yoshi off the leash

You're walking the neighborhood pond with your mom and Yoshi, cattails along the path, ducks out on the water, the houses standing behind. She's right to insist on letting him off the leash, he bolts straight in and comes out gloriously muddy. You bathe him in the laundry room sink while she catches the photo that's hung framed for years, and then the zoomies, Yoshi tearing across the hardwood. It lives now as cypress, freshly-cut grass and milky black tea.