New Friends

The dead have strange imaginations, thought the little dog as he regarded the phantom bird. If you could call it a bird. The ugly flightless thing resembling a plucked chicken that a child had attempted to re-feather with elmer's glue. It spoke constantly of heaven, of the kingdom awaiting him in all its glory following the little dog through the streets on his daily search for food. "If you could only see the eyes of the maker, you would be at peace, my small friend," He would garble out as he scurried to keep up. "There is a warmth in all that is living and all that is dead. There is shinning ghost. There is is holy spirit to nourish us. He is the bread of life... or the something of life. Anyway, the toil we find here is but a moment and then our reward is eternal." The little dog was busy exploring an over turned garbage can. This seemed to annoy the bird. "Any moment now I might ascended into his glory, little one. You out to pay more attention. The word I bring is THE word." The dog emerged with a bit of chicken which seemed only to add to the phantom dodo's agitation. It clawed at the ground and looked at the sky in anticipation. "Any moment now, my friend. Pie in the sky, as they say. Any moment now." Nothing happened and the bird look around bewildered. "Well, I must still be here for some reason. The master must have some use for my soul here on this earthly plane. Some task... some..." The Christian dodo trailed off as if distracted by something. A wind blistered itself against the little beagle, lifting his floppy ears as it passed. Down the ally the sounds of large men shouting to each other echoed back and forth then floated out into the world. The dog attended to his bone. The dodo to his soul side by side in the the city as it emptied itself of men.