Countdown to Halloween - The Pukwudgie

In keeping with Halloween, there is something quite supernatural and odd going on at our place. Witness the photo below. Indeed this is but one example of the eerie phenomenon. You see, in a normal household (which no one here ever considered even a remote possibility) a dog might go to the door to indicate a need to 'go out'. That is in a normal household. However, in this household, the downy dirt-devil exhibits an aberrant behavior in this regard. You see, Cabra goes to a blank wall and begins to whine or bark.

No one could figure out this strange behavior, and it wasn't just one wall, but any blank wall. No, no one could figure it out until I, superior intellectual that I am, discovered the existence of the Pukwudgie.

You see, the Pukwudgie is a spirit of the Wampanoag Nation of Massachusetts and Southern New England. It is between two and three feet tall, looking and acting much like a troll, with large ears and gray, washed-out skin that sometimes 'glows'. They can appear and disappear at will, can transform into other animals, and possess magical, poison arrows that can kill or create fire. They are known to lure victims to cliffs and push them off, or use balls of light to entice victims into the woods to kidnap them. (Oooo! Just like those Stick People, except those wimpy Stick People just whistle.)

So, by now I am sure you are quite afraid, and quite convinced that I am out of my ever-Peanut-loving mind. After all, these Pukwudgie polter-people live in New England and this is Washington, for goats' sake. Oh, ye of little faith!!! Have you never heard of a vacation? Don't you think even a Pukwudgie gets tired of the same old scenery and decides to go on a walk-about every now and then? My theory is that the afore-mentioned visitants go all invisible and plaster themselves to the walls. When they sense a need for an impending No. 1, they begin to taunt. If a No. 2 is in the offing, those magical, poison arrows come out. Resistance would be foolhardy, to say the least.

Now you might question why it is, then, that the Mighty Quinn is not affected by their menacing motivational endeavors. I have been able to discern that this is due to the susceptibility of the downy dirt-devil to influences by Stick People. You see, I have recognized that a sort of 'reciprocity' exists among Native American mythical creatures - much like the Teamster's Union. Jimmy Hoffa was probably really a Pukwudgie and is now residing in our walls. Hay!, it's possible.


At any rate, as you can see, it can be a hair-raising actuality, no matter what the cause. Whatever. It works for Cabra and it works for us. After all, "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go ..." - Andrew Jackson