Yesterday afternoon

I spent seven days watching TV. I was feeling beat and couldn’t focus on anything else. I was feeling and looking kind of pale and withdrawn. I imagined I looked like a shadow.

My dog came up to me and said, “Brooks, can I interrupt?”

I didn’t look away from the TV. I said, “What?”

My dog said, “It’s rather important.”

My dog is a creature of few, but essential words. So I looked away from the TV and said, “What?”

My dog took my hand in its paw and lead me off the couch. He walked me out the backdoor, across my backyard and to the river’s edge. There was a boat at the dock. It was unusual and amazing. It was made from sticks, trash, logs, tires and it was held together with wire and twine. I knew my dog well enough to know it was paw assembled.

My dog led me onto the boat. He unhitched the boat and the current took us downstream. We sat for over an hour without saying a word. I could feel the life coming back into me. Funnily I felt like I was a TV screen that went from black and white to color.

The boat flowed into a neighboring lake and soon came to a stop. Since there was no wind, there were no ripples. The lake looked like the sky. I imagined we were flying on a magic carpet.

My dog said, “I sometimes come out here for hours and do nothing.”

I said that I was thirsty. My dog pulled up a plastic baggy that was hanging over the edge of the boat into the water. It contained a can of cherry soda. He opened it and gave it to me. I drank it while he lapped at from the lake water. His drinking created ripples which gently swayed the boat.