Shadows of the Meadow

When the cameras arrived, the animals held a ceremony.

The cameras promised facts. Transparency. A safer community.

The police dogs stood beside them in polished uniforms. The politicians wore expressions of solemn care. The eagles photographed everyone from their best side.

Behind them, long shadows stretched across the meadow.

Nobody turned around.

There had been trouble. Break-ins. Threats. Doors repeatedly left ajar. Animals who needed help and could not get it.

Some dangerous creatures were being watched as part of a much larger investigation. They could not be disturbed just yet. Others had friends whose names caused conversations to move into private rooms.

The police dogs were told to be patient.

They were also told to produce results.

The cameras helped.

A nervous rabbit on its way to work could be stopped immediately. A truck full of work dogs sped past.

The rabbit’s nervousness warranted further investigation.

The work dogs had places to be.

The mayor’s kitten was waved through. A prominent fox received a friendly warning. Creatures with social pull were much more likely to know someone who could make a complaint troublesome.

The rabbits generally knew other rabbits.

Then the story broke.

Someone had obtained the police dogs’ messages and published them. There had been a competition to see who could pull over the most rabbits.

The rabbits gathered around their screens.

Now everyone would see.

Now someone would care.

The cats rolled their eyes.

“Wouldn’t have been pulled over if you weren’t doing something.”

They knew perfectly well that certain dogs sped. They had seen the mayor’s kitten driving. But the cats understood how to stay out of trouble. They avoided the wrong places at the wrong times.

Unlike rabbits.

Tasty rabbits.

High above the meadow, the eagles studied the messages. They had excellent eyesight and an instinct for timing.

An election was approaching.

They selected the clearest passages.

The politicians expressed profound concern. Some had attended the camera ceremony. Their concern was photographed from a different angle.

The department hired the right lawyers.

The messages lacked context, the lawyers explained. Their handling raised serious questions. This was becoming a trial by media.

It would be handled.

The police dogs were exhausted. Underpaid. Under pressure. Their work was dangerous. They had families. Some had entered the service because they believed in goodness.

They were only animals.

The community was asked to remember that.

The rabbits remembered it on their way to work, leaving earlier now in case they were stopped.

Some police dogs lost their positions. Others remained. Several found new work where their training was valued and their resentment understood.

Elsewhere, the creatures responsible for the break-ins watched the coverage with satisfaction.

“See?” they said. “This is why we have to look after ourselves.”

They took protection money from a nutria before closing for the evening.

The nutria had hoped the cameras might help.

There were shadows behind those creatures, too. They preferred to stand where they could not see them.

Soon the meadow held another ceremony.

There would be additional training. Updated procedures. Better equipment.

The cameras were to be upgraded.

Beside the creek, a raccoon listened to the applause. Its shadow reached across the water.

For a moment, it imagined the whole stage collapsing. The polished uniforms in the mud. The dignitaries scrambling. How satisfying that would be.

It sat with the thought.

Across the meadow, the lights grew brighter.

Everyone knew their part in the play.

No one knew the origin story.

Their shadows did.

The raccoon had made acquaintance with his shadow.

He was exceedingly clever, but he had come to recognize some less savory reasons for it.

He hadn’t been the strong one, the attractive one, or the one who needed help. Those parts had belonged to his siblings.

He had been assigned clever.

Clever had to stand in for cared for.

Later, he became judgmental. He judged the predators and the prey in his clever way and felt reassured.

Then he began to feel the edges of his judgment.

He was unable to help, so he judged.

He wasn’t included, so he judged.

He hadn’t been cared for, so he judged.

He sat and had a long talk with his shadow.

Our shadows are all asking for something, he thought.

He had been lucky enough to become acquainted with his. That gave him a chance to notice when it was taking over.

He watched the ceremony from a distance and felt remorse.

He understood keeping his distance, as the cats did. But he didn’t find the rabbits foolish. Their suffering wasn’t tasty entertainment.

The police dogs and politicians were not particularly sympathetic creatures. Still, some of the work that needed doing was dangerous and distasteful. Someone had to do it. The rabbits needed help.

The raccoon sighed.

It was deeply dissatisfying.

He took a deep breath and reminded himself that the whole meadow was not his burden to carry.

He let that trash go.

He washed his hands in the pond. He washed his face.

It was a good time to put his shadow to bed.

There would be plenty of opportunities to judge everyone tomorrow and every day after.

None of their shadows were going away anytime soon.