I'm an old dog. I used to spend a lot of time climbing trees and stealing eggs from bluebird nests, chasing squirrels, running around in the springtime and the fall, even the summer and winter, all the time, really - because that's what we do best, we run around, we have a good time, we run - we RUN! I ran as hard as I could, as fast as I could, as far and as long as I could muster, and it was such a joy to be that dog running so fast and so hard and far and wide and long across the field. And this time it was spring - and I sped through the tall grass blowing golden in the afternoon sun still wet from the rain before, don't know how long before, because a dog doesn't need to know that sort of thing, and I didn't, and I still don't - because I can't remember that kind of thing so well, not as well as I remember being fast and swift across the field, and certainly not so well as I remember the smell of other dogs and of strange, mysterious creatures that were here long ago, when it was dark (and I'd hunt them too if we decided to stay into the night, and you can bet I'd catch them, and they wouldn't stand a chance against my nose); but for now, it's bright out, and I've got more important things to worry about, like finding that spot by the tree I loved so dearly. And here it was, past a copse of aspen that cast long shadows in the ever redder sunlight across that field where I always used to play and as I said before, run and run and run - and I lay down under the tree, and I have no idea that one day, a long time later, for me at least, because you know what they say about 'dog years' - a long time later I'd be in this very spot, after a long day of running not so fast, not quite so fast as I did before, I'd be here, sleeping, one night, round about the time when all the strange animals come, and I didn't realize, couldn't realize, because all I know is running and jumping and wagging my tail. But tonight everything is fine, and for a while yet I'll come back to this spot, now and then, and I'll be very busy in the morning, so many places to go and things to see