‘Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

Well, that’s not completely true because I was stirring, returning from the bathroom.

When looking out my window I observed a great sight, a large herd of elk roaming the night.

As I stood there watching the elk in the street, along came a loud pickup not missing a beat.

Its headlights a glaring, its muffler a blaring, into the herd it roared, the elk it was scaring.

You know that kind of muffler, sounds like an old man passing gas inside a barrel.

OK, a poet I am not, but I wondered why someone thought it was such great fun to make several passes through the herd chasing them all around the area. As I saw lights in other houses come on others must have been having the same thoughts.

It was bad enough to be disturbed by a loud vehicle racing up and down the street, but seeing the animals harassed was senseless. A short time later before getting back to sleep I heard an elk whistle and looked out to see eight more elk, five of them young bulls, walking down the middle of the street.

Thankfully the pickup was not around anymore.

Paul Hampton

Forks