A Walk

I walked Regrette and Warden this afternoon. Everyone talked about Regrette. They said, "What a dog!" They said, "Wow! What kind of dog is that?" They said, "Is that a dog or is that a bear?" They said, "Hold onto that leash!"

All these people were making me nervous. I walked down one street, then another. But still, the people appeared, sometimes alone, or in small groups. Sometimes, they were teenagers, other times, girls on tricycles. I've never attracted so much attention. I felt like there was a big X over my head or a sign that flashed, LOOK AT ME. So, I walked down another street, then another. I walked through a hole in a chain link fence. We ended up in a clearing where a factory once stood. This factory caught on fire. This factory was destroyed. The clearing was cement and graffiti now. I let the dogs loose. Regrette bounded over iron rods. Warden followed, his big ears flapping wildly. They chased birds.

I ran with them too, although I couldn't keep up. And the three of us ran, for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only twenty minutes. We ran hard.

And when we walked home, we were so tired that we did not hear anyone who stopped and asked about Regrette.