The Creature

I have no idea how long the creature had been living under my son’s car which had been parked in the driveway for two and a half months, but we first noticed it on July 24. Some of our friends who had come over to swim that day saw the creature, and my husband saw it too. So I went to look, and sure enough something was under there. It was dark grey and black with long hair and a hairy tail. It stood about a foot and a half long, a foot wide, and about five inches tall. Weird claw/hands/whatever. We didn’t get a really good look, but it sort of resembled a mink, only flatter and wider.

I tried to back the car out to get away from it, but it climbed up in the engine. Yes, the engine! It wouldn’t come out even when I drove the car around. So I opened the hood and sure enough, I could see it. I poked at it with a stick and it scurried out of the engine, but was still under the car, and when I started the car and tried to back it up again, it crawled up in the back somewhere near the gas tank. We got our dog Max, and he tried to go under the car, barking like crazy. No response.

Then I parked driver’s side wheels up on the curb to raise the car, and we let Max under, with the hope that it would run away (Max was on a leash). I was frightened that it was vicious animal, but Max didn’t seem worried. Unfortunately (fortunately?) He couldn’t get to it, but he was really close. The creature started chirping (sounding like a car alarm–chirp, chirp, chirp!) but wouldn’t come out. So I drove around again, hoping he’d flee, but no such luck. It remained there, chirping the whole way. People were staring at the car since it appeared to be making such a weird sound. It was enough to make me feel sorry for the creature.

My husband got the hose and tried to spray it out. No result but that annoying chirping. So we left it alone and went out to the back and swam again. When my sister and her family arrived for fireworks, we got Max to see if it was gone. But the creature was still there and started chirping again. A friend of ours got under the car and tried to prod it a little with a stick, but I made him stop. I have no idea what kind of creature it was or if it was dangerous. For all I knew, the thing had rabies or worse. Or had claws that could shred a face in seconds. What if it came out an attacked one of the children? Besides, I felt sorry for the animal.

I moved the car and we did fireworks in the street as is our custom for Pioneer Day. I planned to call animal control the next day if it was still there. Thankfully, it wasn’t. Needless to say, we’re now parking the car in the garage! (And hoping my daughter doesn’t hit it when she pulls her car in.)

We’ve had an ad in the paper to sell the car, but no one seems to want to pay what it’s worth, and now that I’ve been driving it around because of this episode and have seen how nice it is, and how many extras it has, I’ve decided we’re probably going to keep the car for our other daughter when she starts driving in a few months. When my son gets back from his mission, they’ll have to duke it to see who ends up with it.

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