Headless

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• September 1, 2024

The corpse of the squirrel was mostly fresh, except for the head which was detected, and for reasons I couldn’t fully fathom, the skull was bare of any flesh. But still, it lay next to the headless body which was now being feasted on by various insects. I held my breath at such horror while inching in. I did not expect to find such a gruesome scene in the driveway of my home. A wasp crawled out of the squirrels flesh expose neck and I promptly gagged.

If not an instrument in a witches ritual, I’d guessed it was an epic battle between a raccoon and the squirrel, who, clearly lost. Still, why was the head practically licked clean while the rest of the body seemed in early decomposing stages? The skull was so bare, if I were more of a psycho, I could have put it on a necklace and wore it as a real talker piece. “Oh this? This is just the skull of a squirrel that was sacrificed in my driveway. It reminds me that life is a series of reoccurring nightmares, but fortunately, I do enjoy some of the nightmares. Hahaha!”

There is a massive raccoon in my neighborhood, which I’ve seen with my own eyes more than once. “Seen with my own eye” is a weird thing people say. As if it were possible to see anything at all through someone else’s. It was so large, for a quick moment, I mistook it for a baby bear. I believe it used to live in this construction site nearby, but likely it has been displaced from its home. A frustrating thing, to be sure. Perhaps the raccoon took out such rage on the squirrel.

One has to be mindful of those who’ve lost their metaphorical heads. And as election year closes in, there are too many people advertising that they are heads without a mind. One side will think I’m talking about the other cult. But they are both more like cults than teams, and anyone who can remain emotionally neutral in politics can see it. Emotions should be reserved for friends and family and art. A system is just a robot, which yes, can help or hurt you, but it’s a system no less. One can be informed and choose which horrible boss will be less horrible without it consuming the better part of being a real living thing, and not a cog in a loveless system. Disquieting it is when people are quick to character assassinate another based who’s name they are going to put a check mark next to in November. Quicker than a raccoon manifesting its inner Wolverine to slice a head off. As if just because they lack nuance, the world does too. It makes you wonder, are the headless heartless too?