Dennis, Kaitlyn and Coco

Dennis lives on my street and I have walked by his house saying hi for years. He looks just like my friend Giles except with fewer teeth. He's a devoted single father and takes Katie to the school bus every day at Savini's parking lot. Today I said hello and I noticed the fire department logo on his shirt. I asked him if he was a fireman. No, this is a shirt from my father. He gives me different shirts. He works for Homeland Security in North Smithfield.
I love your old fashioned French windows. Have you ever had birds or bats fly in?
Nope.

He invited me into his yard to see their recently built fire-pit. Coco, their German Shepherd, was barking in the house and I was afraid he'd bolt out and tear me and Lily up. Dennis ran into the kitchen and came back with a greasy slab of cast iron that he used to cook over the fire-pit. Wow! Cast iron. I love it, I said. It's like what you use for making pancakes. What kind of wood or charcoal do you cook with? He brought over and showed me discs of cut wood. I love to cook, I said, especially vegetables. He pointed to their vegetable garden of broccoli and tomatoes. The broccoli's already gone to seed, he pointed out.

I saw duct-taped x's patching the bottom of their empty inflatable pool. Does your dog go in it? Sometimes, Katie said. We have bunnies too. The hutch was huge. Big enough so Katie could walk around in it, Dennis said proudly.
You have a whole little farm back here. Just like my friends down the street with the chickens, do you know them? They give me three dozen eggs at a time and I make batches of hard boiled eggs, I said laughing. It's wonderful back here. There was a basketball hoop and a swing-set. It feels like a courtyard. I could see the church and all of the surrounding tenement buildings.
I have it fenced in for my daughter.
I could sense he was terrified for her safety. Have you been to the new park?
She has, with her mother.
I saw you there yesterday, Katie said.
Yeah I went in the water. I loved it.

I noticed the Virgin Mary shrine surrounded by candles and offerings. It belonged to my mother-in-law. I light a candle when someone gets sick, Dennis said. There was a Jesus shrine but he didn't have candles around him. I repainted them both recently, he added. Hey, let me show you something. Do you see Jesus' face? he asked, holding up the flat screen of his cellphone. I couldn't see from the glare of the sun. He opened the garage door to find some darkness. Sorry about the mess.
This looks just like my office. Mess is good, I said, neatness is over-rated.
Come see, he said. I was a bit guarded but Katie and Lily were with us.
Here's the right eye, the left eye, the beard. It was hard for me to see but I tried and sort of saw it when I squinted.
Where was this? I asked.
It was on my kitchen table so I'm keeping it, he said pointing to the upturned wooden table in the pile with toys and other kitchen items. We played making puzzles on the table gluing them down and when we tore them off the glue made the face of Jesus. I wondered if he was going to set it up as a shrine and charge admission. I hoped not. We're using the garage as a rec room. We watch movies out here, he said.
Wow, look at those, I said pointing to extra large colorful plastic Legos.
Here's another face, he said, bringing me back into the dark. Do you see the lady's face?
Yes I do.
That one was on the napkin when I drank coffee.
I totally see her face. My artist friend used to start his paintings this way. he would see faces in the wood-grain and paint them.

Lily was fascinated with the yard, tugging me, sniffing and peeing. Coco is going to be mad, I said. Lily peed in a few more spots and then backed against the chain link fence, hunched her back, and pooped. Just leave it, Dennis said. No, she's my dog I'll clean it up, I said pulling out a skinny blue plastic newspaper bag that I carried in my little red canvas tote for this purpose. I picked it up and tied a knot.

I love the color of your house.
It needs paint he said.
Mine does too!
Yours is the blue one with the bushes?
Yeah, we'll get there. The recession nearly killed us. Now we'll never throw anything out. I laughed.
We saw your photo hanging up at Moonlight, playing in the band.
Yeah we're her band for Autumnfest and we're also the Munroe Dairy Band. Do you know them? They have the trucks painted like cows. We've been their band for 13 years.

The visit was winding down. Lily was eager to be on her way, and so was I. Thanks for the tour, I said. Nice to see you Katie! I waved as Lily pulled me along the sidewalk.