The big, lumbering Chocolate Lab, frightened

by his own shadow, wouldn’t venture far out

into the pine grove behind the house before the

family retired for the evening, until his Alpha

male, hunting instincts kicked in one evening

at the sight of something wild behind the water-

fall.  He took off with torque previously unseen

by his new adoptive parents and having chased

away whatever it was, loped back to the house

after taking a minute to mark his territory. His

mother asked him, “Weren’t you afraid of  the

dark?” in a gentle voice, to which he simply

wagged his tail and retired to the bedroom for

the evening. As she closed the door behind

them, she thought to herself, thank heavens,

it wasn’t a skunk.