my realtor took this picture of a chipmunk trapped under a wire netted box at a house i’m trying to sell in a market that has been destroyed by the subprime mortgage crisis.

the wire netted box belongs in a stair well to keep leaves out of a storm drain and shouldn’t have been out in the yard in the path of the innocent chipmunk.

i didn’t take out a garbage loan or advocate the deregulation of mortgage companies but like the chipmunk i have found myself trapped in their wire netted box.

to complete the parable the chipmunk would have to fork over his winter stash to bail out the holder of the wire netted box and while he may be free of the first trap the second has left him without a food store for the long cold winter ahead…