Tears of a Dog

Seeing a video on Youtube about a man who sang a lullaby to a box of puppies and put them all to sleep reminded me... 18 years ago yesterday I was strolling along the Historic Canals of Venice Beach, California, and saw an extraordinary sight. Dusk was falling, the sun had set, but in the still waters I could see the reflection of bright red round sun. That was oddly beautiful and mysterious. Laughter echoed in the canal-laced neighborhood from somewhere around the corner. There was music. Talking... no it was singing. Just short bits of song. Then a group of pedestrians appeared, led by a woman in a cotton floral dress holding and strumming the strings of great acoustic guitar. Her followers applauded her recent effort and she laughed. As they came toward me, their attention was caught by a chained dog in one of the yards. They stopped and uttered "awwwws" of pity at the trapped animal, not only imprisoned behind his morning-glory flower embroidered wire fence, but also held by a snug red leather collar and an unusual metal chain. The chain was strange... it was a braid of three smaller chains, leading from his collar to a ringed metal stake securely pounded into the grass in the center of the area. The woman began another song, this time in French, and faced the dog as if to serenade it. Although I could not understand the words, her companions seemed to, and now I was convinced they were either French tourists on holiday, or perhaps Italians who just knew French. This is because some of them seemed to sing along softly. The dog... he looked up as he lay there, and when she had begun her song he stood up, his tail wagging excitedly. Animals don't really "get" music, so he obviously was just enjoying the attention. He was a small dog, black, a puppy at first glance, but then I could see grey in his muzzle so I realized he was an adult. Where was I this whole time? Well, I had slowly ambled down the cement walk toward the group and stood at the corner of the yard, leaning against the green leaves entwined in the wire fence. Here's where I could see both the singer, her group and the dog clearly. A couple of people looked at me and smiled and I smiled back... this was really cool... live music at dusk in Venice Beach... and in the quiet canal neighorhood, no less! The dog seemed to lose interest, and stretched, then lay back down. He rolled onto his side after a bit, and by the twitching of his tail I knew that he was dreaming. Happy dreams I would venture to guess... he nearly rolled onto his back at one point... so full of peace. The song ended... (and it may have been Italian but I think it was in French)... and the dog rolled back onto his belly, awake, but did not stand. His little doggy eyes looked suddenly watery. An allergy from night blossoms, perhaps? The sky was getting dark and the air was becoming chill. It looked like a tear dripped from the wide eye that was closest to me. This couldn't be true, but it did look like he was weeping. The group uttered a few more "awws" (I think they thought the same thing, that he looked like he was shedding tears) but soon laughed and moved on. I stood flat against the fence to let them all pass along the narrow walkway. There was a smell of perfume, probably more than one kind that hit me. Then they were gone. I didn't follow although if it hadn't been so late, or if I'd been invited, I might have considered it. The full moon had risen... and I could see it right where I'd seen that image of the red sun in the still water.

There Go I

Walking out to the little park for my 11:00am break to do my Bible reading in the Living Bible (for all my bad habits... this is the one good habit I have right now).

I was blocked by a big pickup with camper shell backing out of the parking structure entry.

The driver, "older" guy, shaved head with grey stubble, asked if I knew where "Arrow Tech" was located.

My tablet was just on the threshold of our company wifi peaking out of tall building behind me, so I tried to look it up for him.

It was Aerotec... and seemed to be some sort of a staffing company.

But no location other than one in Maryland could be found.

He talked on as he sat there in his idling truck.

"They helped me out a few years ago, and I thought they were over here somewhere".

The man also spoke of how he was tired of all these online "opportunites" and "come ons" that were just out to take his money.

So although I could not point him to his Aerotec, I did offer what I think is golden, platinum even advise:

"Have you gone to the county career center yet?"

I spoke more about the advantages to be found there, but I don't know if it sunk in.  Hopefully he'll try there.

Good contacts, good information, free training, other good stuff.

The career center!