While pushing the can along, it waits for the opportune moment – then it drops open its lid.  The unsuspecting victim steps on the lid, then is finished off by falling onto the ground and the can itself.  I wound up with bruises on various parts of my anatomy,  my opponent  was unscathed.

I admit defeat:  can 1 ;  victim 0.  However, the can is in its rightful place –  at my expense, I might add.

In the car in front of me is a girl, her mind all in a whirl,

At first I see she’s applying makeup, an accident would be quite a shake-up,

This line of cars is still quite long, so I turn on the radio and wait for a song,

Next I see a cigarette she’s smoking,  and me with my window open for fresh air? You’re joking!

Her next move I should’ve been able to predict, it’s almost a national edict,

This action was so prone, now she’s talking on the cell phone,

The line of cars goes on, but my patience has long since gone.

     After a while he grew bored looking at the view, and decided to see if he could find out what was going on in the room.  He waited until the room grew quiet to turn around.  After all toys aren’t supposed to move he knew, but his curiosity was just too much to ignore, so he turned.  The room was empty!  All the people were gone.  There was a bed and nightstand in the room as  this was a hospital room and now he was all alone. This was terrible!  Toys are made for children to love and play with.  But here is an empty room.  The last party to occupy the room must have gone off and left him behind.  The puppy decided that if he was going to make a child happy, he was going to have to find a child himself.

     First, he would have to get off the windowsill, so he closed his eyes and jumped.  He landed in something soft.  Turned out to be the sheets that had just been stripped from the bed for cleaning.  As hard as he tried, he couldn’t get out of the sheets.  He just seemed to get more and more tangled up in the pile.  Finally, he felt himself being picked up bodily and being thrown down.  He landed in a soft thump, then felt had a curious feeling of being wheeled somewhere.  He was in the laundry cart and each time the cart stopped, more laundry was added on top of the puppy’s head.  Finally, the cart stopped moving.  Only this time, he had a feeling of going down, down, down.

     Suddenly, the cart was moving again only this time much faster.  Down straight halls, and around many turns, the cart went with the puppy inside.  At last, the cart stopped and was turned upside down.  The puppy along with the sheets, was dumped into a dark damp place.  Then sudsy water came in and the whole place began to move.  This might not have been so bad for a toy puppy, but this is not how he wanted to go about finding a child.  The wash cycle was bad enough, but the spin cycle just about made him sick.  Presently, the washing machine stopped and a hand reached in and pulled him out.

     The laundry worker laughed as he examined the little gray and white toy puppy.  “What am I going to do with you?” he asked.  The puppy said nothing of course, as the worker looked him over.  “What happened here?” The worker asked as he examined a rip in the puppy’s back seam.  “I know just where to take you”.

     The puppy enjoyed the ride in the worker’s hand as they moved back up through the hospital’s many halls and corridors.  All the while, the puppy studied the people as they went.  There were many kinds people, some were happy, some were sad.  But he didn’t see many children.  At last the worker stopped at the nurse’s station.

     “I didn’t know what to do with this toy puppy I found in the wash.  He’s wet clear through and has a rip in the seam.  He’ll need some repair.”  The worker explained as he put the puppy down and left.  The lady a the desk reached out and picked him up.  “I’ll just put you here to dry.” She said as she put him next to some pretty Christmas flowers.

     The puppy could see everything from here.  All day, as he dried he watched as nurses went busily about their work.  But again, the puppy wondered, how was he going to find a child for Christmas, especially now that he had this terrible rip in his seam?  Would any child want him now?  The puppy began to worry.

     Finally, a therapist sat down at the desk next to the lady clerk and she saw the puppy.  “Where did he come from?”  “He got mixed up in the laundry and got washed.  The washing seems to have broken his back.” she explained. “Do you have a sewing kit?” the therapist asked.  “No, but ask around- someone might have one.” The clerk replied.

     All afternoon whenever the opportunity came up, the therapist asked for a sewing kit.  Sadly, no one seemed to have a kit to fix the puppy’s back.  Now the puppy was very sad.  Now with no kit to fix him, what child would want to play with him?  He was just about to give up hope of ever finding a child for Christmas.

     It was the end of the day for the therapist and she picked up the puppy and looked at him thoughtfully.  “I know just what to do with you.”  She suddenly turned and went into the supply closet.  He watched as she found a small bandage, ripped it open, and put it on the puppy’s ripped seam.  Then she took him to a room with the door closed.  At first, the puppy couldn’t see anything as the room was dark.  Than a small light came on.  The puppy could see large tent occupying the space over a crib and a little girl lying in the crib.  She was very sick and her mother stepped forward concerned.  “I know that Lucinda can’t have many toys while she’s in the oxygen tent, but when I saw this toy puppy I thought it would cheer her up.  He needs a little stitching, he’s had quite an adventure.”  The therapist explained.  “May I give him to her now?” The mother asked.  “Sure, I think it’s a wonderful idea, and Merry Christmas to you and Lucinda.” The therapist replied.  The mother opened the tent and Lucinda took the toy puppy, her little fingers closed around him and held him close.  She closed her eyes and smiled.  The puppy couldn’t believe it!  The instant total love and acceptance came over him and he happily snuggled down against her.  He found his Christmas child at last.

     As time went on,there was a piece of wood that saw itself as something special.  However, when the lady of the house wanted a shelf, she reached for another scrap which seemed to be the right size.  Or when the young man wanted to make a piece of furniture,  the little piece of wood was overlooked. 

     Again, and again the little piece of wood was overlooked and as time went on, the wood pile got smaller and smaller.  The piece of wood began to loose hope that he might be something special and even began to think he might end up in the fireplace.

     Then one day, the young lady of the house began to dig through the pile.  “This piece is too big” she muttered to herself, flinging the piece back into the pile.  “This piece is too thick” she said dropping it to re approach the pile.  The little piece of wood began to take an interest in the proceedings.  After several pieces were rejected, the young lady was about to give up hope when she spied the little piece of wood.

     He was afraid. ”I’m going into the fireplace!” he thought.  But she took him into the workroom instead.  First he was measured, shaved and sanded smooth.  Then he was covered with a cloth, coated with soft wool and covered in fine leather.  She then attached a covering with ties which had been covered with beads. Finally, a sunshade was added.  She had made the little peice of wood into a cradleboard for her first born child.  He was something even more special as it turned out, then just a shelf or a piece of furniture.  He was so proud that he used his strength to protect not only the first born, but a generation later, he was still in use.