A Dog Runs By His Side

He should let himself hover over his own flying weight. He recalls the ease of running effortlessly….the dopamine highs. His toes are landmines, his ankles are circa 1980’s, they detonate snapping tendons, hold the dream together. Restless legs push him across a damp mattress to where a running dog wades across a last river. Halfway over the dog looks back suddenly alert to the flailing man – he has fallen into an eddy of time. The dog sits down to wait 30 years.