Close Call

Did a mid-length evening run tonight, and again the last 30 minutes was in the dark. I was prepared this time with my running light. I was running along the horse trail in Griffith Park and I saw something in the middle of the trail. Now you have to understand that Mister P. is old. Maybe not numerically, but his eyesight is pretty bad. It was dark, all I had was a cheap bulb lighting up the trail. From a distance of 100 feet I thought maybe it was a fallen tree branch. At 50 feet, I realized that it was more vertical; like a stump or something 3 feet tall. At 20 feet, I realized it was an animal. My mind went racing: I see a lot of rabbits along the path, but this was way too big. I see a lot of coyotes, but this was too slender. What IS that thing? 10 feet and closing - it's very bushy, black fur, white stripe.... it's a skunk! His tail was standing tall, locked and loaded. I came within 5 feet of him when he finally chickened out and scurried off to the side. Phew.