Reading Faces

I walked Lily up to the north end of town for a change. I saw a little boy in his yard playing with a miniature orange basketball, bouncing it off four white cement steps. When he saw Lily he ran out of the yard to pet her. The boy was not afraid of her at all. I sat Lily down so she wouldn't jump and squatted down beside her, holding her collar just to make sure. Lily was the same height and probably twice the weight of the boy. He petted her, and looked up at me and smiled. His face had dimples and a pointy chin. He reminded me of a boy who used to live on our street. Two seconds later the boy whose face I was remembering came out of the front door to say hello! They are brothers, and they have another brother who came outside too. This brother is the middle child, and he did not look like the other two. He petted Lily and said, "She smells like a dog." "Is she stinky?" I asked. "Yeah she's stinky," he said. "She had a bath two weeks ago, but she probably needs another," I said. "How does she get a bath?" the boy asked. "With the hose, outside in the yard. I wet her down and then wash her with dog shampoo. In the winter I wash her in the bathtub." Their father was raking leaves in the front yard, and I wanted to tell him his children were adorable, but I could see from his face that he was in a bad mood, so I said goodbye to the boys and kept walking.