Making the Rounds

 Four or five nights a week the video doorbell gives a “motion detected at the front door” alert. This usually happens in the overnight hours, anywhere from 1-4 AM. It is invariably a big fat raccoon walking across the yard, near the porch. Strangely, he is always crossing right to left. Heading somewhere, never returning. 

Where does he go? Is this part of his normal exercise routine, a normal walking pattern he never varies? Is this his route to work?  Is my neighbor’s garbage can the nearest “store” where he gets his last-minute “groceries”? 

I don’t know where the raccoon comes from. I don’t know where he is going. I do know I’m on the way to wherever it is.