Everything Else Is Weather

Okay.

I'll try to read this as though it is actually happening.

Because it is.

Cold tonight.

Might even see snow.

Everybody's inside.

Come here, Rocky.

There.

Magnanimous.

Three dogs on one sofa. Fire carrying on. Wind scratching around outside looking for weaknesses.

Most nights there's a door open somewhere in this house.

Started years ago.

Not sure exactly when.

Dogs come and go as they please.

Figure it's their house too.

People think that's strange.

Maybe it is.

But if you had opposable thumbs you'd be opening it yourself.

Not tonight though.

Too cold.

Besides, they ain't stupid.

Got a fire.

Got a sofa.

Got somebody willing to scratch their ears.

Like Princess here. Isn't that right. Good girl.

No self-respecting dog is heading out into that.

[chime]

Hold on.

Sadie.

My granddaughter.

Or at least that's what she claims.

[chime]

There she is again.

Another dispatch from Scott Evers. Read for you by Geezer III.

Sixteen years old.

Maybe seventeen.

I lose track.

Wonderful kid.

Calling's gone extinct apparently.

Everything's texts now.

Thousands of them.

The girl's capable of sending a novel one sentence at a time.

[chime]

Mm-hmm.

No.

Don't send that.

[chime]

Especially don't send that.

Funny thing.

She always comes to me with boy questions.

Not Lina.

Me.

No idea why.

Lina's perfectly capable.

Got two good heads on her shoulders.

Maybe three.

But Sadie seems convinced I've got some ancient knowledge regarding young men.

I do not.

I was confused when I was one.

Seems unreasonable to expect improvement sixty years later.

[chime]

Oh lord.

No darlin'.

That's definitely too many exclamation points.

The Rock agrees.

Don't you?

...

She's asleep.

Rusty. Move over.

Where's your bone.

Kids ask if I get lonely.

I suppose that's kind of them.

I don't.

Never have.

Don't know why.

I hear there's an epidemic of loneliness.

Maybe there is.

I don't pretend to know.

I just know they shouldn't be counting me.

I'm doing alright.

Got books.

Got dogs.

Got a fireplace.

Got family checking in whether I need it or not.

Seems crowded enough.

[chime]

See.

Exhibit A.

Funny thing.

I don't think people are lonely because they're alone.

Hell, Sadie's got more people talking to her before lunch than I talk to in a month.

Maybe what's missing is something else.

Maybe folks don't spend enough time by themselves anymore.

Could be.

I mean long enough to hear what they actually think.

Everything's immediate.

Messages.

Comments.

Opinions.

Responses.

Used to be if somebody hurt your feelings on a Tuesday you'd have until Friday to figure out what you thought about it.

Now you've got seventeen friends helping you misunderstand it before dinner.

[chime]

Marvelous.

Case in point.

Apparently the boy has responded.

The situation has evolved.

Again.

People think dogs are simple.

I don't know about that.

Apparently wolves just started hanging around our campfires one day.

Smart ones got fed.

Thousands of years later look at us.

They've got the sofa.

We've got the mortgage.

From where I'm sitting, they came out ahead.

You know what I like about dogs?

Never met one trying to become something else.

Never met one wondering if another dog was having a better day.

Fire's warm.

Belly's full.

Pack's nearby.

Good enough.

Hard to argue with.

[chime]

There.

I think I've got it.

Took me forty-five minutes.

You ready, Rocky?

I'm telling her this:

Darlin', I think you're spending too much time thinking about him.

If he likes you, you'll know.

If he doesn't, you'll know that too.

Everything else is weather.

Send.

There.

Problem solved.

Or ignored.

One of the two.

Funny thing.

People worry about the younger generation.

I don't as much.

They're figuring it out same as we did.

Different tools.

Same confusion.

Truth is, they help me as much as I help them.

Maybe more.

Keeps an old man connected to the world.

[chime]

Oh.

That was quick.

Let's see.

...

Well I'll be damned.

That's actually pretty good advice, darlin'.

[pats Rocky]

Hear that?

Still teaching each other.

Wind's settled down.

No snow yet.

Fire's getting low.

Little whiskey.

Ever notice how people can stare into a fire for an hour and call it relaxing?

Stare into a wall for an hour and suddenly everybody's concerned.

Just going to rest my eyes a bit, Rocky.