THE BINK

We were canoeing down the Current River in Missouri.  Blissful to 1) be on the river 2) be enjoying the fall colors, and 3) be on the river.  We were gliding past a bluff, pockmarked with holes the size of dinner plates.  These, we were told, were where the leprechauns lived.  We were having a wonderful time filling in the details of leprechaun life in the Ozarks.  The well-formed circles in the bluff were made by fine leprechaun craftsmen while the misshapen ones were made by apprentices.  The maiden hair ferns were leprechaun curtains.  We were generally making crap up when something brown and furry peeked out of a leprechaun hole.  Caught off guard, we went through our rolodex of river-loving mammals.  “Otter?”  “It looks like a small beaver.”  “No, the face is to pointy.  Mink?”  “Must be a beaver mink – a BINK!”  Three “binks” later we confirmed it was a mink.  Beautiful, small, predatory – probably soft to the touch.  A wonderful wildlife day.