by Jacob Lasilas

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 11, 2009

I heard the dogs stirring at 4:30 am this morning, a half an hour later than usual. I kept still and quiet just in case they'd go back to sleep but it didn't happen. Sometimes it works. They came in and Max started talking, as Siberian Huskies are known to do. When I got up he went running into the kitchen. Sam waited until I was dressed just to make sure I was really coming.

He went into the living room ahead of me and sat by the kitchen door. I walked around the fan my husband likes to put in the hallway. When I entered the living room I saw something on the floor under the windows. It appeared to be a dead skunk lying on its stomach with its tail out behind it. It didn't move so I kept going to the kitchen.

When I got to the kitchen door I stopped and reached out to turn the living room light on but immediately pulled my hand back thinking the sudden light would startle it if it was alive and I didn't need a big skunk running for me in the house. For another second I thought of calling out to my husband but figured that might have the same effect.

By then the boys were at the back door. I opened the door to let them out and turned the outside light on. I thought since they'd already killed the skunk they weren't interested in it anymore. With the back light on I ventured about halfway into the kitchen and looked over to see if I could confirm it was a dead skunk. It wasn't just one thing.

There were two there. And they didn't look like skunks. It actually looked like two big fish. I went back to the doorway to make sure the boys weren't into anything they shouldn't be. Then I just had to find out what was in my living room. I turned on the kitchen light and went back toward the living room and finally I saw them clearly. The boys had been swimming that morning during their run and my husband hung their running harnesses outside to dry off. After I went to bed he must have brought them in and spread them out on the living room floor under the windows to continue drying. In the dark my dead skunk and fish were actually just two large running harnesses.

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