I look to my partner in the driver's seat and ask, "Ready?"

.

He turns back to me with a thumbs up and turns on the engine. "I've been waiting for this all month long."

.

Under my breath, I mumble, "That makes one of us." Then with forced smile, the thumbs up is returned. "Okay. Let's clear out this backseat."

.

"Right," he nods, "Where should we start?"

.

Shrugging, "I don't know. How about the females?" No recognition in his eyes. "Off Balfour?"

 .

"Oh right!" The car starts moving, turning this way and that. "How about doing these as we go?"

  .

"Sure." I roll down the window and grab a magazine off the pile that is between my legs and |Throw| it out the window. It arcs up and plops down just to the left of the center of the driveway. Then the next house comes. |Throw| This one lands on its side and flips end over end from the right edge of driveway to the center and stops, laying itself down.

  .

No time to think. The next house is upon us. Car in the driveway. |Throw low| It slides under the rear end of the car and out the driver's side before tapping the garage door. Next house. Two cars. |Throw low| Back side of car one, then driver's side to passenger's side of car two, out the front. Next house. Gate. |Throw| Up and over. Nothing but cement.

  .

"We're here. Turn right," I say without looking at him. We do. We pass house after house. |Throw, Throw, Throw| The roofs start bending towards a more rounded shape. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| Windows turn from squares to circles as do the doors. |Throw, Throw, Throw| The road turn from asphalt to some sort of bright red dirt as the paint on the houses changes to pastel shades. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw|

  .

"Turn right." For a moment, I look out the front window. Pointed houses, drab colors, and asphalt return as we turn the corner. Then I look out the side window to the scene out of cartoon. A cute brown and tan striped squirrel waves at me. It's Shirley. |Throw| I wave back as it lands at her feet. Another squirrel is near her. I |Throw| it to Bob, Shirley's husband. |Throw| Shirley's daughter. |Throw| Just out of Shirley's son's reach. He darts after it an catches it before it hits the ground. I cheer for him and tell him he did a good job. |Throw, Throw| Shirley's mom and Dad. |Throw| Shirley's neighbor.

  .

"U turn." We reach the end of the street and turn around and |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| it at four of Shirley's neighbors, but I totally forget their names. Then |Throw, throw, throw, throw, throw, throw, throw| I toss it to all of Shirley's cousins and aunts and uncles.

  .

"Turn right." I take this moment to grab some magazines from the back seat and refill my pile in the front.

  .

"Double here?" I turn to look at dad. His eagerness is apparent.

  .

"Sure." I make him a pile between us. Looking out the front window as my gaze passes the GPS to my window, I see streets and stop signs and parked cars. Out my window, I see Gretchen the cyan fox pushing a stroller with oval wheels carrying her newest born. |ThrowThrow| I toss to Gretchen not wanting to disturb her baby. Dad |throw|s to Gretchen's maternal grandma. |ThrowThrow| Gretchen's husband and maternal grandpa. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| I forgot how big a family Gretchen has. She and her husband have had 15 kids already. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow|

  .

"Turn right." I gather more magazines from the back. Gretchen really drained all that I had prepped. I get it back up to my knees. Not as high as I would like it, but Meghan will be better. Orange Bunny Meghan comes bounding out to greet me. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw|

  .

All three of Meghan's sons hold out their arms out for me to toss it to them. The first I |Throw| just behind him. He scrambles back and it passes through his fingers. The second I |Throw| to the right of him. He steps back and to the side and it drops into his hands. The third I |Throw| just over his head. He jumps up and almost catches it, but it slides between his arms before he finishes closing them. The second one cheers and consoles his brothers. I call out to them that I'll toss it easier next time.

  .

I'll probably do about the same. "Turn right. Double." I pull up more. Top of the glove box, just where I like it.

  .

Now we get to Gretchen's ex's family. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| I wonder at all the family, but I must confess that Gretchen is rather pretty in that light blue fur.

  .

A turn and I drive by Sally the cat. Not many of them are out so I |Throw, Throw| all their driveways. I scramble to gather more magazines while |Throw, Throw, Throw|ing all her family before getting to Gretchen's extended family. We visit Aiesha the canine, drive by Sydney the pink and white panda, and zipping around Teddie's neighborhood all while |Throw, Throw, Throw|ing.

  .

"Turn Left." We do and the asphalt is back. I reach lower behind his seat to bring more magazines up. I get the pile high and refill him so we can double in The Flowers. "Turn Left at the light."

  .

"Okay." Once the light turns green, everything around us begins to grow. Grass grows in the black until we are driving a trodden, well worn dirt path. Trees grow tall and wide dwarfing us and reaching into the stratosphere. But trees aren't the only thing getting bigger. Plants twice as tall as the car tower and loom over us. Yellow flowers bloom in a line along path we are traveling. Each in turn reveals a lion's muzzle and face. Crap. Dandelions.

  .

"Double!" |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| My first |Throw| smacks the plant beast as it bends down to bite at us. Another |Throw| hits the sensitive nose causing it to pull up short. Snap! One narrowly misses the back bumper. I |Throw| another magazine up high and another dandelion chases it.

  .

"Left." Growls of frustrated felines chase us from behind.

  .

"Duh." There is only one way to go, left. It's more peaceful here. More giant plants line the path. Above us are stems rising to meet ladles that look like pelican beaks. |ThrowThrow| Mine flies up and up and drops onto the top. His drops at the bottom of the stem. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| The same thing. Creakkkkk

  .

Glancing back, I confirm that the magazines have landed where they are supposed to land. That's when I see the Venus Fly Traps opening on my side to let the magazines in. |ThrowThrow| Whipping my head to see the other side. |ThrowThrow| Dad's flowers are bending down and acid is pouring out as they try to pick up the magazines. It starts as a trickle at first, but as more of them tip and the others drool, streams become rapids become a tidal wave of toxic fluid charging us.

  .

"Right." He picks up a magazine to toss. "It's a court. Single." He puts it back down. Looking ahead, the street descends down a slope before pooling up at the end. I look out my window. |Throw| Dad takes his foot off the gas. The grade accelerates the momentum. In turn, I must |Throw, Throw, ThrowThrowThroThrThT| faster and faster. I only get a glimpse of the tree trunks that the magazines land at while I |Throw| the next one. Because I am focusing on the trees, it takes me longer to notice that greens and browns are being taken over by more and more strands of white.

  .

The car slows and turns at the bottom right next to a giant web that soar stories higher than our car. |Throw, Throw| The tame plants rustle in rhythmic patterns like someone is coming. |Throw, Throw| As we start back up the hill, out of the corner of my eye a giant spider lunges out of the trees at us. |Throw| By my best estimates, the top of our car was only to the first joint in its front leg. |Throw| It could swallow us whole. My old car chugs up the hill. Dad pushing it to go up the hill as fast as it went down. |Throw| It easily catches up to us. Instead of eating us then and there, it decides to play with us by sticking a strand of web on us and stopping. |Throw| It happens that we are at the top of the hill and turning the corner causes the webbing to rub again the pole of the stop sign and break. |Throw|

  .

After that, we avoid more Venus fly traps as the grass tries to regrow from the wave of acid that destroyed it. |ThrowThrow| Roses fire their thorns at us. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| Bees drip precious honey on the road hoping to snag our wheels. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| Dad navigates us through the messes. Vines whip at us as if they want to catch the magazines or us. |Throw Throw| None seem to catch the magazines or slow us down.

  .

"Turn Left." I'm pulling magazines from the seat onto the floor. |Throw| They are halfway down the seats. |Throw| From there, I haul them up to the front to replenish my pile. I look up to make sure we are where the GPS and my memory says we are. They match. We turn from the houses we just finished onto sand.

  .

|ThrowThrow| to sunbathers on towels on either side of us. |ThrowThrow| to a surfboard and an inflated shark. Our wheels change sounds as they plow into the water. It's only momentary before the tide goes out and splashes against our grill. |ThrowThrow| to kids playing in the shallow waves. |ThrowThrow| to swimmers. The ocean water rises over our open windows. |ThrowThrow| A school of salmon surround us. The magazines disappear in the fish and still they swim with us. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| More magazines pass through the school. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| None are hit and the school never shrinks.

  .

"Turn Right." I refill as we turn by some purple gradient coral. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| A nearby squid catches them all. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| We turn around as the octopus at the end collects one for each tentacle. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| Four eels and a manta ray bite down on a magazine each.

  .

“Straight Across.” A school of salmon sideswipe us as we follow some Rainbow Trout. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| Like the salmon, the magazines disappear into the swarm of fish surrounding us. The fish flutter and pump their bodies fighting something. |Throw, Throw, Throw| As a part of the school we drive around the small, bottom of the funnel of the whirlpool above us. |Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw, Throw| More trout take their magazines even though we don’t see where they are keeping them.

  .

“Left.” Dad nods. The salmon join us again. |ThrowThrow ThrowThrow ThrowThrow| After restocking, we get some magazines stuck on puffer fish. Some mer-folk take some and nod their thanks. Even a few clown fish and turtles take some. And several land by sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

  .

I reach back for more, but my hand finds nothing. Looking back there are none on the seat and only about two on the floor. Adding them to my pile reaches only to my ankles. “We’re out. Time to reload the car.” As I look at him, the street ends at a stop light.

  .

“Right. We should be able to put the rest of the pallet in the car this time.” The dash board begins to flip over revealing flashing lights and buttons. There is a big red one in the center. “Ready?”

  .

I nod and slam the red button while he hits the gas and pulls the automatic gear shift back. The car rumbles and shakes. I get pressed back in my seat as the ground lowers beneath the hood and the sky slides from blue to black. Pin points of light shine bright. I’d be in awe if I weren’t so bored.

  .

“Why don’t you toss some there?” He points out my side.

  .

“Sure.” |Throw| One for the space ship we are passing. |Throw| One for the astronaut on a space walk. |Throw| One for the International Space station. |Throw| Another for the Russian Cosmonauts. |Throw| For good measure, one for Earth. I think I can see it burning up in the atmosphere. With a little mental math, I |Throw| it to where the moon will be by the time it gets there.

.

“That’s all of them?”

  .

“Yeah,” I answer.

  .

“How many was that?”

  .

“I dunno. 12,000 into three pallets is 4,000 each, and we did half-ish of one. So, two thousand?”

  .

He nods as there isn’t much to say in this mindless job.