The retired airplane mechanic leaned against the hill as if the sidewalk were itself a gust of wind. He walks a large dog, fuzzy as his person's legs, whose face looks more human than most. I asked if the man had watched the speech last night. "I had it on until I felt sick to my stomach," he said, gruffly. Rumbled, rather, then sputtered like a bad engine as he spat out that "he's going after social security." As he leaned over to tie his Brooks shoe, he put his foot on the dog's leash. Dog took this as invitation to play. "Goddamn it, STOP!" he yelled at the dog. "Get down!" He was making no eye contact when he said he was sorry, but he was in a very bad mood this morning. (I said I'd noticed.) "The Republicans are nothing but Nazis at this point, and the Democrats . . ." This particular gust took him to imagining a German soldier near the end of WWII, desperately needing ammunition and supplies. But the trains weren't bringing them. The reason, we both knew, was Auschwitz. "They were shipping off Jews to be killed. And those Germans were STILL following Hitler." He leaned over to tell his dog everything was ok, as Lilith and I headed downhill.
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