Animals

"There's an owl and a fox out on the lawn!" Merv yelled from the window. "They're just sitting there, side by side. This is incredible!" "YES! That owl's for me! I'll be right there!" Kaitlyn shouted, moving quickly from the back of the house. "Fox is mine; hot damn!" Becca squealed, rushing up the stairs. They arrived at the same time, tangling on the rug before the front door. "Wait now," Merv said, putting his hand up. "What do you mean they're 'yours'? You're not going out there?!?" He knew the girls were of an age to do exactly as they liked, but he still needed answers, still longed to protect them. "They're our spirit animals, Dad," Kaitlyn explained. "We called them," Becca added. Speechless, Merv watched as they opened the door and moved outside, each digging an offering out of their pocket. Kaitlyn turned and smiled at him through the window. "Everyone has a spirit animal, Dad," she said (with a wave); he cringed as the owl hopped onto her shoulder and grabbed the mouse (where in the sam hell did she get a mouse?) out of her hand. Becca and the fox had run off with a Ziploc bag of chicken nuggets. Sitting there, Merv ran his hands over his face and through his hair. He was tired of "not getting it" - any of it, most of it ... pretty much life in general. He walked back through the kitchen and out onto the back porch to sneak a well-deserved smoke and noticed a frog sitting there at the edge of the backyard. A frog in winter. Biggest frog he'd ever seen in his life. "Uh ... hey," Merv said self-consciously, putting the tobacco away. "Are you for me?" The toad jumped up the first step to the porch. "I don't know how to do this," he whispered, but remembered he had worms in the garage (to add to the compost bin). "HOLD ON!" Merv said excitedly and the frog advanced one step, prepared to be patient with this one.