Graham Cemetery in the Crossroads community on US 67. (Map)
A possum ran over my grave. Ok it wasn’t my grave, but likely someone’s grave. As I endeavored for the perfect photographic angle at the front of Graham Cemetery on US Highway 67 in the Crossroad community of Saline County, Arkansas… Just to my left and far enough away that I wasn’t terribly concerned for my safety, a pink-nosed possum pressed his paws through the fallen leaves, tail dragging behind his furry round body, while he made his way along the north border of the property. He stopped to sniff the base of a tree and disappeared from my view.
Shelli Poole took this photo to accompany the retelling of a story of murder in 1935. See the column at www.mysaline.com/brent-crossroads-murder-1935. The possum traveled just outside the frame of this photo and to the left. (Video below.)
I turned off the video and went back to the business of getting a good photo for a piece that one of my columnists had turned in for MySaline. I needed an angle that went with the mystery of the column, so I squatted. That wasn’t low enough, so I sat. That wasn’t enough to the left, so I scooted. I’m in a grave yard, alone, at one with the dirt and breeze and just then I heard a high-pitched little “YIP!” It startled me and I jumped and let out my own yip.
The Crossroads possum. (video below by Shelli Poole)
I felt silly after looking around because nothing was there that hadn’t been there before. I took a deep breath and put my heart beat back into rhythm, finished with the photos and hopped in the car. Headed back toward the city on 67, there was the little furry feller laying belly up with his mouth open in the middle of the road, having apparently been hit by a car. Goodbye little possum. Onward to your own grave. I feel honored to have documented the last moments of his life.
Ironic that he was in Crossroads, but he shouldn’t have.