A: Animal Speak (AN)

I look out of the window and stare at the creatures that abound before me. If I only I could communicate with them. If I could only become one of them. To be able to soar through the air and view all the things below me. To be able to run through fields and play hide and seek with the world. To be able to jump and climb any tree and leap from branch to branch. Oh the tales I could tell.

And what do they think? Do they wish they could be me. To live protected within the walls of my house? To feel safe from the ravages that nature and predators bring? I can only guess.

Of course wanting to communicate with all of our natural world doesn’t stop me from believing that all these critters can’t understand me. As I walk through the streets and fields I never stop talking to all that I see. I am less likely to talk to a human that I’m passing than I am to an animal. Others seeing me think that I’m talking to myself, but if they look carefully they will notice that somewhere nearby there is another non-human being.

Telling “The Goose that laid the golden egg” .

When I’m with other people and we see a bird or animal doing something interesting I am very free to interpret for my fellow travelers what exactly that creature is saying or thinking.

I’ve never been good at learning languages. I’m still trying to learn French so I can speak with my brother. In years past I’ve tried learning sign language, which I can do at a very basic level. But as a translator for animal speak, I seem to do pretty well. Who’s going to say I’m wrong? They would have to know animal speak also.

Talking to animals, becoming those animals, is a way for me to voice my thoughts, expectations and relieve some of the stresses in my life. It calms me down. So I continue to look out of the window and stare.