Crabby

I was crabby, and realized that I had been neglecting to take my long daily walks. So I took Lily through the cemetery to watch the sky turn orange from the highest point. We played fetch at the Pothier monument. Then Lily got distracted, so I put the leash back on her and we walked all the way to the pond on Edgewater Drive. The ice was glowing white beyond the bare black trees. The lake had frozen in waves. Decorated Christmas trees were visible through windows from the street.

My pal Yvonne was sitting in the driver's seat of her little white car in front of her magenta lipstick-colored house. She has emphysema and is hooked up to her purse-sized oxygen tank, taking oxygen into her nose through a clear tube. She asked to pet Lily. I got close to the open car door and squatted down, holding Lily's collar so she wouldn't jump. Yvonne was upset about her neighbor's little yellow dog being tied up outside in the bitter cold. She said she worried so much about it she couldn't sleep at night. What should I do? Who do I call? I told her to write a letter to her local dog officer.

Lily and I continued on. I passed a family who had just opened their door to the pizza delivery man and caught a glimpse of their white artificial Christmas tree decorated with big colorful balls in a paneled room. Two steps later I picked myself up off the sidewalk. I had slipped on ice hidden under the snow. The rest of the way home I made sure to walk on the cleared black asphalt street.