To the dog...

I leaned back the driver's seat in our van and tried, the best I could to relax. It wasn't that hard. It was just two hours ago, Saturday evening, outside the mall ... in Fresno. I commanded each muscle to relax, hoping to induce much needed rest. Not rest like you need at the end of a long day at work, but rest that comes with maybe a little too much time at the shopping mall, I mean, too much time with the PEOPLE at the mall.

Not that I had that much time even in the mall, but they seemed to take their toll on me today. There was the little old lady, sweet as can be, who could not figure out how to cross a somewhat busy mall intersection, the hyper-crowded FOREVER 21 store, filled with a feeding frenzy of teenaged girls looking for the perfect top, all for under $10 and the 45 minute wait for a table, NOT to mention the wait for dinner, at a fine restaurant in the MALL.

So, back to the leaned seat. The rain was gently falling as I drifted into a state somewhere between Kansas and REM. My breathing eased just a little and, well, it was warm and cozy in my little Toyota van. Nodding slightly, a warm, WET NOSE BUMPED MY EAR! MAGGIE! Sit down, I cried, to our bus-look-alike dog, as I jerked my head away from her nose. (Don't even ask me why we had our dog along for this trip to the mall!) Being the dog she is, Maggie responded not by sitting (not sure her English is that good frankly!), but by reasserting her nose into MY SPACE. I laughed. She seemed to laugh, too, wait, that couldn't be a laugh, could it? A smile? Well, a little hard to tell, what with no lips and all, but I think she smiled, a wry, derisive laugh, as if to say, I know you better than you know yourself, Mister. I am aware you cannot stand to be licked by dogs because you think they're D-I-R-T-Y! Yes, I KNOW I use my tongue to clean EVERYTHING, but hey, I luv ya, I am wanna show it, that's what I DO!

The smile, or whatever it was, totally disarmed me. Forgetting my self indulgent paranoia, I smiled back, warmed by a nose, her lipless smile and this thought: Give what you can no matter how humble for someone may REALLY need it, no matter how loud they bark back.

Happy Sunday!