[crow]

Even news with more of a scientific focus were sometimes a bummer to read, because for every article about how a new species of toad had been discovered in Colombia -- as a theoretical example -- there were a dozen others about how climate change was ruining everything everywhere, sometimes in new ways that people hadn't anticipated. Or more accurately, that scientists had in fact totally anticipated, and then been ignored when they tried to tell anyone about it that could actually do anything to prepare.

[crow]

And so no one had been prepared when it inevitably came to pass, which was now.

He sighed. Maybe this wasn't the best idea when he was already feeling a little off. Maybe he should go back to reading about deep ocean creatures after all. But just as he was thinking that, a sound somewhere to his right caught his attention, and he turned just in time to see a dog lunging for him.

"Kana, down! Down, girl!" someone yelled.

[crow]

He yelped, a sound that was high pitched and pathetic even to his own ears. Fortunately the person on the other end of the dog's leash was too occupied to hear him. Probably. Or at least too occupied to remark on it, anyway. He wasn't sure which it was, but whatever it was, he would take it. The dog did not in fact manage to get at him, and it subsided after a moment without pulling too enthusiastically on the leash.

[crow]

Once it came back down to all fours, it stood there staring at him with its tail wagging, as if it hadn't just tried to end his life or something. But Henry wasn't fooled; he was sure if he got within striking distance, that dog would make another attempt.

"Hey, sorry about that. She's usually not like this." Henry blinked, not having expected to find himself addressed. It finally occurred to him to look up at the person who had stopped her dog.

[crow]

It was a girl... Around his own age, he thought, though he couldn't be completely sure about that. She returned his gaze in a way that felt like she was expecting something, and after a moment, when Henry said nothing, she raised a brow. "Are you okay? She didn't hit you, did she?"

"What? Oh, no--- uh, no, she didn't," he said, then winced at himself. Eloquent as always. But the wince was the wrong thing to do, because now the girl was frowning.

[crow]

Oh no, she thought he was faking being okay. She thought her dog really had mauled him or something. So he stood up, put up his hands and said, "No, really, I'm really fine! She didn't, um, hit me. I just--- ah!"

He had stood too suddenly, and startled the dog. It didn't lunge for him again, but it started barking up a storm, which attracted the attention of more than just its owner as the sound filled up the park.

[crow]

A lot of people turned their heads to look at them, which just made Henry want to shrivel up and disappear. He had been doing so well at avoiding attention too.

Why was this happening? It wasn't as if animals usually hated him or anything. It wasn't as if they liked him either, but that suited him just fine. He would really rather they be indifferent about him, since he was pretty indifferent about them too, when it came right down to it.

[crow]

He wasn't scared of dogs, at least not before this, but he was starting to wonder if maybe he should be. Or whether this experience was going to traumatize him enough that he wouldn't have much of a say in the matter afterwards. That was always a possibility too, he supposed.

"Kana! What's gotten into you?" said the girl, who was now moving to interpose herself between the dog and Henry. She spoke in a surprisingly stern voice. "Hush! Kana, hush! Good girl."

[crow]

It took a little while for her to calm the dog down, but once she did, she fed it a treat, then spent a while patting it and scratching its ears. Henry stood there awkwardly, unsure as to what he ought to be doing with himself. Should he leave? He didn't really want to find a new spot, but it wasn't as if this was the only shady patch in the park. Some of them were even still unoccupied, though there weren't many left.

[crow]

He wasn't the only one who had had the smart idea of hanging out in the shade so as not to die of heat stroke and the like, not by a long shot.

He couldn't imagine walking a dog in this weather. He was real glad he didn't own one.

He was just about to make his leave when the girl finally turned to him. "Sorry about Kana," she said again, but this time she was frowning sternly at him too.

[crow]

She went on. "But you should really know better than to make sudden movements like that. If she had really been dangerous, you might have gotten bitten."

"I... I'll keep that in mind," Henry said. What Henry did not say was that he thought this Kana was dangerous enough as it was. But it was also true that he didn't know what to do around dogs, so it was probably a fair assessment on her part that he had screwed up.

[crow]

And she was giving him advice on how not to get bitten, he supposed, which was an outcome he wanted if it was at all possible.

He tried not to dwell on it. He just wanted this whole encounter to be over, and to go back to looking at his phone.

Henry was thinking about how to make his exit now that she had addressed him directly, but she cut off that line of thought too. "Hey, I know you, don't I?" she said.

[crow]

Henry blinked, eyes wide; he hadn't expected her to say that. He certainly didn't recognize her. He looked at her again, more closely, trying to place the face. He didn't have an especially bad memory for people and faces, though he wouldn't have said he was especially good at it either. And she wouldn't have had her dog with her whenever he had met her, if they had been acquainted before.

Even as he made his best attempt, however, he couldn't quite place her.

[crow]

She didn't look like the kind of person who was easy to forget either. She hadn't done herself up at all, and her long hair was pulled into a ponytail; she was dressed like someone taking a dog for a walk, in a slightly too big men's t-shirt and shorts. But even then, she was beautiful in a way that caught the eye. If it weren't for the way she held herself, he was sure she would end up with a whole throng of boys asking for her number in no time.

[crow]

Actually, that might still be the case even though she did hold herself as if daring anyone to speak to her. Some guys liked that sort of thing. Not Henry, of course; people who seemed confrontational by nature scared him more than anything. Which was why he would really rather she stopped talking to him and resumed walking her dog, who by the way was still sort of eyeing him as if it was trying to figure out whether it would be worth it to take another run at him.