Sally rolled down her car window and poked her head out into the humid air. She needed to get a closer look at the small brown and black animal staring at her from the median strip.

“You have brown eyes just like Will,” she thought to herself, “and the same bewildered stare.”

When you’re stuck in traffic, you notice the things that you never would have taken the time to notice before. Buildings suddenly appear along the highway that were once not even a blur in your peripheral vision.

Not taking her eyes off of the creature, Sally fanned herself with her hand. It was a particularly hot day for the middle of October and she was regretting wearing her new cashmere sweater. She was hot and itchy and thirsty and tired and mad at Will and she was beginning to get creeped out by the brown and black thing on the side of the road.

“Stop looking at me.” Sally whispered to the black masked creature before rolling up her window and facing forward.

The car in front of her had not moved in the past fifteen minutes. Sally wanted to honk her horn, but knew that it wouldn’t do any good. She would probably be given the finger or something as equally unoriginal as that.

Yawning, Sally looked at the blinking clock on the dashboard. If the traffic miraculously picked up, she would be just in time to kiss Will goodbye. Granted, a part of her would rather give her dark brown-haired darling a smack for leaving her all alone in their new apartment especially with the long weekend approaching, but certain things had to be overlooked .

“Yeah, I won’t nag.” she thought to herself, turning on the AC. “I won’t tell you how I feel. I won’t ruin your weekend with your friends. I won’t give them reason to talk you out of proposing when you’re finally ready to make me the happiest girl in the world.”

Sally couldn’t help, but grin at her last thought. What would it be like when Will proposed? She hoped Will would make it romantic.

“Please, Will, make it romantic.” she thought to herself. “ Don’t give the excuse that you’re shy and don’t know what to say.”

The traffic finally began to slowly move.

“There’s hope!” Sally happily declared to the clock as she gently let her almost numb foot off of the break pedal.

Sally looked into her rearview mirror at the raccoon on the side of the road. Now that there was distance between them, her mind was now clearer than ever.

“I’m not going to end up like him.” she said to herself. “No one is going to push me aside anymore.”

Sally promised herself that she would call the Highway Department when she got home. That raccoon would start to decay soon and she didn’t want to see it on her Tuesday evening commute.