5. Louis

My neighbors across the hall have gotten a new dog. He barks all day during working hours when he is alone at home. There is a sign on their door. And it says he has anxiety because he lived in a shelter and was almost put down. I don’t know what kind of dog he is, but he is long and has a body that is the shape of a hot dog. His hair is light brown. They told me his name is Louis. When I first see him, I think, Oh, that’s what you look like. I don’t lower myself to pet him or talk to him. A few people who live on the same floor have done that. Or they knock on my neighbor’s door and ask to see him. On our floor, he is famous. I see my neighbor sitting on the floor in the hallway and ask her, “Is everything all right?” I am concerned that she has maybe been locked out of her home. Forgot or lost her keys. She says, “Oh, I am just training Louis to be alone.” I don’t know much about dogs, but is it not true that they have a strong sense of smell? Couldn’t Louis smell her sitting in the hallway? It is true that he isn’t barking just as she is training him to do, but I don’t think he understands she thinks he is alone. I don’t say anything to her because it is not my business. When Louis is home alone the next day it seems that none of that training is helping him because he is still barking. Another day, I see my neighbor just outside the building, walking slowly with Louis. He takes small steps. It’s necessary for him to leave the apartment so he can get some fresh air and also go to the washroom. Louis lifts his leg when he finds a pole and pees. Another time, I see him make small droppings and my neighbor picks them up like they are expensive jewels and puts it all in a plastic bag which she pulls out from her pockets. I think to myself, What has Louis done in this life that he is so blessed. He had been taken to a shelter and just when he was abandoned a nice childless couple took him into their home. Most people would bring him back to the shelter, behaving as he had, after a week of barking all day, but this couple has let him express his fear with a note of apology to the neighbors, they have slowly helped him understand he will not be abandoned again, and that they will love him through. He will grow old, and he will have someone to look after him. When I think of him, I feel optimistic about life. That there are good people out there who will arrive at just the right time. I realize that Louis, perhaps, has encouraged me to notice my neighbors and the kind of people they are, and I should want to try and become their friend. But I don’t want to. It is Louis I want to be friends with. When I run into him in the hallway now, I wave to him. He just looks at me and does nothing back. We don’t understand each other yet. My neighbor tells me Louis is lazy. He doesn’t like to go for walks, and when he is outside he doesn’t walk far from the building’s entrance before rushing back inside. They say that animals can sense your sadness. That they bark because they are trying to tell you to cheer up. I wonder if Louis is maybe not anxious. That through his door and my own door, he can feel that I am alone, and like my dad, doesn’t want me to be. That he is trying to tell me, I am, in fact, not alone. When I see Louis again in the hallway, on his way out to do his dirty in the street, I wave to him. He barks at me once. I think this is his way of waving back. Another time, my neighbor asks me if I want to throw a ball for him, and I do. I say, “Catch.” The ball rolls toward his face and it touches his front paw. He doesn’t want to play. When I get in the elevator and I see him, I say to him, “Want to play?” And he runs up to me and tries to knock me over with his two front paws. A few days later I look down at my hand and there is a small red bump. A flea bite. That’s what happens when you let a new friend come close, I say to myself. The other day, I put on a record. It’s Taylor Swift’s song, “Snow on the Beach.” And Louis, across the hall, starts barking. I think he likes this song too. And maybe, in some ways, it’s him saying it’s his favorite song and that we can indeed be best friends forever.