prairie point

the return of riki

After several days of teasing we finally got a rain tonight. Tricia went out and sat in the porch swing in the dark to enjoy the air and listen to the rain. The splash from the eaves released the fragrance of the salvias planted between the rose bushes. I sat inside doped on allergy medicine watching La Dolce Vita on the telly.

When she came in later Tricia had some surprising news: she had seen Riki, crossing the front lawn heading straight toward the back yard. I was incredulous, but she was sure because of the characteristic limp. I turned off the kitchen light and peered out the screen door in the back. Sure enough there was a raccoon eating cat food. I spoke her name softly and she looked in my direction. I could not be sure she saw me through the screen even though I was only two feet away.

Almost a year ago I wrote about Riki in these pages and even then it had been months since we had last see her.

Riki was an injured raccoon who got friendly enough to follow me around in the yard and even followed me into our house on more than one occasion. She had a terrible limp, possibly from an encounter with a car. We saw her less and less as she got well and finally we didn't see her at all.

Had she been here all this time without our knowing, or had she wandered off and finally made her way back? Animals sometimes make a circuit through their territory. We had just assumed that she had met some terrible fate with a dog or a car or animal control.

Now we will be looking for her again. It surprises me how much animal life there is all around us in spite of all the adversities of human civilization.