Then, we passed a great big man with tattoos all over his arms and neck. He sounded mad and he was yelling at someone—I guess a relative, since that’s how some humans treat their relatives—who was trying to parallel park a huge old van with big gashes and dents all over it. His voice was his personal, built-in loudspeaker: “Okay, okay. Not so fast. Watch it. Watch it!”
Joan felt obliged to point out a simple truth: “Yeah, you wouldn’t want to dent it or anything.”
The man looked surprised. He looked at us and then he looked at all the dents in the van, and let out a big friendly laugh. I guess he had to because Shane can look quite the scary dog when he wants.
Around the block we went. A lot of people weren’t outside. Not many kids in the street, which is too bad, since the kids are the best part of my day. But, much to my relief, I didn’t hear one firecracker. I guess the neighborhood ran out of them. Whew.
Tonight, after a day of rain, rain, rain, we walked around the block again. This time, a miniature dog named Hijo ran into the street to say hello. Hijo has a high-pitched little "yap-yap-yap." It’s sort of funny. Hijo’s owner came running out to the street, I guess, to save us from fluffy white Hijo. He picked him up and put him on his big shelf of a belly and Hijo’s yap-yap got even thinner and funnier. We all laughed together.
Yup. It’s good to be back in the world. I had forgotten that as long as you can manage to see the funny side of it, it’s not all that scary.
Best wishes, Juno
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