Dead Possum Society

Since I only lived 2 miles from work, I sometimes took the occasion to walk.  Took me about a half an hour at a brisk pace.  The exercise was great as well.   I would walk on this road that has a park on one end, a strip mall on the other side, with the Trader Joe's, 24 HR gym and a Chevron station at the corner.

About midway is another park and there were tons of rabbits, the usual squirrels, possums and whatever critters indigenous to the valley.  One time as I was nearing work, I spotted a Roadrunner doing its "dinosaur strut" shuffling towards some bushes on a slope near the freeway.  Wouldn't you know it, just minutes after the I see the roadrunner, I see a coyote on a ridge, casually walking and sniffing around on the hillside. It was that kind of a neighborhood.

One day while about midway to work.  I spot some kind of roadkill up ahead.  As I'm getting closer, I see it's a possum or what used to be one.  On its back, its arms upraised as if vainly trying to ward off the attacker. The "attacker" was most likely a speeding car driven by one of the high schoolers who was about to be late for his first class.  The possums sharp teeth were bared and its face in a final death grimace. It was as dead as a doornail.

Poor sap.  What are possums' means of defense anyway? Playing dead? "Uh oh, here comes a truck! I think I'll play dead and maybe it'll ignore me..." On the other hand, maybe he was still just playing dead.