"Nowadays," I said to Red Dog, "I think that every single moment, day and night, we can hear crickets chirping.""Nowadays," I said to Red Dog, "I think that every single moment, day and night, we can hear crickets chirping."
Walking along the gravel road, I saw yellow sunlight and cricket chirps mingle together so that they became just one thing -- a beautiful kind of sunlight-music!! And this sunlight-music was something that we could walk through...
"But, sometimes I forget to listen to the crickets, and I forget to feel the sunlight," Red Dog heard me say. "For example, Red Dog, sometimes I have thoughts that make me sad... "
For a second a sad thought crossed my mind. However, then I remembered that sunlight mixed with cricket chirps becomes something cheerful to walk through, so I just kept walking, feeling good again.
"Red Dog," I said, "whenever we want to be happy, we should just listen for crickets, and walk outside so that sunlight can play on our faces and arms. Why, maybe if we'd pay attention to crickets and sunlight all the time, we'd never feel sad. Red Dog, what causes us sometimes to forget to listen to crickets, and to notice how cheery the sunlight around us is?"
To see what Red Dog thought, I glanced down to see the expression on his face. But, he wasn't there. Then I looked behind me. Far away, with his nose poked into the grass, Red Dog was sniffing at a mouse's trail.
"He hasn't heard a word I've said," I whispered to myself. "However, just because I thought he was listening, I spoke all those words about sunlight and cricket-chirps, and that made me happy. Yes: Red Dog is good for me, even when he's just being himself and not thinking about me at all... "
I waited for Red Dog to catch up. Maybe he didn't understand why I knelt beside him and hugged him when we were together again.