When I went to the Mansion to do my weekly readings of poems and stories, the podiatrists were there, trimming nails and checking feet. Red lay down in front of Jean, Peggie and Alice, and all three of them gave him a back rub with their feet.

Red soaked it up, he was practically asleep. I read some poems from Shel Silverstein, re-read the Wonky Donky, and read from a new children’s book by John Gray about how God  Wanted A Puppy one day.

The readings were all a great hit. Giving a dog a foot back rub might seem like a small thing, but if you were there to see the faces of these women as they did it, you would see what I saw: the beauty and power of making a connection with an animal.

This is the response to loneliness and disconnection, letting the residents see, hear and touch other living things. What they miss the most are the small things, the dogs and cats and neighbors and friends.

Red has become a dear friend to the Mansion residents. They love seeing him, talking to him, touching to them. Almost everyone lining up to get their toenails trimmed gave Red a foot rub, and if he were a cat, he would have been purring.

They even liked my poems and stories.