So, recently we found out that there is a wolf in our neighbourhood. Chris and I have always talked about what animals may be living in the woods around our area. Deer, wild turkeys and of course raccoons...which we have seen many times, and in our part of the province, wolves.
Every Wednesday night, we put out our garbage and recycling in a central area in our parking lot. My mother asked us, "Aren't you worried that some animals will get into the garbage?" Chris and I both said "Nah." There was never an incident like that before. We did have a raccoon visit our backyard on a few occasions and it helped itself to our garbage can before Chris fashioned a very high-tech security system with bungee cords and a broken hockey stick. "Nice action," I praised Chris. "I haven't seen our backyard pet in a while." Until I saw him flattened on the road behind our building. Poor little thing.
Thursday morning arrives and Chris and I are heading to the car. We rounded the corner and we were in awe of the scene before our eyes. Garbage was torn to bits. Plastic bags were shredded. We had a first hand glimpse at our neighbours refuse and who the guilty parties were that did not recycle. It was a mess. We slowly drove by the wreckage and said to ourselves that the garbage men were not going to pick this shit up. And none of the people here will own up to the mess. It's just going to remain an eye sore.
As we drove to Chris' work, he mentioned that it may have been done by wolves. I couldn't believe that. "I've never heard howling at night," I said to him. "He could be a rogue wolf without a pack," was his response. And that was the end of the conversation.
The next day, I was returning home from work when I noticed my neighbour sitting on her front steps. "Did you hear that we had a wolf visit our parking lot?" "Are you kidding me?" I asked, completely in shock. "Yeah, I was coming home from work around 3 am and I noticed the wolf in the garbage. I stood behind my car and the wolf just stared at me, then ran away." I started to feel uncomfortable about the fact that the wolf got so close to us. And know it knows that we are a potential food source. Come visit our all-you-can-eat buffet! Great.
I walked in the house and told my mother. She got worried. "It's very scary where you live, that's why I'm not very adventurous with my walking around here." "Oh mother," I said to her. You can't reason with her. Once she has something set in her mind, that becomes law.
Fast forward to last night, I forced Chris to take out our recycling for today. We didn't have very much garbage so there was no point in taking it out. My mother turned to us and said "Your fence is not very high, aren't you worried the wolf will come into your backyard and try to get in the house?" What?!? "So what if it came into our backyard. It wouldn't be the first time a creature has done that. And how on earth is it going to come in the house?" I said to my mother. "It's not like they have posable thumbs. They can't unlock doors." Chris responded in his usual, sarcastic way. I couldn't help but laugh. My poor mother.
Last night I was awakened by a sound coming from downstairs. I strained to hear for a bit but nothing happened. I kept wondering if Chris had locked the back door. I thought someone may have entered the house and no, I didn't think it was a wolf. Although my mind started to drift and I wondered if someone would try and poison some of their garbage to kill the wolf.
I imagined walking out to the parking lot and seeing the wreckage again but this time the suspect was there, lying dead on its side. Everyone in our neighbourhood was standing around talking about the scene. I ran back to the house and yelled at Chris to get the cameras. And, the sick bastards that we are, ran over to the wolf like a couple of crazed tourists, and started taking pictures. I turned to Chris with a look as if to say "What the hell is wrong with us?" He just looked at me and said, "It's for evidence." Oh, of course!
Can you guess what we saw this morning? Our little visitor graced our parking lot yet again. Garbage everywhere. I looked at the mess and tried to make sense of it. If it wasn't for the wolf, all the other little creatures could not benefit from the smorgasbord that is our garbage buffet. I did get a little satisfaction knowing that our garbage was not part of the mess and therefore it wasn't our fault. So I guess it's OK.
Chris suggested we stake out our parking lot next Wednesday night to catch a glimpse. I'll keep y'all posted on this genius idea.
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