"Really? You're sure it was him?"

"Yup, no doubt about it. I seen it myself and it was him. Still had the cart froze to one leg."

"No way, you're lying. How could it freeze to his leg?"

"Call me liar all you want Monty Viallobos, but that won't make it so. I seen with my own eyes. That old man with the long coat, the one that was always talking to that dog that bit you, was froze to his cart by one leg, dead as a sawn log."

"Damn dog shoulda been put down."

"I don't know man, throwing lit fire crackers at him wasn't cool. He was really old."

"Your one to talk. I didn't break that guys car window just because he cut me off."

"Yeah well, that won't be happening again now, will it?"

"Expensive, was it? What about the mutt, was it froze too?"

"Yeah, it was but it was frozen with its eyes open. It was like they was lookin right at me when I found um under that wayward pine. I thought the damn thing was alive at first, all curled up in the old guys lap like it was. Watching out for him, just like always."

"Those two had something weird going on. It wasn't normal. That dog knowed what the old man was sayin’. I wonder why he stayed after the old guy died. I wouldn'tof. You said you found em up under that wayward pine? That the place you and Jenny used to go makeout in? What were you doin' there? And how the heck did he get his cart way up there? It's got to be 1/2 mile from here, mostly uphill."

"I have no idea how he got it there. It's a lot of up, and in the snow...."

"Maybe the dog pulled it, ha ha ha."

"Maybe there was more to that old man than we thought. I went up there to watch the clouds roll in off Thunder Peak, to remember. I was stomping a path through some snow when I seen a glint under the pine. I figured I'd found somebody's stolen bike or a still or something. I never thought I'd be finding a dead guy and his dog. It was weird the way that dog was just laying there, all curled up like it wanted to be no place else in the world. I could feel it."

"Was the old guy all rotten and stuff?"

"No stupid, he was froze solid. Him and the dog both. He looked like he was taking a nap. All peaceful like. And the dog just curled up in his lap."

“Charlie, that was the Mutt’s name, Charlie. Pure evil that dog, if you dint watch out. Never seen the one without the other, rain or snow or sun or whatever, they was never not together. “

“Gotta wonder how they hooked up, ya know? I mean how do ya get all homeless like that? And keep a dog? I don’t know…”

“It was more like the dog kep him, always watchin out, like it was his duty or job or sumthin.”

“Donnie at the Burp nd Slurp said the old guy was harmless, talked a lot, but never gave folks a hard time. Said once he saw the old guy get a 20.00 from some schmuck, come in to get change, then give it to the bums drinkin out back.”

“Probly buyin booze of em his own self, the old drunk.”

“No, Donnie said in all the years that old guy and his dog was around he never sold a single beer or bottle to him. Said the guy was always talkin to himself and clicking the buttons on that longass coat he wore, but he never drank. Member how yellow his nails was? Like bird claws.”

“Good rittance, that old man was trash, that’s all them homeless are. Trash. How can you not be if you live outta shopping cart?”

“Gettin too deep for me, I got no clue. Don’t seem right though, old man living like that. Even his dog deserved better. Damn thing sure loved him though. Donnie says that dog chased off more than a few :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s trying to give the old guy a hard time, present company included.”

“Yeah, well….hey, he musta crossed over the creek when it was froze. That’s just crazy. Remember when Jesse Walthrop fell through year before last? That ice looked two miles thick and was barely four inches, dumbass almost died and it was colder that winter fer sure. That old man was crazier n bat:cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:. Damn dog too. I sure hope they git the bridge fixed this spring. Stupid rusty piece of :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:.”

“I don’t know Man, I always thought there was something more to him, some story, specially the way that dog treated him. Wasn’t natural, the way that dog looked to him, like they was connected somehow. Weird.”

“You know my science teacher, Mrs. Smith? The one that always wore them short skirts? She said that some dogs and some people really do …. what was it she called it….commute…commode…commune…something about understanding or connecting each other. I swear I seen em talkin, him and that dog.”

“Dog was the devil then. My grannyjanceen says them what talks to animals has the devil in em. She otta know, mean old :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: and her seventeen cats. Treats em better than her own family.”

“I don’t know man, the look that dog had on its frozen face weren’t a devil look. That was love if I ever seen it. That dog coulda left, he stayed. I know he did, don know how, but I know he stayed with his friend.”

“Bull:cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:. You can’t know nuthin of the sort. That dog was mean and that old man was crazy.”

“I don’t know man, if Donnie said he was ok…. ya know? I mean, Donnie saw im every day. And when I saw him I never got the kinda vibe most of those bums give off, ya know? Kinda scary like and not who you’d want to meet alone in the dark. I always figured he was kinda crazy but sorta harmless too.”

“Donnie smokes too much weed and you know it. Dude forgits what day of the week it is half the time.”

“YOU smoke too much weed. I wonder if the old guy was from around here, had any family.”

“Even if he did they obviously dint want nuthin to do with him or he woont a been on the streets if the first place. Family don’t let that happen to family.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Tim Ernesto’s family kicked him the hell out an all he did was date a black girl. Some crazy folks out there, that’s fer damn sure.”

“I’d kick you out too you ever start dating a black chick, :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: just ain’t right. Otta stick to your own, ya know?”

“You really do have a pea for a brain, dontcha? Maybe his family thought the same, who knows. Dead is dead though and he sure is dead, all froze up like that.”

“Yeah, dead is dead and good rittance to that crazy old man and his mean old dog. Wer better off without em, you ask me.”

“You din’t see the look on that dogs face. And the way the old man was lookin down at the dog, like he could still see im after he was dead. His eyes was open and everything. Spooky man, spooky.”

“Ya know, the older you get the weirder you get. Gonna go write this in your diary too?”

“It’s a journal asswipe, chicks write in diaries and I probably will. There was somethin about that old man and his dog, like I’d know some secret if I could figure it out, somethin important, a….a mystery, that’s what. Like I’d know a mystery.”

“You take any more classes at the U and you’ll be a mystery to me, frickin weirdo bum lover.”

“Heh, meybe so, meybe so. But maybe mystery ain’t so bad, ya know?”