The Mayor swiveled around to find three raccoons in front of the desk in his study. Instinctively, he reached for the call button on his phone, but the head raccoons spoke, silencing him:

“I’m Rocco. These are my colleagues, Ricky and Ryan. We want our territory back.”

The Mayor cocked an eyebrow. “You want what?”

“We’re tired of being road kill and rooting around in garbage cans. We want our own territory. Just a small patch. A Raccoon Sanctuary.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why, this city was founded over 300 years ago! Haven’t you figured it out yet? We have no place for you here. You’re not tax-payers.”

“Well, you might change your mind, Mayor.”

The Mayor scoffed. “There’s nothing to argue. This is where humans live. You raccoons can go find yourselves someplace else to go.”

The head raccoon took a long, slow look around the handsomely-appointed study. “Well, we just might have a secret weapon. Show him, Ricky.”

The raccoon who had been standing in the corner tossed a bundle of muddy sticks onto the desk blotter. “Thank you, Ricky. Now, Mayor, what do you think of that?”

“Get that off my desk.”

“Well, how about this? Ryan, go ahead.” Ryan heaved some old tin cans onto the desk. Rocco placed a dead fish on the blotter. “As you see, we mean business.”

The Mayor picked up the fish gingerly between his fingers and placed it in his wastebasket. “I think you’d better leave,” he replied darkly.

“That doesn’t convince you? Well, maybe the sound from overhead will.”

The Mayor looked up at the ceiling. Faintly, he could hear claws making their way across the hardwood floor above. “Wait, that’s my daughter’s room.”

“Six years old, right?”

The Mayor’s face was ashen. “What are you doing to her?”

Ricky and Ryan blocked the door.

Rocco shrugged. “Relax, she’s perfectly safe. At least, I think she’s safe. Crazy Fanny’s keeping an eye on her.”

“C-crazy Fanny?”

“Yeah. She used to be just Fanny, but since she started foaming from the mouth, we call her Crazy Fanny. But don’t you worry, she’s great with kids.”

The Municipal Raccoon Sanctuary was pushed through City Council with astonishing speed.

Copyright 2005 Amy Frushour Kelly. All rights reserved.
Reproduction by any means prohibited without prior written consent.