One of the great advantages of living and growing up on Possum Kingdom Lake is all of the wildlife that we're surrounded by every day. Those of us lucky enough to live or spend time at Possum Kingdom get to be around deer, fish, raccoons, armadillo and the not so loved but still part of nature, rattlesnake. I had a not so lucky encounter with nature in the summer of my 16th year. We lived in the Gaines Bend area which is full of all sorts of wildlife and it was not unusual at all to find all sorts of creatures near your house, or from time to time, in your house. I had come home one night at my usual time, about 30 minutes after my curfew, and walked into the garage to find I was not alone. The skunk, now occupying the garage was no more thrilled to see me than I was to see it. I needed to enter quietly, not battle a woodland creature for the garage and wake up my dad in the process. I froze... the skunk froze... Like gunfighters in a bad western we just stared at each other. Knowing that I was easily more afraid than the skunk of what could happen, I began to plan a retreat. Now, I figured that if I backed out slowly, I could remain unstanked and let the skunk enjoy what was now, as far as I was concerned, the skunks garage. A brilliant plan, however cowardly and I might still get in the house without being caught out too late. My brilliant teen age mind thought "this could work, I'm obviously smarter than dad or I wouldn't be out this late to begin with, so I'm definitely smarter than this skunk". But now my plan to escape the wrath of the skunk begins to fall apart. Our bird dog Jack, who, always glad to see me, now decides to enter the garage and say hello. Jack sees me and happily wags his tail. Looks at the skunk; and in his dog logic says to himself, "Oh crap, that's a skunk, I'm a dog I should chase it". Being a good watchdog, he lunged, knocked over several garden tools waking up my dad and the skunk did what skunks do and ran out the door. My faithful watchdog wheezed and gagged and gave a look of "you're on your own... and by the way, you're late again". Not sure when he learned to tell time, but I made a mental note to remind Jack later that it was his job to keep such critters out of the garage in the first place. And let him know that the food bowl might be a little light if he didn't step up patrols. By this time my dad had heard all the commotion in the garage. And since I was late as usual, and I always tried to be a little quieter than the "all hell broke loose" sounds coming from the garage, he decides to come and see what has made me lose my Ninja like touch at getting in after my curfew. My dad opened the door to the garage, looked at me and Jack standing there with the slightly green tinted air around us. "Why don't both of you at least get out of the garage, you stink like a really old outhouse and you're late" he says. Jack gave me a "told you so" look as if he owned a watch and we walked into the driveway followed by the green cloud of skunk funk. "Stay "my dad says more than a little irritated. I thought he was talking to the dog, but probably best if I just go ahead and "stay" too. Dad says "I've got some stuff that will take away the smell". Then he mumbled something about Jack being his favorite and went into the house to mix his magic stank cure. Jack and I sat in the driveway like outcast from Survivor and in a minute my dad comes back with a bucket of beer and tomato juice. I would have considered it a personal favor if he would have at least let the beer come to room temperature, but the beer, and the tomato juice were both ice cold and Jack and I sat and shivered covered in beer and tomato juice, looking and smelling like we had been hacked to death in a brewery overrun with skunks. It worked to some degree, but still a hint of outhouse green hung over me and Jack so my dad says. "Just sleep in the garage tonight and maybe the problem will be gone in the morning". "Me or the smell" I thought to myself. Jacks place in the family was secure as my dad loved that dog like a son, but I felt a little on the bubble now. So Jack and I slept in the garage that night and we looked like a major crime scene the next day. All covered in dried red beer and stuck to the garage floor. The next day, the smell was still lingering so we burned the clothes I was wearing and Jacks good collar that dad had gotten him for his birthday. But we felt as though we had won against nature. The skunk slept outside with no beer, tomato juice or a caring father like Jack had. Me and Jack, well, we had all of that. And we had the garage back too.