You've heard of the Dog Whisperer and the Ghost Whisperer? Well, we have a new hero down in New Orleans and he lives in our midst. It all started last week when it was announced by David, the Tool Man, Sweetland that there was a substantial black furry creature making its home somewhere in the warehouse.  Lee Ann, our Head Cook and Hospitality guru reported an immediate surge of yucky feeling as she often comes through the warehouse in semi-light headed to the back food shed. This was NOT a good situation.
    The furry miscreant put in another appearance this week when everyone was off in Kansas City helping host 5000 EFCA youth at Challenge 2014. Still hadn't seen the varmint, but he had left evidence of his visit...a whole carton of chocolate cereal nibbled on. So Bud pulled out a "live" trap, baited it with chocolate cupcake Little Debbies, and set the door to snap shut when the little whatever it was stepped on the metal spring pad to get the food.
    The next day Bud discovered the trap had been triggered, but the feller was gone. Aha! It was a ghost critter. The trickiest kind. Well, Bud examined the trap and realized he had set it incorrectly, so adjusting it and reloading it with more chocolate Little Debbies, he replaced it in the tool crib.
   No more had he turned and walked away than he hear a loud "crack" and realized the trap had been breached. And there he was. But what was he? He was black all over, about the size of a small cat. But the face was not a cat. It was all black with a large white tuft at the back. Kind of a critter mullet.
   Our first thought was that it might be a skunk, but there was no stripe. And, more importantly, there was no odor. History tells us that even skunks not spraying can be pretty darn smelly. While I took pictures and checked online to see what it might be, Bud began considering how he was going to get rid of it. It wasn't like it was a dead body...it was quite alive and unharmed.  We learned that it most assuredly WAS a skunk.
   Now the big consideration was how to get it out of the warehouse without it blasting the tool crib. Unfortunately the area it was in housed all the power tools. The prospect of a whole lot of  saws and drills that smelled like skunk was not a pretty one, not to mention all the wood shelving that might carry the scent a loooong time.
    Bud got a paint roller with a long stick, hooked the handle on the cage, and slowly started dragging the trapped skunk out of the bay. Little by little it moved forward until it was out in the middle of the warehouse and finally outside. Every time the little varmint lifted his tail even a bit, Bud stopped. Actually, the skunk raised his tail but never shot a single drop of smelly. He just kept munching on the chocolate he had given everything to obtain.
   By now it was starting to rain a bit. Still unfazed, the skunk seemed not to notice. No harm; no foul. So still using the paint roller, Bud gently lifted the cage onto the back of Bertha (the truck he was driving) and drove the unwanted diner to another spot a distance away.  Bud reported that the moment he opened the trap, the critter shot out like a bolt and disappeared into the brush.
   We can only hope that the skunk has seen the error of his ways and no longer chooses to sup at Cafe Crisis Response. We have no idea why the skunk didn't spray. He'd been cooped up in the warehouse a while and should have been fighting mad. He was locked into a cage, dragged across the floor by a paint roller pole, dripped on, hoisted into a truck and set free in an unfamiliar environment. But not a hint of stink juice. The Lord was certainly protecting the skunk as well as us and the warehouse. But if the little fellow chooses to make his way back into our vicinity, he now knows who he can go to...Bud, the Skunk Whisperer, who will help him go to the light.