EVEN AFTER THE BATTERIES RAN DOWN

EVEN AFTER THE BATTERIES RUN DOWN

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A Short, Short Story By Willys Watson

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Ralph always enjoyed my visits to his home, especially because they included long, leisurely walks around his neighborhood. And he found it nice, during our long walks, that I never seemed to mind when we stopped so he could communicate with his neighborhood friends. And he also appreciated that I never displayed any annoyance during those times when his friends were not on the street to greet personally and he halted our walks long enough for to message them. I never minded because our amicable friendship was based on the quality time together we shared.

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I also understood and accepted the fact that very often near the midway point of our long walks Ralph’s batteries would run down. And I found it amusingly interesting that when this happened, thought he couldn’t message then, he still managed to interpret in his own way their messages left for him.

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The sending of messages by Ralph’s metaphorical batteries was dependant on the capacity of his bladder and once his reservoir of urine was used up the leaving of messages stopped. Still, with his acute sense of smell, he could always receive their messages with ease.

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One of the lessor known contributions canines gave to humans was their creation of one of the earliest known common communication systems, a system far ahead of it’s time because early humans lacked the ability to communicate beyond primitive grunts and screeches. And it would be eons before humans advanced to the point where they surpassed canines with commonly accepted definitions of words, written languages and later recorded messages that humans could respond back to. In their own way canines prophesied a future where humans could communicate through telegraph wires and later land line telephones that had answering machined and still later with cell phones and if a message left was not answered right away it could be responded to at a convenient time.

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So when you’re out walking with a dog please don’t hurry them along of tug repeatedly on their leash. Let them be their natural selves because if you deprive them of being themselves you’re denying them their natural birthright to communicate on their own level.