It all started with a racoon || jegulus

Chapter 1

"During the sensorimotor stage, children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As kids interact with their environment, they continually make new discoveries about how the world works. The cognitive development that occurs during this period takes place over a relatively short time and involves a great deal of growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also learn a great deal about language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage down into substages. Early representational thought emerges during the final part of the sensorimotor stage.
For our next lesson, I would like it if you could write an essay on how Piaget's ideology and theories helped grow our modern society's view. That'll be all for today, thank you and have a good evening."

James looks up to the clock above the blackboard and sees that the lesson has indeed come to an end. Of all the psychologists they have been studying so far, Piaget is one of the few he has actually been interested in. Not to get him wrong, he knows he can't like them all, but, seriously, they all say the same things over and over.

Peter catches his attention, eager to exit the room, and James nods to him so he knows to wait for him by the door. He puts his things together and quickly follows Peter, watching behind him to make sure he doesn't forget anything.

"James! Do you want a ride or can I go? I have a date with Sybill and I don't want her to wait." says Peter, nervously checking his watch while they walk down the corridor.

"It's alright Pete, I wanted to take a walk home anyway." James tells him, while he searches in his pockets to find his phone.

He parts ways with him after telling him to text him if he wants to work on the essay together, and he closes up his jacket, having come into contact with the cold breeze of late January.

He takes out his phone and clicks his mother's contact, leaving her a message informing her he'll probably come late and to eat without him.

Walking home instead of using his car has always been his favourite thing to do, even if his house is half an hour away. While he walks he can take a breath from the outer world and focus on his positive thoughts. He watches the way the clouds move, or how the sun slowly gives way to the moon and the stars.

Sometimes, on his way home, he likes to pass through the park and stop on a bench. Today, as he is in no hurry, he does exactly that and watches up the sky through the trees' branches. He shivers from the cold and reminds himself to bring a pair of gloves next time.

A good twenty minutes pass before he decides it's going to be pitch black soon and that he has to go back home if he doesn't want his parents to worry.
He stands up from the bench and stretches himself when he sees a racoon skit shivering near the bench's legs. It looks like it can't have more than some weeks of age and James immediately approaches it to pick it up. He knows that racoon moms rarely leave their skits alone, let alone abandon them, but it's all alone shivering from the cold and racoon litters usually have from three to six skits, so he really doesn't have that much of a choice.

After some thoughts, James picks it up and puts it in his now slightly open jacket, hoping this will give him some warmth, one arm under to avoid it falling. The skit gives no sign to wanting to move away from there soon, and on the contrary it nestles between James' clothes.
Carefully, James takes out his phone from his pocket and calls the animal services' number. After five long minutes of "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do about it", he searches on Google for the nearest pet food store.

"I'll have to start somewhere, sooner or later" he sighs, a white cloud of steam leaving his breath.

While walking towards the pet store, he occasionally glances down at the skit, making sure it's okay.