Resurrection of Hope by a Rubie Bear (or a no-name mammal)

(I never posted anything for the "dialogue" assignment. This is a better-late-than never story...atonement for a sin)

"Once you label me you negate me." -Kierkegaard

How was my sense of wonder given back to me? Let me tell you what happened. I've identified a new species of animal which, I've called the Rubie Bear. Or maybe I won't name it anything at all.
I was walking in the snowy forest behind my house with my sister's dog Rubie leading the way. She was suddenly nervous, pulling the leash harder than usual and looking straight up at an animal that had become alarmed and was shimmying up a mature black walnut tree. I walked closer to the animal and it froze. And I froze. What was it? A baby bear?
I thought back to summers spent in my grandparent's backyard becoming acquainted with many birds and beasts. If I was indoors, I was often called to the kitchen window to look at critters through binoculars and I had absolutely never seen this animal before.
As it clung to the trunk, I got a good look at its tail-less gray brown rump and dog-like feet with pink pads.
"This has to be a koala," I thought.
It's head was in the crook of the tree so I carefully walked around to get a look at it's face. Oh! It had the saddest face I'd ever seen. Small whitish eyebrows made his black eyes seem worried. He had the snout of a small dog and a domed forehead with little fuzzy triangular ears.
I spun my gaze around the quiet forest, the trees like big dark hairs piercing a pale scalp. I let my eyes fall again on the creature and marveled at his camouflaging. I swear his furry body blended perfectly with the trunk of the tree, looking just like a globular carbuncle that sometimes forms on trees and which I would have undoubtedly overlooked had I not known it was there.
I went to the Jackson Marrow Park Nature Center the next day to speak with a Hoosier wildlife expert. He was baffled.
"Sounds like a raccoon, but raccoons have tails."
He led me to the taxidermy section where static animals with unnaturally shiny lips stared at me. He pointed to a mink.
"Was it that?"
"No, not at all."
He pointed to a raccoon, "You sure it wasn't that?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
He gave me a guide book. My animal wasn't in there either. So I pet Bun Bun the Bunny and went home.
I sat down and googled all possibilities to identify this animal. I found a frightening image of a dingo-ferret-fox a man in North Carolina snapped a picture of, but little else.
Well, I've pretty much been tickled after discovering a new species of mammal that I've called the Rubie Bear, because, after all, it was the dog that found it first. But, on second thought, maybe its best not to name it anything at all.
The idea that an unidentified species is in my backyard forest, without label and unknown is enthralling information for someone experiencing a metaphysical crisis. It basically said,
"Wake up to a world of unlimited possibilities, girlfriend!"