3 Little Raccoons

Traffic is heavy on Buffalo Road this morning. I am slightly late getting to work. I pass the new ACE hardware store, wishing the car in front of me believed that the speed limit on this stretch of road really is 55 and not 35. A truck stops to make a turn, and I glance out the passenger window impatiently.

There in the shoulder of the road lie 3 little raccoons, each stretched out in some awkward position, their fur still sleek and soft. My heart melts. How cruel that all of them met their fate together. Some poor mama coon is lamenting the loss of her offspring somewhere. Or maybe mamas. Perhaps these chilluns were just friends out for a romp in the moonlight.

At least the bodies are not mangled or bloody. Actually, if they were possums, I would suspect they were just playing dead. But I am relatively sure coons don't know that game. The truck turns and the traffic moves on. I continue my own journey, touched by the sadness at the side of the road.

I wonder how much I am missing in my rush to keep on schedule. Perhaps if I had not rushed through here every morning, I could have seen them playing and chasing each other through the brush. I really must pay more attention to life. It can be so fleeting.