Man and dog

This morning I heard a man talking in front of my first-floor apartment. The talking turned to ranting, so I looked out the window and saw him sitting on the step. I realized it was a homeless man I often see around town; he was, as always, with his dog.

He was yelling at people who walked by. He started a diatribe about abortion being murder. He took his dog's face in his hands, "I'm a man. You're a dog. One man. One dog. Right?"

He has always seemed harmless but this time he was making me nervous. I was trying to decide whether to call the police when I saw him walking across the street to the park. One pants leg was cuffed almost to the knee. He had a little limp. Sad.

I was glad he left on his own.