ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990                   TAG: 9007160173
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALL-STAR NIGHT, 'POSSUM'S PLAY

YOU WILL remember that Tuesday night, when the All-Star Game was played in Chicago, it was raining cats and dogs in Roanoke, raining on and off in Chicago, and hot 'n' dry as blue blazes everywhere in between, including this part of Floyd County.

But we were all set up in the living room with hot dogs and beer anyway. The man of the house had the American League, and I had the National League because at least I can recognize Darryl Strawberry, even if I don't know anyone else who plays and only learned last week how those odd little popped-up flies figure in the count.

So there we were, sweating. While the thunder and lightning rolled all around us, just close enough to be a tease without getting anything wet. And while the fans in Chicago kept putting up their umbrellas and taking them down. And while not even one faint breeze was making it all the way through the window screen from out under the pines where it might actually be getting cooler.

Then, to add insult to injury, we had to close the front door because this little 'possum kept sticking in his pointy nose to see what was going on.

Since we've had the porch screened, we often leave the front door propped open. It's easier than getting up and down the 10 million times the cats want to come and go on a humid summer night. But there's a cat door in the porch screen now, and we've discovered that it isn't only the cats that use it. Last summer a 'coon came in a couple of times to peer at us. But he'd withdraw a good deal quicker than the 'possum seemed inclined to do. I had to get up and walk the 'possum back across the doorsill and off the porch. He was just a little thing, still plenty of pink around the eyes, and finally he disappeared under the mock orange bush.

But when you're hot and sticky and your yard is burnt down to nothing but crackling brown grass, the last thing you want, on a night when it's raining everywhere else except on your own few acres, is a pointy-nosed 'possum grinning across your doorstep. I mean, for Mother Nature to do this to you and then to laugh at you about it! It was more than I could stand.

So I chose my language carefully while escorting the 'possum out.

Right after that, the game went into an hour-long rain delay, and what does CBS put on to kill the time but the one episode of "911" that I actually watched every minute of the first time it was shown! And then the other team started scoring runs. I should have known better than to add to the night's heat with 'possum exhortations. I gave up on Darryl and his teammates and went to bed.

So I lost $20 on the game. And because I'd eaten more hot dogs than anyone should eat when it's as hot as it was last Tuesday, I dreamed about 'possums all night long. It's not nice to curse Mother Nature. 


 by CNB