“Wait!” She grabbed Laney’s phone and threw open the door.
“What are you doing?” Laney shrieked. “Don’t go out there!”
It was too late. Morgun was outside. She was approaching the animal. It hissed at her. Morgun put out her hand. She had something in it. Was that food? Morgun bent and sure as shit, she was trying to feed the thing! No wonder it was so big if people from around here fed it!
“Morgun!” Laney cracked the door and leaned out an inch. “What are you doing?”
Morgun ignored her. She fed the creature whatever she had, then slowly reached around and picked it up! She held it against her chest and ran a hand down its back, muttering something soothing to it.
Laney just about passed out. Her breathing shallowed while her pulse accelerated to dangerous levels. Heart attack levels. She threw her hand over the left side of her chest just in case. It did kind of hurt…
“Can you open the door?” Morgun asked from the other side.
“Not a chance!”
“Laney! Open the door. I forgot my keys upstairs. It’s not a rat! This is someone’s pet!”
“What?” Laney slowly, reluctantly, cracked the door again. She was sure Morgun had completely lost her mind because that was no cat or dog out there and it certainly wasn’t a dang Guinea pig. It had a tail. A scaly, scary, rat-like tail.
Morgun rolled her eyes as she stepped inside. “Mrs. Johnson in unit two forty-two found this little guy when he was just a baby. His mom was hit by a car right by the parking lot outside. She called a few wildlife places, but no one would come and help. There were a few other babies in the pouch, but they didn’t make it. Chester was the only one who survived. Mrs. Johnson looked after him, feeding and caring for him. We all know about it, but if someone called it in, he’d be taken away, and she’d be absolutely heartbroken. She loves him like a child. She’s ancient. She once had a son, but he passed away a few years ago and he didn’t have any children. She’s all alone. I visit her sometimes, and a few other people in the building look in on her, but she just has Chester, and if she didn’t have him…” Morgun’s eyes misted over and Laney felt a lump rise in her throat.
“What is it?”
“An opossum!” Morgun laughed softly.
“Jesus. I almost sprayed him with hairspray.”
“Hairspray?”
“Well, I’m sure it’s not a very good idea to carry around mace.”
“Is that even legal?”
“I have no freaking clue.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I just have it in my purse for emergencies. I’ve never had to use it. Thank God. I dropped it when I was trying to shake it up. I was so scared. It ran towards me when I was pressing the buzzer, so I just wanted to get inside as fast as possible before it got me.”
“Well…” Morgun stroked her hand down Chester’s back. He nestled into her, totally harmless and obviously very happy. “He was just scared. That’s why he hissed.”
“I’ve never seen one before.”
“Really? Not even online?”
“They look different in real life. In the dark.”
“I guess.”
“It hissed. I panicked. I saw the tail. It does look kind of like a rat. You have to admit it.”
“A super cute rat, hey Chester?” Morgun petted the opossum and it seemed to smile as it looked at her.
Dang. Up close it was kind of cute. The way the lips curled up in a sort of huge, soft smile was adorable. The whiskers were long and adorable too. Even the bristly looking hairs and strange ears and long tail weren’t so bad.
“I’d better get him back to Mrs. Johnson. She’s probably frantic by now. I’m not sure how he got out. It’s happened a few times before. He’s super smart and sometimes she doesn’t close her door all the way if she’s gone out for groceries. Once, someone was visiting her and they didn’t shut it properly. It’s lucky that Chester is totally tame. He’s been Mrs. Johnson’s since he was so, so tiny. He doesn’t know anything but this place.”
“When was that?”