My BROTHER and FRIEND HANK:

My Brother and Friend Hank -

---My brother and Hank both told a story to me about things that they both have done…concerning animals.

---Hank once found a mocking bird that had a broken leg. He took the bird home and made a splint for him. The mocking bird mended and was part of his family. Hank was married at the time. He speaks of the bird riding in his car. He would perch on the steering wheel. Hank said that the biggest problem was that when he turned the wheel the bird would have to compensate for all that. Hank says that the streets in North Carolina aren’t very straight.

---I told my brother, Peter, Hank’s mocking bird story in an email. Peter told me in a quick email that he soon sent back.

---When he was working one morning as a campus policeman for a college in Massachusetts, he saw a skunk with a yogurt container on his head. The skunk couldn’t shake the container off. NOT able to see, the skunk was in and out of the street. Peter says that he knew that soon the skunk would be hit. Knowing Peter as I do, his next step didn’t surprise me. His partner was another story…HOWEVER!

---Peter got out of the car and slowly approached the skunk. I’m sure that he spoke quietly and reassuringly…the whole time. He had a special-type voice he would use at times like this. What was even better is that he genuinely likes animals.

---A skunk in fear is really nobody’s first choice of an encounter to have. Fear is what starts them spraying in the first place. AND...THEN THAT SMELL! After a short time, he had the situation well in hand. I wondered what he would have done if he was sprayed by the skunk…but, before I asked he said, ‘’It would have been terrible if the skunk had been hit by a car.’’ I know that he was thinking of the ‘’poor ole skunk.’’

 ---Oh, yeah! The reason I am not surprised by any of this – Peter has a way of putting others first. So does Hank, at times, for that matter. They are at those times much like many of our nurses and others who work and volunteer at Laguna Honda. It may NOT resemble EDEN all the time…But,  SOMETIMES IT DOES. Be Well.

They both heard the ''helplessness'' of the animal and took it seriously.