She’s so quiet, incognito. Look twice and time just flies.

I’m so taken with her silence, I just stare and fill my eyes

I swear I made her smile once… I saw it, there was no mask.

And sometimes there are answers to the questions that I ask.

I fell into her disaster

To try to take on the role of hero.

I didn’t stay long.

Never have I felt more disrespected

Or more underappreciated.

It was really all my fault.

I never asked if she wanted out.

My mistake was assuming…

“Mind your own business!!!” A reminder.

To self

She was wild and unhinged, and flowed like water and held her ground; until she didn’t…

It couldn’t last forever. That sort of rare insanity was bound to have a cost.

She was complicated.

I swear I saw it as it happens…

Saw the joy rise in your eyes.

Like bubble comic Book Captions.

Thought; He’s believing all my lies.

New info was Fresh Bounty.

In that moment I just froze.

Like some cowards of the county.

I won’t become like one of those.

You were comfort in your beauty.

You knew secrets of the breeze.

To myself I have this duty.

Not to live there on my knees.

There’s a Cafe and there’s a moral.

And there’s a stool there at the bar.

And there are reasons that are plural.

That leaves you sitting where you are.

I never knew you well, but I could tell…

You were there, before Roma fell.

Now you’re gone, how your light shone.

They wouldn’t listen what you tried to sell.

I never knew you at all. But you stood tall.

Your tenored voice, that cadence drawl.

Now you’re gone, how your light shone.

Now there is no shame, you gave it all.

Spun them good with your song and dance.

They looked away, but they gave a glance.

Now you’re gone, how your light shone.

You know them well, they’re in a trance.

I never knew you well, but I could tell.

You had them fooled, you rang their bell.

Now you’re gone how you’re light shone.

Oh Diagnosis, how you’re light shone.

He was old with a Santa grey beard and wore a Toronto Maple leafs jersey, topped with a black hat that had the word, ‘Beatles’ stenciled on the front. A beautiful German Sheppard dog was at feet. I said good morning. He raised his head with the dog and they both looked at me.

I was stirring the cream into my coffee at Larry’s Folly and finally he said, I don’t mind the holidays but I like it when things get back to normality.

Yes I answered. Yes!

I have always liked watching people from a distance. One could argue that it was safety I craved and you’d get no argument from me…

They are an almost endless fascination, with their characters and flaws.

I have even achieved invisibility in certain circles where I made myself small and insignificant…

She is grieving now. I can hear her crying upstairs and she is holding Ned. We went to the Humane Society and they gave us the body of Fin the Ferret. Frozen.

The labor day parade backed traffic up for miles. We took a cab back and buried him beside Gigi.

We still have each other and Ned the Cat.

Dennis Mantin

There is no right way or wrong way. There is the cowards way which might be the gentler way… Maybe the better way. I could have told her he was still out there trying to find his way home. I watched her weep in the arms of neighbors.

I stood back and let them share that.

She told me, “Losing a pet for a kid is like losing family.”

I remember both. The pet grief lasts days or weeks. The losing family when you’re a kid is a sort of permanent mess.

My Daughter Zylia said at the age of 8 that she wanted a ferret more than anything else. I did not. I ended up paying $650 for him and his cage.

Weeks earlier I asked Zylia the source of the 2 bruises on her back. “I fell.” She lied. When she told me she wanted a ferret I said, “Tell me the truth about those bruises and you will get your ferret. By that time she had been living with me for 100 days and her mother had lost custody of her in court.

“Mom hit me. “

Fin arrived a few days later. He was with us almost 2 years before he walked off while I was cleaning his cage on a warm Labor Day Weekend Saturday.

We put up posters and a woman called to say that her dog attacked Fin who died on the way to the vets. The woman was weeping when she told me. Zylia was weeping when I told her.

Fin was the happiest animal I ever met. Getting out of that cage was the highlight of his day. He would bounce around the floor and play fight with Ned the cat.

I just really liked him because of what he represented to Zylia.

A life free from abuse and supported and loved for who she is.