Today these eyes saw the following:

A chest-puffing showdown between a tall, grunty brick of a man and his short, stocky counterpart, standing firm on either side of the train doors as they opened at Kendall. They thrust back their shoulders and pushed out their chins at each other like the silver-backed gorillas they wished they were, and stared at each other, each refusing to budge until the other one gave way. The specimen on the inside of the train practically growled: “You gonna move? Huh? You gonna move?” I eased past both of them and tossed a glance behind me; they were still glaring and huffing while everyone else gaped or rolled their eyes. Big silly apes.

The turkey again, this time so close to the path I could have touched its feathers as I walked by. It turned its inscrutably birdy gaze on me when I passed, and I so wanted to stop and make conversation—but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we both ran out of things to say…

A beautiful, scruffy Irish Wolfhound the size of a small pony, ambling with its owner past the movie theater! I slowed my walk to look at it and it whuffed abruptly at me, nosing the air for my scent in a friendly way. Its owner maneuvered it on and I stepped beyond it on the road, but not before my heart slipped out and flew away.