Jokester of The Forrest Foliage

Didelphimorphia have the weirdest sense of humor. I would bet they are the most sarcastic rodents in the animal kingdom. These small to medium-sized marsupials are truly the jokesters of the forrest foliage. Many years ago, while travelling in the Ozark Mountains, I encountered my first Didelphimorphia comedian. His name was Casper. His white and black little body would twitch and shake when he laughed, and he always carried a ambiguous grin on his pointed face. We would walk down to the local watering hole and let me tell you, Casper had jokes. He would have four or five of us rolling with laughter all night. Get a few beers in the little guy and he was untouchable. He would hang from the rafters and chatter like and ape and then drop down on unsuspecting customers and scare the cotton off their backs.

He would work his jokes up to a climax each night, and if Casper got really worked into a frenzy he would passout like he had a heart attack or something. This joke was his Magnum opus of sorts, and he would use it to get a rise out of the locals. Apparently, Casper was on the run and laying low. Had a few warrants out for his arrest, mostly for failing to pay child support on his 127 children. He had already served a few weeks time for it and never wanted to go back into captivity. One fateful night Casper came into the bar with a new lady friend. He was greeted by an angry mob of marsupial mothers demanding he stop his drunken life style and look after his children. "My life is far too short to deal with any of yal" he yelled in a high squeaky voice. Then all of a sudden he dropped dead on the spot. We waited, because everyone in that tiny bar was sure he was faking again. After five minutes of awkward silence I knelt down to check his pulse. He really was dead. He had lived only 3 short years, and his last joke was on all of us.

-Stevie