My dog and his look

One of my dogs. he looks at me. His look, as if to say… he has nothing to say. An empty stare so full that it tells you to connect. With him. Maybe with a pet or a treat or a word. 

He’s always hungry. Looking for food after finishing his portion. We make sure to give him a lot. Plenty. But still, we have to make sure he doesn’t steal more. 

We only got him recently. My mom said his look is why she wanted to get him. On the day we got him, he was excited. The owner said he’s not normally like that. He’s normally shy of new people. 

When I found the image, I was shocked. This looks just like you. Did you get your portrait painted? A small laugh and a pet on the head — he smiled at me as if to say yes.

The friendliest dog. Not just to us but practically everyone. Like when we got him, he would always half trust strangers and never show aggression. But if you’re not close enough, he would BARK. There’s someone at the front door. There’s people walking out back. It was a scary bark, something that would move them off the front porch. Make them walk a bit farther around. 

My dog and his look

Top Floor of That Corner Restaurant

One more floor? — and we have to use the stairs?

Sorry, the lift stops on the 4th floor.

A twirl, the stair showed off its steps of elegance. To the right .. ding.. The dumbwaiter opens its doors and wafts over the smell of japanese cuisine. 

Through this way.

The city called us over. Only the window said, stop here. It was cold. 
The air, but much better than the humid hot blast of the outside. Touching the window, I was the first seated. 

It was already halfway through. I remember the eel dish. My sister loved it. She still loves it. 

Do you want to order the … Ikura sushi?

Uhh what’s that?    Oh – it doesn’t look so good.

It was orange. Really orange. And big. Alien, really.

You’ll like it.

My aunt is nice. Fancy, and knows how to act, what to order, and she had wisdom. I know now she wasn’t just trying to order me something that was just good (it was though). She was telling me to try new things.

 I think … that’s what I got from it … I think so.

Old Avocado Tree

• You could make avocado toast. We did.
• You could make guacamole. We did.
• You could add it to your sushi. We did.
• You could give the avocado to friends and family. We did.
• Oh, that one fell on the ground… You could give it to your dogs. We did.
• You could hang a hammock from here to there. We did.
• You could set up three chairs and a small table for a picnic. We did.
• Your dogs could sit it in its shade. They did.
• It shadows your living room from the harsh evening rays. It did.
• You could see the sunset in between the branches. The hues of red through purple pass the green leaves. We did.
• You could stand on a branch, look out to the park and houses around. We did.
• Our old avocado tree. You would love it. We do.

When Pigs Dogs Fly

We got him when he was small. Really small. They said he wouldn’t grow bigger… He basically doubled in size. So now just small. A little black dog, yet so powerful.

He would follow you but try to make sure that it didn’t look like it. Waiting on the side pretending to sniff something but looking up at you and as soon as you look forward or take a step he runs to your side.

Most of the time he would be in the backyard. Running around, I guess. Maybe the odd runner with their dog, running through the park. He would see them and run back and forth. 

If he got tired he would lay down and sunbathe. I remembered – he sunbathed so much his fur turned brown in some parts.  

But if he got bored – really bored, he would ask to come inside. At first a quiet whine to call. Maybe the occasional bark. But as soon as he sees you approaching the door, He would fly. 

The first time it was surprising. He stood to the middle of your lower leg. And yet he would jump up to chest height, putting his paws on the glass. Looks more impressive in person than it sounds. As if he was flying.

When we got our second dog, we thought he wouldn’t be as bored. A friend. He would provoke him and then chase around the yard. Even though he was smaller. Turns out they would both just call inside… now that there was more of them. One flying about and the other on two paws standing up tall like a T-rex. I love them both.

The Beauty in It

When the sun sets with wispy clouds above, my world light up with colors never seen before. Its rare, that 15 minutes at the end of the day and the start of the night. It lights up the flowers at the right angles, soft light as not to crumple the petals. The trees sway, the leaves choosing a part of the sky to take for themselves. The birds fly away from my backyard, to the beach and the water. They fly together in beautiful patterns. They look down at the waves reaching up to land to witness the sunset too. They say they’ll fly back in the morning to sing me awake. All of this. When the sun sets.