Mom and I were visiting friends when I saw IT. I started grumbling deep in my throat and started stalking IT. IT didn’t move even as I inched closer and sniffed. Finally, I inched even closer so my nose almost touched Its tail; still IT didn’t move. I kept quietly grumbling and stalking IT. I’d take a small step forward, stop and back up a bit, then take another step forward, all the while sniffing. I moved slowly and carefully along ITs side until I got beside the head. There was a faint odor that I couldn’t identify, but It seemed to be harmless.
Mom and her friends were really laughing at me. I didn’t think there was anything funny at all. When Mom quit laughing, she said: “Tuffy, that is a stuffed raccoon that a taxidermist has mounted.”
I still don’t know what was so funny. By the way, what is a raccoon and a taxidermist? Maybe I really don’t want to know.
I went with Mom to visit some friends. She was going to leave me in the car with all the windows and top open, but Bob invited me into the house. Mom didn’t take off my leash, but I sniffed around as much as I could.
As I walked past the coffee table, I started to grumble, deep in my throat. Mom couldn’t see what I was grumbling about, at first. When she looked past the coffee table she saw “It”, too. I kept grumbling and moving closer to “It”, very cautiously. I finally got close enough to “It” to sniff the tip of its tail and then along its side. So far it had not moved a muscle. I got courageous enough to sniff the side of its head and it still didn’t move. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
When Mom finally quit laughing at me, she said that “It’ was a real raccoon that a taxidermist had stuffed. What is a taxidermist??
I thought “It” looked rather menacing, I didn’t see anything funny about that stuffed raccoon.
By Tuf Enuf a/k/a Tuffy As told to Harriett Elton Elliott