A little short but true story that this topic brings to mind.
I remember years ago when I owned a couple pair of cargo pants when I was able to afford the cost of them which had 4 zippered pockets.
I was doing a mole job and this was my first check. I had caught several moles at this job. Out of my catch I had two that were caught by the skin and were still quite lively.
Being the curious individual that I was and most likely one of the reasons that I got into this type of work. I wanted to take the moles home and do some observations for a little while. I had anticipated the potential for catching one or two moles for my education.
I had readied a fairly large aquarium weeks earlier for this moment. I had filled the tank with good top soil and laid a cut piece of sod on the top of the soil. I added a few dozen night crawlers, some cicada larvae and grubs. I had planned on watching the moles activity for a few days or weeks. I didn't know how well they would adapt in captivity.
I was using a medium sized canvas cloth bag for holding and carrying traps etc. when I mole trapped in the early years. The spear traps and O/S are bulky traps so the bag worked well for my needs. Having caught the two moles still in good shape I put them into the bag until I was done checking the rest of my traps.
The problem with the bag design is that they kept crawling up and out of my bag when I would set the bag down to check other traps. The sides would collapse to one side or the other. After a couple escapes I decided to just put them into my left front cargo pants pocket and zipped them in until I could get back to my truck. I had a bucket in my truck to keep them until I got back home as I knew the bucket would contain them on the ride home.
Now to the twist to the story.
As I was just about done checking, the homeowner "Maria" came home and walked out to greet me in her yard.I didn't think anything of it at the time but I did catch on a few moments later. As "Maria" and I exchanged greetings she asked how things were going. I said "it was a good first day."
I asked her if she would like to see the moles I had caught and she said sure. So she bent over to get a better look into my bag which still had a few traps in it. When she bent over to look into my bag she was within a few feet of me standing in front of her.
When she looked up at me her gaze stopped at my moving pocket for a few moments and said that she had never seen anything like that before. Thinking she was talking about the dead moles.
I had gotten use to the moles movement and crawling activity in my pocket so I didn't think anything of it. I just tried to ignore it during our little visit. However, "Maria" took notice.
She just froze for a few seconds again and stared at the disturbance in my pocket. Then she stood straight up and said " That is truly amazing, keep up the good work Bob.
Then "Maria" just turned and walked straight back to the house, nothing else was said.
When I finished the job and it was time to get paid, I was subconsciously wondering how this would play out after our last visit in the lawn. I couldn't imagine what that woman thought or what she told anyone else about the incident.
I do know that I got several referrals from her in the weeks after my job was completed there. I guess I must have impressed her with my abilities.
The new customers made it a point to tell me that "Maria" had referred me to them.
I think back about that day many years ago and laugh or smile when it comes to mind.
Gotta love this work. Maybe the next "Magic Mike" movie would give me a cameo role audition.
