In front of the 7-11 at Bloor and Spadina a homeless man sat cross-legged on the sidewalk. He was completely contained within a narrowing and unseasonable patch of sunlight and looked happy for this small pleasure. When he saw the dog and I walking toward him his features became warm and gentle, and now, instead of inviting sympathy from the world around him, he was radiating it outwards. I stopped and said hello and he nuzzled the dog\u2019s ears. He wanted to know what the Chuck-It stick was that I was carrying and I explained that I used it to play fetch with the dog, that it was a kind of catapult. He expressed amazement that such a thing might exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor dogs, eh? So instead of you throwing the ball, this thing throws it for you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c She just loves it.\u201d I told him. \u201cShe jumps about, all excited yet totally focused, her tail beating like a propeller. It\u2019s just about impossible to imagine a creature as perfectly alive in it\u2019s own body, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n He smiled and nodded.<\/p>\n I was going to move on but I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you remember anything that made you feel as alive in your body as fetch does to this dog? For me I think it was playing hockey as a boy. It was like being free of from the limitations of my body, almost from gravity, and I loved it so much that I would play for hours and hours and hours, finally walking home in my skates with frozen feet.\u201d<\/p>\n