Oh Possum!

On Wednesday morning, Amos was playing with his new birthday toys and needed his all-in-one Bulldozer/Dumptruck to help his play. It was out in the sandbox so I went out back and threw off the tarp to look for the truck. No sooner had I lifted the tarp did I see a little opossum, suggled under the side of the sandbox (which is actually sand in a small blue plastic pool). He was not happy to see me, as I think I interrupted his sleep. His eyes were all pale and he was baring his teeth. I shrieked, threw the tarp back over the sandbox and ran inside with Amos. I ran upstairs to tell Nathan what had just happened and after he had eaten breakfast, he went out to take care of the little guy. We were hoping to just be able to shoo him away, but Nathan didn't know what he was going to need to do.
He grabbed a shovel and pulled the tarp up. The possum was still there and had to be coaxed out. He ran out, under our fence and into the alley along our house. Amos and I ran from the back door to the front and as we opened the door, we saw this:




WHAT??
Nathan said that as soon as the possum ran out into the street, a car was coming, so he put up his hand, motioning to slow down. The guy sped up and went over the possum. So yeah, at first we thought he was dead. And even though he's a pest and probably has rabbies, we were sad.
But then we saw his ear twitch...wait a minute...he was alive, or was he?!? Nathan went out into the street to get him and take him back to the woods behind our alley. As Nathan carried the possum back, the possum started to "come back to life" and by the time they were back by the woods, he was ready to go back home. As Nathan was tossing him into the bushes, he was putting his feet out, getting ready to land and run home. We had been tricked!

For some reason, I felt so worked up. It had been an emotional morning so far: HUGE adrenaline rush, followed by the alive/dead/alive situation. And what a crazy story. Who would have thought that we would have an opossum in our backyard, living in the city? Not me, and that's why I got such a big scare!