The Unseen

"Thing" was a character in The Munsters, a disembodied, voiceless hand in a box.  "The Thing" was a 1951 sci-fi movie with James Arness (remade with Kurt Russell in 1982).  I have my own Thing.  It lives in the barn and it is sloppy and has a bad temper.  Since I've never seen it, I'm not sure what it is or from where it came (outer space is not out of the question).  I think it has lived in the barn for a long time.  Thing evidently tunneled up years ago, destroying a section of the floor in a corner, because Steve had put a carpeted rubber mat over the hole.  He never mentioned that Thing had moved in.  Thing has since destroyed the mat, and is now bringing up rocks to fill the space.  Thing cannot be too large; there are no big hidey-holes to live in, but lots of little nooks and crannies in the barn.  I had thought the torn and chewed paper I recently retrieved was the work of mice, but perhaps Thing had friends over and it really was confetti for a party.  Among the many items stored in the barn are a bunch of red, six-inch-long, plastic gizmos that are used to keep hot wire away from fence T-posts (check a farm glossary somewhere if you don't know what these are).  These gizmos apparently tick Thing off.  I find them flung all around the room.  I pick them up.  Thing throws them out.  Thing does not like them.  The alfalfa is stored outside one wall of the barn, and my feed-slash-craft room is on another.  I never hear Thing moving in the big section.  I never hear scurrying or catch a glimpse of a fast-moving creature when I go in for gas for the tractor or to use the air compressor.  I assume Thing is silent, invisible, and messy.  If we're going to share living space, I just wish Thing would pick up after him-her-itself.