Second Skunk Account
I have a confession to make about my RR partner Ray"s "aggressive skunk" account- I really thought he was just being dramatic and/or exaggerating the aggression of the skunk who chased him and his friend Joe while playing Frolf one night. I mean really, who has ever heard of an aggressive skunk? They always seem like such mild creatures- think Flower from Bambi or Peppi La" Pue from Warner Brothers.
Well, here's my sincerest formal apologies to Ray, because you know what? Rutgers skunks are extremely aggressive and I am still in disbelief over the skunk that recently charged at Ray and I as we were investigating a barn on Cook Campus late one evening.
This aggressive skunk incident occurred when I turned around the corner of a hay barn on College Farm Road and I saw something black and white leap out from practically under my foot and run across the gravel. Ray saw it too and confirmed that I almost stepped on a skunk and got the bath of my life. I kinda chuckled at my close encounter with stank and Ray & I started to walk away. I looked back at my seemingly timid little friend and noticed that the creature was actually sort of making a wide circle and turning towards us. Ray and I stopped walking and observed as the creature began to rather stealthily move from the cover of various rocks & leaf piles and began to come towards us. I was frozen with amazement as it got within several yards of us and then began to suddenly run, making a beeline straight for us. I now began to run away myself and upon looking back over my shoulder I saw the scary skunk now at a full blown trot, gaining on us with a fluffy tail bobbing in its wake. "Oh shit" I yelled to Ray and put my feet to the pavement in a determined effort to escape the attack. Ray soon overtook me and we ran all the way out to the road where we stopped, stood panting and stared into the darkness by the barn where the insane attack skunk was lurking.
Again, Ray- you were right , and hey, RR fans, these bad-ass skunks are no joke. I am seriously gonna think twice if I ever see one of them on campus again. Believe me there is nothing scarier than a fuzzy, little stink-bomb running you off his turf.
On Douglass Campus, there is no shortage of black and white stinkers. Skunks, both families and individuals, scurry across the campus as if they own the place. I don't know about anyone else, but I keep my eyes peeled when walking around the area after dark, because I know that one false move could have me bathing in tomato sauce. I feel even more strongly about this credo since the occurrence of the incident I am about to share.
Frolf (Frisbee golf), or disc golf as it is less traditionally known, is a game that I used to make fun of but now play regularly with my friends (and not as a joke anymore either). There is an 18-hole course on Douglass that stretches betwixt and between Passion Puddle, the Cook fields, and Loree Gymnasium. One night, a competitive game with my friend Joe carried on late into the night, and before we knew it, we were frolfing in the dark. Hole 15 was where it happened. There was an animal creeping between the trees, and we realized that it was a skunk, the first one we ever saw on the course. We grabbed our discs and walked away from it, not trying to take any chances. We figured we would hole out and come back to 15 when it was gone. Before I knew what was going on, Joe had tossed a stick in its general direction and startled it. Before I got a chance to ask him what the hell he was doing, the skunk turned around and started to follow us. Afraid of being sprayed, we kicked it into high gear, sprinting away, but being careful not to trip on any roots or stray branches. I looked behind me, and this thing was booking it. This skunk was definitely not messing around. It was actually keeping up with us for a while. We ran all the way to hole 17 before realizing that we had lost it.
Catching our breath, Joe and I knew that we caught a break. We had gained a new appreciation of the aggressiveness and swiftness of this dangerous animal (at least I hope Joe did anyway). Needless to say, we are a lot more careful now whenever a frolf game keeps us out past dark.