A little disheveled, a little worn out and looking for something to do, or eat or drink I walked outside. It was too cold to see women in pretty dresses but too warm to be bundled in big puffy jackets and beaver hats. I wasn’t on the dole but it was a nice day, I could at least pretend I was. That’s when I saw this dog, not a kind of mean and cruel looking dog but wasn’t friendly looking either. Wolf-dog with a head bigger then it has any right to be without biting my fingers off. Maybe I can get workplace insurance if my fingers go missing on company housing. It accepted my pat on the head and asked for more, I obliged, with nothing much better to do.

I looked up, then down at this wolf-dog, then up again. Hell this dog must be lonely or bored too. Maybe they just broke up with their dog partner over bone issues. “You spent all our bones on homebrew! You’re sick, you’re filthy. Get out of here I can’t look at you anymore.” his ex must’ve barked. Well I’m lonely too, and the sun is up and day is only half over so why not comfort each other. Then my back began to protest. This dog had the head of a wolf but it sure wasn’t as tall as one. So I started off towards the lake, as good as any place. This wolf-dog followed as if we had been together since birth. Wait. We both stopped. Just a crow, not even a raven. We kept going.

Bright red shotgun shells poked through the snow. They left little holes in the snow as they warmed up. Spring time brings such lovely colours. I look out to the bicycle thrown into the lake last summer, half stuck in the ice. The wolf-dog examines a condom wrapper then a seagull, then the sand. The frozen lake is interesting to me. Not to the dog. I get it. Whats so great about a big hunk of ice you can’t put in your drink anyways. Its pretty flat and seems to just keep going. The prairies and their grasses at least rolled a little. An icy lake just spat snow at your face like an abusive ex. Either way I can’t help it, looking at the ice I mean but the wolf-dog whines a little. We are surrounded by houses but no one is around. It is an intimate moment.

Sometimes I wonder what people think but then I remember what I look like. We flea bitten explorers pass the church his and my fur waving in the wind. I comfort the wolf-dog some and comfort myself even more. A few chained up dogs came into earshot, then into view. My partner cross examined them, then looked to me, then back, then came back to me. Maybe they didn’t pass the test, maybe they heard my friend was broke. Maybe my friend was about to puke his homebrew all over the road. No homebrew and no bones would really be shitty. Cold or bad sleep or bad food or hard work, I don’t know, made my legs tired. I headed back to my bed. On the steps to my bed we comforted each other some more. It is nicely sheltered from the wind. I am so tired. My friend can take care of themselves, at least their eyes tell me they can. I hope they are right. I head inside. My friend rests on my back deck for while.

I alone again and hope to see him soon.