There are times when it's totally okay to stop and capture nature's beauty. And then, there are times when you should just let it be.
Apparently Taraka Larson, frontwoman for the Brooklyn psych-dance-sister-duo Prince Rama, didn't get that memo and wound up getting 15 rabies shots yesterday as a result.
While taking a sunset stroll along the 59th Street pond in Central Park, Ms. Larson's path was blocked by "two little dance partners" (aka fighting raccoons) and stopped to experience their odd little jive.
"They were in their own world and moving really strangely and having no center of gravity," she said. "They kept getting closer, and they were sniffing my shoes, maybe they were smelling my cat, and I thought they would go away. And then one of them got on top of my shoes and got under the tongue of my shoe and then wrapped its claws around my leg and started to gnaw on my leg. Instinct took over and I just kicked it off and ran away. It felt weird. It threw me off-guard. It felt lost, deranged."
Ms. Larson ran to the Plaza Hotel, where the concierge rushed her to the nearest urgent care center and then Roosevelt Hospital. She was given 15 shots in her ankle and must return for five follow up visits.
The singer shared two photos of her experience on Instagram, one featuring the potentially rabid raccoon and the other showing her giving the thumbs up in a hospital gown.
"Total WTF night. So grateful to be alive!" Ms. Larson's said. Reflecting on her actions, she offered words of wisdom to would-be walkers in Central Park: "Don't smell like trash, and if you see raccoons, run away."
Don't worry, we will stick with showers and Instagramming sleepy kittens like normal New Yorkers.