little helpers

The last couple of weeks have been utterly glorious. And the nights have been just as special. Save for one rogue weekend, the skies have been clear and starry and warm enough for a t-shirt still.

I had added another route to my deliveries and the car was filled with bundles of newspapers. I was running a little late and knew I needed to speed up my game a little, but I was slowed down by having to check the route list so often to see where my next stop was. As I was backing out of a driveway, carefully, to avoid hitting any of the many recycling bins, I suddenly noticed a raccoon in my side mirror. She was climbing inside my car through the open rear window. This was a little worrying. A quick turn around to see the back seat and I discover there are three little ones curled up on the bundles of newspapers. Then Mama is waving her arms and motioning me to back up, turn the steering wheel and "go". I'm wondering how I'm going to get to the papers. I pull over one from the passenger seat and toss it at the next porch. When I look in the rear view mirror the three little ones are sitting up watching me.  As I drive off, I see that they have organized themselves and one somehow manages to pick up a paper even while sitting on it and hand it to his sibling who folds it and hands it off to the next sibling who wraps it in an elastic band and hands it to me. We continue on this way for a while, getting into a steady rhythm. Soon we're all singing along to Taylor Swift on the radio. I reach behind to grab the next paper, but they are gone. Mama is grinning as she picks up a tabloid and opens it up and lets it fly out the window. One by one she does this, with her head out the window in the manner of a dog watching the papers float down the street. I'm laughing, even if it is slightly disastrous. I slam on the brakes.

And jerk awake.

best dream I've ever had.