Sticking Close to Alice

Alice came back to me after a week away. Said she went to Boston and the "Cape and Islands". I sniffed her all over. Whiffs of clam chowder, Dunkin' Donuts, and sea water. I sniffed her new bright green hat with a big "B" on it. Not sure what that means. She said it had something to do with socks? Red socks?

Here is what she saw her first morning there. Bright morning sun hitting the tall buildings across a harbor. She said I would have liked sniffing around a brick patio there after a morning snack - but it was a bit cold and damp. I'd have needed a blanket to curl up upon.

She left from that same place a week later yesterday. Security was tough at the airport. She realized it was close to 9/11. No one smiled at the Boston/Logan TSA security check.

A few days ago the Boston Globe had an item about the new memorial to 9/11 at Logan. A steel box, walls of flippy glass, ceiling of suspended shards of glass, inside two tall panels with the names of those murdered on the two planes which left Logan direct to the New York Twin Towers.

My furry relative, Pika, heard a something zoom by her apartment on the Potomac River. She barked when it hit the Pentagon. I remember sitting with my first forever person that day as we all watched the TV and the towers came down and the fires raged.

The morning photo makes Alice think of 9/11. And, also that under all those new tall buildings, Benjamin Franklin was born, Paul Revere had his shop, and lots of other real patriots worked, thought and dreamed. I think I know what they would think about if they were alive tomorrow. I don't think they would dwell on any anniversaries. Instead they would marvel at what "their" harbor looks like today. They would want to zip up and down elevators in the tallest buildings and take off in the fastest jet to see the what's what.