BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I’m Backing Up

Across the street at 7 am, BEEP BEEP BEEP! the men arrived again with their big machines. A flatbed groaning with the weight of a small paving machine, and an enormous roller all on our 12 foot wide little street…barely any room for another car to pass by. Seven men emerged from a flotilla of full sized pickups and dump trucks, all converging on my neighbor’s small driveway. They were there to pave it.

I watched the seven men with shovels, they were watching and sort of working while a loader spread the dirt evenly where the new little stetch of asphalt would go. They looked like they were busy, but many of them were leaning on those shovels watching the loader. The glistening black asphalt was laid down as more men watched.

I thought about the old black Nissan that has been parked in that driveway, never moved, for more than three years. Maybe they will be getting rid of it when their new driveway is done.