Social Animals

Recently, when Honey and I swam at 8 AM in the park, I noticed a man in a bathing suit hanging out opposite the pond. When he saw us jump in, he decided to swim also. It seemed like our swimming gave him permission to swim. That made me happy. We are, after all, social animals. We need the support of others.

Later I hung out on the green plastic bench at the group home around the corner with my pal Ray, aka The New Man. We sat on the bench with Honey at our feet and ate green olives with pimentos and peperoncini and orange juice, all of which he had brought out from his apartment. He gave me a handful of the trinkets which he finds in the street on his daily walks; assorted lugnuts and washers, a flip top that was cobalt blue, and a toy ring that fit on my pinky. He also likes to pick up broken glass, to protect the dogs from cutting themselves. He sorts it into piles of green and clear and brown on his windowsill. I've become very fond of Ray. He is always in the present and speaks quite slowly, so I find it very calming and enjoyable to talk with him. He has gigantic eyelashes framing his huge round sensitive eyes. His hair is gray but his eyebrows are black and bushy. He has no top teeth at all but his speech is fine.