A dog’s story
By Tom Mercer
Carbondale-ish
It was a rainy August morning when Alan first heard the scratching on his front door. Initially, Alan simply ignored the sound, assuming it was a tree branch that had broken off of the tree in his front yard. But for a half-hour the sound persisted, so Alan stood up and went to the door to silence the scratching.
Upon opening the door, he was surprised to find a small, sad-eyed dog looking up at him. The dog was not overly cute, but Alan could not find it in his heart to simply shoo it away. Somehow, Alan sensed that the dog was in some sort of distress and needed help. So, Alan invited the animal into his home. He briefly considered a trip to the local dog pound, but that was before Alan became aware of the visitor’s special talents …
There was no collar identifying the dog or his owner’s address, so the dog spent the night in Alan’s garage. Alan simply threw a rug down on the floor, gave the animal half of a leftover sandwich, closed the mechanical door and went to bed for the night.
The following morning, Alan checked on his canine guest. The dog seemed to be in much better spirits, expressing appreciation for the safe place to sleep by licking his host’s hand. Alan understood immediately.
For the next week, Alan checked the local papers and bulletin boards for postings of a lost dog, but there was nothing. While he was at the grocery store, Alan bought cans of dog food. Upon returning home, he placed an old blanket on the floor inside the house. So, after just a few more nights, Alan had a housemate.
The two of them got along very well. Alan knew what the dog needed, and, somehow, the dog (whose name was now Charlie) displayed an uncanny knack for knowing just what Alan was thinking. At first, Alan thought that Charlie had simply recognized Alan’s day-to-day routines, but it soon became apparent that there was more to it.
For instance, if Alan thought he should take the garbage out to the curb to be picked up in the morning, he would walk into the kitchen and there would be Charlie, sitting right next to the bin. If Alan went to bed at night but had neglected to turn off the kitchen lights, Charlie would wake Alan and lead him to the light switch. If a serious storm warning was issued in the middle of the night, Charlie sensed the danger and would press his cold nose against Alan’s arm to alert him. If Alan was even thinking of taking him out for a walk, Charlie would appear at his side, leash in mouth. The two became inseparable. Each supported the other, and their non-verbal communication became better and better.
Sadly, Alan passed away six months after Charlie’s arrival at his front door.
Ms. Connor lived just a few blocks from Alan’s house. She was in the middle of breakfast when she heard a scratching noise. She got up from the table and went to her front door, and when she opened it she found a sad dog looking up at her. And just like that, Charlie had found a new home.
Just imagine
Rick Davis
Glenwood Springs
We laid on the blanket and looked at the stars.
It was a moonless night and the sky was ablaze,
a million-billion stars gazed down upon us
as we looked out at them
Staring into the vastness of the night sky,
we imagined that we looked deep into infinity.
She said, “There is mystery out there”.
Indeed,
there might be.
Let’s Explore:
The sound of birds in the air,
a hundred birds,
a thousand birds,
hundreds of thousands of birds
taking wing,
a murmur of sound,
a murmuration of Starlings.
Behold a dark, moving, flowing image in the sky before you.
Moving like smoke in the wind,
fluid, continually changing shape, direction.
It expands, it constricts,
it flows and rolls, turning in on itself, expanding outward
always moving.
It is almost magical to watch.
It almost looks like a single organism,
moving in an orchestrated dance.
Group thought,
collective thinking,
perhaps.
Some day we may know more.
But right now we know this,
each bird is aware of approximately seven other birds in its proximity,
moving with, reacting to the others.
Imagine,
seven birds each affecting seven more,
in four-steps it grows from seven to over sixteen-thousand birds.
As humans,
if we could each gather seven
like minded together,
and those seven each gather seven more
like minded together,
and so forth,
just imagine …