The other day I walked along the road to the far side of the island. Kio-chan, who I hardly recognized without his trademark red Hawaiian shirt and red cap on, could be seen in the distance being walked by his dog. When I approached him, he was huffing and puffing. "Kio-chan," I said, "I didn't know you had a dog."
"I don't," he gasped. "This is Man-chan's dog," he said referring to his best friend, who in a bit of role reversal, did not happen to be the dog. "I took the dog for him when he went into the hospital last year. I've still got it," he said referring to the fact that Man-chan has been out of the hospital for over a year now.
Kio-chan was wiping sweat from his brow with a white handkerchief. Man-chan's dog, more like a small vehicle, was tugging on Kio-chan's arm stretching it until it was longer than time.