Why don't people care about Oscar?

After several consecutive months of noticing there were more bills than there was money to pay them, I sought a 2nd job. (Boredom was a reason as well.) I typed up a little diddy, called all the area hotel/motels asking for their fax number. Got ten numbers, started buzzing them thru the fax - and before I got all ten sent, phone was ringing... "Soo-per 8 here, I need someone right away." Hired. $7 an hour, front desk. No, it ain't much - but when you're not out spending (working instead) it helps.

I love Liberty (yes freedom, but in this specific case I'm speaking of the town I live in.) Landed here in 1961, there was one flashing red light, and entrance sign indicated "Population 8,909."

Soo-per 8 (Owner is Indian... and I ain't makin' fun, just kinda like the way he says it) sets on the Western doorstep of Liberty. It sits in the dreaded Liberty Triangle - a half mile by one mile by one mile triangle of property that has lonnnnng been the topic of city planners. "It's our entry-way, we've got to dress up Liberty."

Who cares if Don's Muffler Shop and Miller's Camp Park have been there for thirty years?... we want stuff like Lowe's, and chain restaurants, more uppity/aesthetically pleasing stuff. (The idiots [said with love] spent $150,000 of taxpayers money on a study of what to do and how to do it... meanwhile, as this study went on 63 taxpaying business's opened across the highway - Kansas City city limits.. Home Depot, Applebees, Kohls, Bob Evans, bigass WalMart, etc, etc.

So - one night whilst I had no customers to greet at the Soo-per 8, I decided to dump the trash can just outside the door. Dusk. With bag in hand I reached to take the lid off AND THERE WERE TWO EYEBALLS STARING AT ME FROM INSIDE THE TRASH CAN. Shit. Being the soo-per stud-hunter-fisherman I'm not - I ran like hell back into the Soo-per 8.

Broom, that sounds like a good thing to "shoo" whateverinthehell is peering at me from the trash can. I kinda figured it was a racoon, but I wasn't sure. I sure didn't want a guest to walk up and be startled by this creature, but I wasn't real fond about the possibility of rabies, claw scratches, et al, on my measly $7 an hour.

So I tapped the top of the trash can with my broom. Lo and behold I pissed off "Oscar" (the racoon) as he was munching down some dinner.. and he jumped out and RAN RIGHT AT ME. Being the soo-per stud-hunter-fisherman I'm not - I ran like hell back into the Soo-per 8. Half scared, half laughing.

The scenario was repeated again about thirty minutes later, yes, he chased me again... The third time was charm - and he scurried off into a wooded area about the size of a football field in the middle of the $150,000 studied Liberty Triangle uppity entry way into our fine city.

Oscar and I had several more run ins that summer - and I, the soo-per stud-hunter-fisherman, decided to stand my ground... and our skirmishes grew shorter... and Oscar finally just relented every time I'd poke the broom on the trash can - and scurried back into the uppity greenway.

Went to my regular job 8 ta 5 on Wednesday... commuted back home, pulled into Soo-per 8 for my 6 to midnight shift... and there was Oscar's home... bulldozed down from a football sized forest to a 20' by 20' stack of tumbled trees. Yep, gotta make room for the 8th bank in our now 30,000 people town.

Imminent domain. I don't know why but that word reminds me of another 'glossed over' term - euthanasia. They are kinda similar. Whenever someone would mention that term to my dad (euthanasia) he'd always calmly suggested the replacement phrase "you mean kill 'em."

Am I over-reacting? Should I consider running for office within Peta? We pay $150,000 just to see what to do with this land... and we can't pay two conservation guys with ten traps $300 to rescue Oscar and his buddies and relocate them back in the wild.?

I hope Oscar scared the shit outta the bulldozer guy.