4.10.2021

wonderfully stupid

People trying to get a handle on death remind me of Roy and 
Janet's wonderfully stupid border collie. Roy and Janet would
take Tommy and me back to their place after the bars closed.
The four of us would walk their dog and it was the same every
time. Always the neighbor had her sprinkler on, one of those
swiveling handlebar kinds that shoots out two long ropes of
water. And damn if that dumb dog didn't stalk it every time.
He'd crouch at the lawn edge and drop to his elbows, advance
like a soldier under gunfire. The dog was mostly black but with
a white tail. In the dark, it was like a flag waving us in. He was
young, that dog, and he'd almost make it by the time the water
came his way, almost but not quite, so he'd have to leap back,
yowling mournfully. After it had passed, he'd crouch and begin
the whole thing over. The dog would go on doing this and the 
four of us would laugh like idiots until the neighbor's light
came on and we had to walk away, just when we were begin-
ning to think he might get it.
 
[Beth Ann Fennelly {1971- } 'People Trying to Get a Handle on Death', from Open House]

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