he had one inside for years now he had one outofdoors
they matched up acutely to his own
Jekyll and Hyde
his contained Jagoff socially ascribed
and his Hidden his rawer Indomitable
which he
preferred more and it keener to his soul
inside was indie
outofdoors was bigfoot
both were born feral
and maybe or maybe not indie was getting the better shake
he had never been kept
though one would be lame not to
recognise there were certain benefits and comforts afforded being kept
indie was indie because of his stumbling
independence to be separate from the rest of his litter now only another brother survived
bigfoot
well he was tagged bigfoot for his heavy bump bump
bump footfalls as he ran across the porch one side to the other to eat from a
tin pan he set out for him
bigfoot had been lurking in the
sparse grass and weed field across the dirt and gravel road from his place
it was strung with barbedwire faded wood signs warned of trespassing
it seemed foreboding as most
desolate or ramshackle places and lots do
but thats where they took rabbits
and squirrels out of them grown fat on
acorns fallen in a stand of oaks at the back of the property unseen from the
road
bigfoot had additional benefits gobbling mice gophers and slow beadyeyed birds
he had to admit to himself he was
a little surprised that the mutt took to the store-bought kibble he purchased on
a whim
he understood the why of the
china bowl of clean water fresh in the
sunlight cool from the pump hell good water tempted him
together one dusk
one sunset evening they reached a
tentative truce
it was apparent the lug was
mistreated he had a broken tail a piece of his ear gone so
when he put food down he sat on the steps within six feet of it to suggest a
kinship a relationship of the food and
himself
one not existing without the other
over time bigfoot let go of some
of his skittishness though he always ate
facing him and over time after feeding
on occasion bigfoot wandered over and sat near him licking his chops
during all these over times he talked to him called him bigfoot talked to him
in the manner he thought it would be nice if people talked to one another again together
easy pleasant conversation no
gawddamn fones or interfacing on laptops
no dark news or crap or current pop culture
he talked softly to bigfoot letting his voice doing the petting
that sunset bigfoot dropped next
to his hip as he had many times too curmudgeonly
to purr and groomed his front paws the size of a four year olds hands
bigfoot it was a righteous name
talking he slowly extended his least dominate hand (he
was ambidextrous) to the beast and wasnt terribly surprised when in midlick
bigfoot lunged mouthed his hand fiercely and four pawed the whole of his forearm his
hind legs tines
at the vein on the inside of his elbow
there were thin scratches not too deep
blood beading
his ears were drawn back
lips curled
but his arm wasnt shredded
bigfoots teeth hadnt punctured
his hand
he kept right on talking to him telling him how good it was bigfoot
recognised he wasnt threatening him and how he neatly responded in equitable measured force while confronting an imagined threat
he talked to bigfoot about
imagination and action their differences
the impotency of thought the reality or actuality
of that thought enforced
after talking for several minutes
he asked bigfoot if he could please have his arm and hand back and how
fortunate
they were they had brooked an understanding beast to beast eye to eye
bigfoot allowed him to disengage
his hind claws with his free hand
then with another quick mindful
mouthing bigfoot suddenly released the whole of his arm rolled off to a side and
tensed up on all fours to either attack or flee
he remained seated innocuously rubbed his arm
he conceded or confided bigfoot his
intellect of knowing not to bite the hand that fed him particularly as it is a passive hand offering charity a charity given without expecting anything in
return except perhaps friendship
then he excused himself saying as
he stood Youre a fine boy bigfoot I am grateful you thought to leave me my hand
and arm intact
he walked past him slowly telling
him Ill see you again in the morning
bigfoot
inside indie waited his turn
after scrubbing his arm and hand
with soap and water softy padding it
dry he took indie his food and fresh
water
indie was quite taken with the
scent on his arm as he set the food down
so he stood bent at the waist and
let indie explore sniff his hand and forearm
when he took a knee because indies curiosity wasnt abating indie put his forepaws to his shoulder
smelling the inside of his elbow and up his bicep
when he was satisfied indie
looked him in full in the face nearly an
accusation indeed
a confirmation
perhaps Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived indie is not mocked that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he
also reap
indie needed to get out some
but he hadnt realised in a very long
time the kind of acumen or grace necessary in the real world
laughing he cut him some slack
and as he ate indie never
curmudgeonly provided grateful purrs
1616, Sunday,
8 11. 15
0115, Monday, 9 11. 15
