Leroy the Raccoon

Early one morning, I took my dog Pippin outside for a quick walk. I took a few steps and there, right in front of us stood a large, scary looking raccoon! Its eyes were red and when I tried to scare it away, the raccoon didn't move a muscle. Yikes! As I moved back towards the door, I saw another raccoon sitting on a fence just above my head. I quickly rushed inside and shut the door behind me. Breathing heavily I thought: "Those are the meanest, grossest animals I have ever seen. I never want to see a raccoon ever again!"

A few days later, I was thinking about my encounter with those garbage-eating bandits. I wondered if they were really so bad after all or if I simply had a bad first impression. That made me think about other people I've met in my life. At first, they may have seemed mean or selfish, however, once I got to know them, they weren't so bad after all. In fact, many of them have become my friends.

I thought it would be fun to write a series about a raccoon named Leroy. It's my hope that you take some time to get to know him and realize that you may have more in common with him than you might realize!