Sans Formality

Ideally, all neighbourly disputes
should settle to the satisfaction of the
disputants as has occurred with the
residents of this house long accustomed
to depositing kitchen waste in the
backyard composter, and a neighbour
family which has accustomed itself
to raiding that composter nightly to
free it of edible tidbits beloved of
night-raiding, masked creatures. Once
it was agreed we would no longer
fasten the composter lid down tightly
but leave it slightly ajar for the ease
of Mama Raccoon, the oppositional
attitude simply vanished; no more 
attempts to wreck the composter, and
no more food matter flung here and
there to be grudgingly cleaned up
afterward. Instead, regular deposits
invite the family to visit and take their
choice of whatever is available, and
they do. Mama and her kits feel most
comfortably entitled to their choice
of delicacies and we are pleased to 
provide them. There is, however, a need
to remind that doting mother of her duty
to remonstrate with a wayward offspring
feeling a tad too comfortable, making his
unwary journey to the fount of delight
as the mood strikes; in broad daylight.