, careful to keep the thing at arm’s length. I maneuvered it onto the back of my pick-up and headed up Chute Road, which lead, I knew, to some fishing roads far back in the hills. “And there, little buddy,” I felt like saying to the varmint bouncing along inside that trap, “you and your skunk buddies can nest all you want.”

By the time I pulled over a couple of miles above the town, the sun had almost risen. With the hockey stick again, I lowered the trap to the ground and stood as far back as I could while releasing the trapdoor.

The second it sprang open, out sprang Twinky, the neighbour's cat, wild-looking as hell. He vanished into the bush and hasn't yet come out.