Chunk Writing: Journalism II

Section I:

As customers arrived to the National Furniture Liquidators on Monday, they weren’t welcomed with a typical offering of help.

“Hey, we got a loose skunk in here!”

Shoppers were met at the door by a group of employees strategically evading a skunk that had wandered in through the open doors.

“I’ve worked in strange situations before,” Dennis Goke, acting assistant manager said. “I’ve worked in floods. I’ve worked without any power in the building.”

But none of those circumstances had the potential to wreak as much havoc on the thousands of dollars worth of furniture as this skunk did.

Section II:

With most other small animals, the employees could have used more aggressive means of getting it out of the store. But with a skunk, the employees predictably decided the best thing to do was to hide.

For about the first hour, the skunk was left to roam the aisles as Goke tried to figure out how to avoid aggravating the skunk enough to spray the employees and the thousands of dollars of furniture.

“If it would have been a squirrel, I would have chased him out with a broom,” Goke said.

A few of the more bold employees tried to lure the skunk out by creating a trail of bread crumbs out the door, which only succeeded in attracting dozens of screeching gulls, while the skunk found a secure place to hide.

It was time to call in a specialist.

Section III:

After the creative attempts to lure the skunk outside had the reverse effect, Rich Ulkus of Animal Allies was summoned to the scene.

Ulkas spent a few minutes on his hands and knees, shining a floodlight under the furniture, drawing gasps of admiration and comments about his bravery.

When Ulkas’ efforts didn’t find the skunk, he and Goke had one last idea. The two baited a trap using tuna wrapped in several layers of plastic, then wrapped the entire thing in a blanket and stuck it in the corner.

By 8 p.m. the store was closed and the skunk was still at large. Efforts to capture it had failed, at least for today.