I don't see any way around saying this — my tale really does begin on a dark and stormy night.

Being born and raised in the northeast (South Jersey), and having spent 15 years in the midwest (Iowa and Missouri), I had experienced very little of what I would call "winter" since moving to Georgia in 1993. But the weekend of January 22-23, 2000 corrected that situation. A severe ice storm moved into northeast Georgia on Saturday afternoon, and it seemed like a good evening for some serious cocooning. About 6:00 pm I broke out a package of Chips Ahoy, picked out a couple of videos from my collection, and was about to lay a fire in my rarely-used fireplace. Then came a knock on the door.

Across the landing outside my second floor apartment was a delivery man with a pizza box knocking on my neighbor's door. At first I thought I had mistaken that for a knock on my own door, which often happens because of the acoustics of our stairwell. (Darn, a pizza would have been perfect right about then.) But, with his free hand, he pointed between my feet and asked, "Is that yours?"

What a peculiar question, I thought, looking down between my feet. I met a pair of beady dark eyes staring back from a bit of fuzz, waiting for my reply. A bit flustered, I worked my jaw soundlessly and then managed to say, "I guess it's mine now, at least until this storm lets up." As if satisfied with this answer, the owner of the beady dark eyes then strolled between my legs and into my home.

"By the way," said Delivery Guy, "what is it?"

"It's a ferret," I blurted, amazed at this turn of events. I'm still not sure how I knew. Although I'm an animal scientist, I work with livestock, and I do not consciously recall having ever met a ferret. I suppose I must have seen one in a pet store at some time, or read an article on black-footed ferrets, or otherwise added the information to my store of general knowledge. But, that knowledge was exhausted very quickly, as you will see.

* Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Who'll Stop The Rain"

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