Alys: Mars to Rainbow, Mars to Rainbow, come in Rainbow.
Rainbow: That’s an old joke. It’s no longer funny/
A: I thought that it might make you laugh.
R: Dogs don’t laugh.
A: You used to laugh.
R: I don’t remember ever laughing.
A: I’d say something funny, or something would strike you as funny. I know this because you’d get a shit eating grin on your face.
R: I never, ever ate shit.
A: This is just an expression.
R: The grin on my face was just an expression.
A: How come you’re so grumpy?
R: I now have no reason not to be grumpy.
A: You look uncomfortable, the way you are lying there.
R: I am . . . uncomfortable.
A: You are. You always will be. Let me rearrange you.
R: Yes, put my left front leg here and my right rear leg there. That’s way better. Thank you.
A: You’re welcome.
R: I used to be able to rearrange myself. Now I can’t get up without you lifting my hindquarters.
A: No, you cannot. But at least you have assistance. Tending to you is now a part of Pete and my routine.
R: Sometimes I dream about what I used to be able to do.
A: Me too.
R: At least we can dream, eh?

A: Yes, dreams are good.
R: There is going to be a day when my dreams again become a reality.
A: That’s going to be a sad day for us here.
R: No it won’t. I’ll be young again. I’ll chase ravens for hours on end, and run and run and run until I’m good and tired.
A: Those were the days.
R: And they will be the days again.
A: We will miss you.
R: I will be with you because you and Pete will continue to dream about me being with you. Remember, you used to go running when I was chasing the ravens.
A: Yes, and you always came back to me.
R: Always.
A: But it was always when you decided that this should be.
R: That’s right. I was not a simpering fool.
A: The problem is that dreams are not real.
R: They are when you’re having them.
A: That’s true. But some dreams are scary.
R: You won’t have scary dreams about me. My life with you has all been good.
A: All of it?
R: Well, most of it. There were times in my middle years when I got left behind when you went out with the horses. I didn’t like that.
A: This was because you’d pull when we walked you.
R: But you got me a harness and that fixed that problem.
A: It sure did.
R: There’s going to be a day when, like me, you wake up and realize that you are old and decrepit and are not going to be around much longer.
A: And?
R: You accept this fact. I haven’t accepted it yet, but I am close.
A: And?
R: It’s at that point that we’ll be together again.
A: I like that idea.
R: In the meantime we’ll be separated by time and space.
A: Yes.
R: But not now. Not now.
A: No, not now.

Next: 172. 6/25/17: What Would Sally Swift Do?