Night Workers

Should you wake in the dead of night in this city, you might hear one of the night-people working on the other side of your window. Their chosen job is to deliver any sort of goods to our doorsteps, though foodstuffs account for most of our orders - a short telephone call is all that is required to start this shadowy operation off - however they will only deliver in the dark of night. I say 'will' deliver only at night time, but perhaps in truth 'can' only deliver at night is nearer the mystery of this service. They move about so quickly you see - exceptionally quickly; so much so that the work must attract only those who are adept at swift running, picking, placing down, and address-searching. The pace of their life is obviously far different from mine - they may think us lazy if we were to ask, a belief which causes some resentment towards them. But we are not much concerned, believing as we do that we would not want such work ourselves anyway, holding it in low esteem despite its obvious usefulness (there is a tendency amongst us to rank most highly those professions that seem the least useful). Mind you, I have been wondering about these night-people recently. I ask, why do they rush to finish their work and return to their dwellings before we can open our doors and see them? It's even very difficult to get them to stop to take payment. Should I lay in wait for one, hiding round a corner for example, then grab him by the collar with just one hand as he speeds past, and lift him clean off the pavement (they are all very small and light, as light as jockeys) so that his legs still run on a while before dangling at rest - what would he say? "If you want to pay, you must call the office during the day." he'd say. "Please let me go now, won't you .  .  .  Are you  going to insist that I beg?" Well, is it that they're simply eager to finish their work as soon as possible and rush off to some hobby or pleasure? Then is it some sort of competition between them? Perhaps the sort of person who is drawn to this work is awkward with people in some way? Inadequate in some way? Or, or is it that he's disgusted by us? Is it that he's disgusted by our continual cramming of stuffs into our mouths?