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Skunk In The Basement

Tom Friedel

"Striped Skunk," by Peggy Miller, read by Allison De Jong.

"All the cat food had been eaten and two piles of scat were on the floor. Whatever it was was still there, probably hidden behind one of the many boxes. Later that afternoon, I shined a flashlight behind the washing machine to remove yet another deposit. As I leaned under the staircase...bingo! Within inches of my face, the light revealed a large striped skunk, taking a nap in a make-shift nest of insulation pulled from the wall. The daytime siesta was in character, since skunks, members of the Mustelid family, are mainly nocturnal, spending the days concealed. I gingerly left the room and sat on the stairs above the skunk, beaming kindly thoughts and supplications its way."

(Broadcast: Fieldnotes, 8/3/14 & 8/4/14)

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.
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