Through the Eyes of a Delivery Goddess |
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First of all, for those of you born after 1945, you probably don't even remember that song. It only takes three or four cool, crisp mornings at the end of summer... after the kids are back in school before they start to appear. Of course I'm referring to corn stalks, Indian Corn, bales of straw, scarecrows, and even gourds and pumpkins. Signs of Fall Harvest are everywhere by now. In a few weeks, all of the aforementioned items will be joined by Jack-o-Lanterns, HUGE spiders and spider webs and various stuffed creatures in people's front yards. No one ever considers us folks out here in the wee dark hours who might be driving around - or even those early risers who are out jogging or wearily walking their pets holding their morning cup of cofee before the sun peaks over the horizon. At least for us paper people, we get very used to the way things look at night. I have mentioned previously that if someone changes a bush or gets a new mailbox - we tend to drive right past the house without leaving their paper. Cars driving past in the opposite direction, or especially, cars driving on adjacent roads whose lights shine far enough to cross our path do strange things to the shadows. I'm sure you've all experienced it - a car drives by and shadows appear to move. Add to that those ghoulish stuffed fellows relaxing in a lawn chair about ten feet from a mailbox where we need to stop and leave a paper, and ... well, my lungs are strong enough to wake the entire neighborhood!  The amusing side would be those poor groggy folks trying to keep up with their overly excited hounds in the morning when a set of headlights float shadows across the lap of a wad of straw wearing Dad's button down shirt and ripped up jeans - and the dog goes NUTS. Suddenly - the dope on the human end of the rope is wide awake, wondering what on earth set off the dog - looking frantically around for someone running across the yards, or a rabbit or other rodent from which they must keep their pup. By the time the person snaps to reality, the headlights are gone, and they have totally missed the motion of the shadows moving across the stuffed dummy. That is always good for a morning chuckle to someone like me who has already been awake for a few hours. It wasn't funny when I was the one screaming, though. Many times I really do think that someone is running across a front yard, or someone waiting to throw something at my car, or worse yet, someone waiting to try and get INTO my car while I'm driving. I don't deliver in any areas where that would be a common occurance, but you never know. We meet some pretty strange characters out here some nights! After a few nights, one gets used to the location of the human-like silouettes, and they become just part of the every night scenery. I hope that this installment does not give anyone sneaky ideas about moving their scarey lawn ornaments around every night, just to scare the paper boy or the dogs on their morning walks. Boy, will I get some hate mail! |