Tuesday, April 30, 2013

YES!

I FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHO MY MURDERER IS!!!!!! :D I'm very happy. My screenplay has a chance of working now. :) k have a good day!

Monday, April 29, 2013

The odds are not in my favor :(

Well, I'm afraid the chances of me finishing this script by tomorrow died on Friday when I came home sick. :( But! I will give it my very best shot! Off to go work, work, work like a little writing elf. (Because anything elfy is just so awesome.) Have a nice day everyone!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

"I'm a poet," she said, and proceeded to show me.


“I’m a poet,” she said, and proceeded to show me.
Her eyes started to twinkle, pale silver on green.
“When I write, it’s like magic, with words as the wand.”
She smiled as she took the pen in her hand.
“I can do whatever I want with words, don’t you see?
I can make them form dancers, dogs, cats, or even just me.
If I could I’d just sit, all day and all night, and I’d write and I’d write. And I’d write, write, write, write!”
She made a swirl on the page in the shape of an A. Then she looked up at me and said,
“Now you may.”
She gave me the pen and stood by to see
As I took up the pen and waited on poetry.
“I can’t,” I say. “The words don’t come to me.”
“Oh just wait,” She replies. “Be patient, you’ll see.
They’ll dance a waltz, do a jig on the page of your mind.
Mixed, jumbled, scattered, all wrong, undesigned.
That’s what makes it a poem can’t you see, can’t you feel?
‘Tis for this reason only, that poetry’s real.
Though the words make no sense, with no point, no design,
In them’s emotions, rhythms and rhymes.
For though many will listen, and many will cheer,
There’s few with the poet’s heart needed to hear.”


Saturday, April 27, 2013

well at least I get to sleep a lot :)

Too sick to write much :/ I can't wait for tomorrow and the sunshine and seeing my niece and maybe feeling better! Last night was the worst. Today has been ok. Tomorrow will be better! I am super tired so I will write more tomorrow. Goodnight all. :)

Friday, April 26, 2013

Bday and Boom

So I just got home from a crazy birthday party with twenty screaming girls. I am very tired. My head is throbbing. There was a rat named Bill.

It was quite the night.

Just so ya know. More script writing is going on. Here's the random poem for the day:


Boom. Bam.
Bobbity blam blame
bloom for heaven till the rainmen scream and dream and
Day dances down the drain
Till me heart hoists heavenward to
Sing the rainbow song
Boom.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

What a wonderful day :)

What a wonderful day
Oh
What a beautiful existence that I'm living
Dance upon the fields of daytime dreamland
Running, running, RUNNING
Is it the sunny scope of the sky?
Or magic words of joy-just-jive
Glowin' in my angel eyes?
Oh hour of delight
Oh news that sets my spirit singing
Songs of once upon a time

The joy of my heart
Cries out from the deep
And I feel my soul breathe
Breathe

Breeeeathe

Take a sigh and take a journey
To a land of faraway
And I'll let my laughing childwings
Bear me up, up, UP today!
Forever I'll love
And forever I'll learn to trust again
Even when
My face falls flat and wonders why the world keeps spinning
On and on


Oh beautiful day. Oh news that warms my heart. Soon you'll be with me and I'll hear your laugh again.
It's been too long. Too many dusty years of tears and fears folded up and put away. But now. All of that's about to change.
I'm going back.
To a world I knew when me and you
Were young.

And in the echo of your laugh I see the sun.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Less than a week O.o

Time for sleep. Didn't get as much done on my script as I wanted to, but hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow! Thanking God for a great day :)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I remember when you waltzed into my life

I remember when you waltzed into my life
The way you talked to me it made me catch my breath
I remember when you laughed and called me beautiful
The way you made me wonder if the world could really be so wonderful
I remember the day that you turned my little realm of disbelief into a house of happiness
And nothing mattered but your smile
 
And I remember the day that it all changed
Your words of anger
 I wanted to hide away
And never show my face
The world seemed real again
In the worst way
 
As time went by I saw you smile again
I remember the day you sparked my heart with a glance my way
But I saw you fall beneath who you truly are
And it breaks my heart
The world became an ugly, heart-sore, lonely place again
 
But there are days when I still catch my breath when I see you smile
And I pray you'll find your way back home again
I remember feeling life take me by the hand and pull me away
Before the days of who did what and how and don't judge me where and when and shh don't tell and why say what you feel
When you can just walk away....

I don't know about you, but I didn't ever want to say goodbye

Monday, April 22, 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Here it comes. The late night phone call through a fountain of tears and jerking sobs of anger and confused bitterness.....

Please everyone: Keep Annalisa Miles in your thoughts and prayers. She is about to watch the tragedy of Downton Abbey unfold and she is going to be devastated lol. K, so I have like a thousand school projects and algebra 2 problems I'm supposed to be working on right now. So bye.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

April 20th

April 20th and the sun has set again
April 20th and another day has passed
The sky is dark
And its too late now
"Too late, too late," the night wind whispers to me
I feel the shivers down my spine
And I feel that old feeling creep into my mind
There's a door in the back of my heart I keep locked
Blocking out the dangerous thoughts
But somehow this one sneaks in again
Persistent, constant, time and time again
I pretend I can't feel
I pretend I don't see
But I can't keep it from getting to me
And my heart is heavy
April 20th

Friday, April 19, 2013

The saddest sadliness of all.....:(

So after a few months of writing every single day, yesterday, I forgot. :( I am very, very sad. But! I will keep writing every day from now on and hopefully I'll make it to the end of the year!!! 

Ok, so I'm still working on my script.  Only like ten more days until I have to have one hundred. Tis craycray. 


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Wise words from an inspirational rabbit

A wise little bunny once said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all." Unfortunately, that lesson is always accompanied by the memory of a forlorn young fawn, pitifully calling, "Mother?" over and over in the falling snow, and breaking your heart into a thousand tiny pieces.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Look at the World

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

~Philippians 4:8


Look at the world
What do you see?
A place for your consumption
Devouring
Greed
Look at the cracks in the pavement
Where grass once grew
New grass pure and green
You'll take from life
What you will
And leave a lowly legacy

Your mind once bright and beautiful
Now cowers in the dirt
Its longings are for worldly things
Reaping pleasure void of worth
Your heart is full of darkness and your soul is dead beneath your feet
But all you see is one more charm
To rape and eat and glean

The world rejects the beauty true
Found inside the hearts of good men
It seeks its own
And so do you
For you've lost all thought of higher things within

Good you pull into the dust
Raise evil on a throne of gold
And for a balm to ease the pain
Pension of lust 
You sell away your soul

Turn away from the darkness
Or turn away from life
You choose a fleeting ray of hollow joy
Over love and hope
And freedom good and bright

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
~Edmund Burke

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Still.... writing... this... script!

Made it to page 51 on my script! Only 49 to go! =D Hope everybody had a great weekend!

Why won't they do what they're supposed to?

Some stories become so real that you can't control them. I was so excited with my plot! It was going great. And then two of my characters decided to ruin it. Thanks a lot guys! They seem to have personalities and minds of their own and they keep disobeying me. Two of them decided that they were going to get along really well. I mean really well. Like they have this awesome chemistry. AND THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN. 
Now I have to fix this. Argh. Misbehaving characters are the worst and the best all at once. Anyways, I wrote like a gazillion pages on my script today so this is all for tonight. Goodnight! 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Sleeeeepy

Too tired
Can't think
Can't work
Can't talk

All I want is to slip away into dreamland
Have you ever been so tired that you couldn't sleep?
It hits you in a wave
And nothing feels real
Like this really random, weird poem that I'm writing at this very moment.

I'd appreciate it if you would forget you ever read this. Thanks. Happy Friday!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Interesting day....

Well ain't life interesting?

I'm still writing my script! Up to 25 pages so wish me luck!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Poem. It is kinda super randomly dark. Idk why, I had an awesome day! =D

Well, well
Now we come to it
The skeleton's tired of hiding in your closet
He's smiling for the world to see
You hide your face
You turn away
You slink into the depths of the world
But you cannot escape
You cannot outrun
He'll find you
Always

As long as the Secret to freedom eludes you
He'll be haunting at your side
So draw your map
And take up your torch
And let the Truth

Tell you what it may....


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

More randomness

OH dear! I was super close to not writing today! But I remembered just in time. I'm terribly sorry but I don't seem to have anything very interesting to say. I'm just sitting here chillin', drawing a self portrait and watching Psych. And its getting late and I'm soooooo tired. I am going to bed. Here's another random poem:


Oh my dear
Listen long and well and hear what's here to hear
Chances are you'll catch a drop of wisdom as it soars upon the wind
On wings of light and love and life and the beginning of the end
With your ears you may take in
But its there in your heart that beats within
You'll hear with your soul
And be free from all your sin

Monday, April 8, 2013

Poem Desperation before beddy bye :)

So.... I wrote 16 pages of a script today. Yeah I'm kind of done for the day. Plus, I still have to try to piece together a proof for algebra two. YAY! :D

K, so here is a random poem:


Blossoms pink
Grass growing green
The sun shines bright in my heart
Though the sky is gray
And at night I see starlight
Even when the rain is shining on the pavement

Sunday, April 7, 2013

First Draft of Memoir

“Knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowin’ wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair…."
 
~Knee Deep, Zac Brown Band

 
I remember the first time I felt absolute, total, complete, unconstrained freedom.

It was the sweet heart of summertime, and the most gloriously beautiful four days that Cannon Beach has ever seen or ever will see as far as I’m concerned. We packed up the car and drove off into the rising sun with the windows down and the radio up, our smiles wide and our souls flying like sparrows released from a cage.

Fifteen had been a hard year for me. I imagine it’s tough for everyone as a freshie, but I wasn’t just a freshie. I was a completely naïve, totally sheltered, home-schooled-until-high-school freshie. I’d never been in school “like normal kids” before, and all year I’d felt myself torn between my new world and my old. I desperately wanted to belong to both, but when it was clear the old world no longer wanted me, I turned regretfully to the new. I liked my new life, but I missed the things I’d never had and always wanted. My new friends were something I wasn’t used to. For the first time the people around me seemed to genuinely care about me without my having to prove myself worthy. It wasn’t until August going into my sophomore year that I decided to throw away all the hurt and pain and lies that had been building up inside me over the past fourteen months, and choose to remember who I really was: not perfect, never going to be perfect, but accepted and forgiven by grace.

After cutting almost all ties with the people I’d so hopelessly wanted to be accepted by, I felt new. I was me, but a different me. A me ready to face the world with a hopeful heart and a carefree spirit.

The first step I took was setting out to leave my worries and troubles behind me. My sister and my friend and I went on a getaway to my happiest place on earth: Cannon Beach.As we drove into the little shore town and the blue waves became visible over the crest of the last hill, my summer song crooned across the radio, carrying a message of simple contentment and total freedom.


Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair....


Those four blissful days were some of the happiest of my life. For me there will always be something magical about the ocean. Its power allures me, its beauty thrills me, and its Maker amazes me. I remember dancing on the sand with the salty sea wind whipping through my hair and the sound of my friend and sister’s laughter ringing loud and clear. They were laughing at me, my sister and Rachel, and I laughed with them. I didn’t mind.


Because I was free.


These few years later I’ve realized something about the four days in August. They weren’t my first days of freedom because I was away from home without my parents with the ability to eat pizza for every meal, sleep until two, go star tripping and sit staring at the sea for hours on end. They were my first days of freedom because for the first time in my life I knew who I was and I knew it was my choice to become that person. I believed for myself, not because anyone told me to, or because it was just what I’d always done and accepted as the truth. My soul was alive again after being lost and dead.
And when I remember those days I think to myself....
 
 
 
I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

323


My Nurse’s voice draws me out of my reverie. I look up at her and see that she is smiling, but her eyes are red and wet. Why? Tears… what do tears mean? I don’t understand them. I remember them, but I don’t know how. I can’t remember ever crying. In the dream, She is always crying. That must be how I can remember.

 I want to understand and I want to help. But how can I with no words to say and no functioning brain to comprehend? I use the one thing I can control: my body, my muscles and limbs and nerves. I reach out to her and take her hand. She looks at me and starts to cry harder.

Great. Somehow I’ve managed to make the situation worse.

  “Oh Max, somewhere in there you’ve got a personality, don’t you? You understand me somehow. I know you do. There has to be a better way for you. A better place.”

She sits down on the pillow on the floor. Its white, like everything else, and soft. Even my bed is soft all the way around. I know why. It’s because I used to bang into things. I had a chair once, and a table with a vase full of fresh flowers. But I broke them, and something red and warm spilled on the floor. After that, they took my chair away and put the pillow there. Other than the bed, the only things in room 323 are the pillow for My Nurse and the light, which is too high for me to reach. Everything is pristine and barren looking.  

 “I forgot a book tonight, so I’ll just tell you a story ok?” My Nurse murmurs in a voice that isn’t quite steady yet. I look at her and blink. I like stories, especially the ones My Nurse tells. “Once upon a time, in a land faraway, there lived a young man. He lived with lots of other people, in a white house.” She pauses and twirls her pale hair around her finger. “In the white house, the people all had problems. And the workers tried to help them. But the workers couldn’t understand what was wrong with some of the people. The young man was one of these. He looked strong and healthy, but he never spoke, and he didn’t seem to understand the workers. One of the workers was sure that he could understand some things, but the doctors didn’t think so, so they didn’t even want to help him. They didn’t want to help the lady down the hall either, or the older man in room 144. They don’t even try…” Her voice trails off and she sobs hard, burying her head in her lap.

Friday, April 5, 2013

323


The clock reads 3:23 a.m. and its faint green glow is the only light in the room. I can feel my muscles constricting still from the hours and hours of sleepless therapy strapped to that hard metal surface. The room had gotten so hot that my sweat sizzled on the table as it fell in slow drops off my neck.

But I couldn’t do it. No matter what they did I couldn’t speak. I could scream or yell if I wanted, but I’d forced myself not to do that either. It only gives Them more hope that They can find a way to force my brain to remember how to string words together and push them out of my throat.

As I lie now in the cool darkness of room 323, I doggedly wonder how many days I was in therapy this time. I’ve seen and done it all before, though I can’t remember the details. It might have been years ago for all I know. My arms and legs ache from lack of use. Hamilton explained that too me: by forcing me to stay absolutely still the tension inside me builds to a breaking point causing my vocal memory to return and enable me to speak.

In theory.

What ended up happening was that I broke the straps and the table and Reynolds got a black eye and Hamilton a split lip. Something worse happened to the other man….Stuart I think they called him. His face looked swollen and bloated and red. I felt bad. Stuart, like me, is under Their control. He might be a worker, but he’s really nothing more than a tool in Hamilton’s belt.

After that incident, They decided I’d had enough therapy for a while.

Room 323 is so cool and still that I can hear my own heartbeat. I can’t sleep in spite of my exhaustion, for few things scare me as much as the dream and can’t risk it coming tonight. Not tonight. Not after the past few days. I’m afraid to sleep for fear it will come.

I see shadows outside my door, and the key pad lights up green. A silhouette appears on the threshold, glaringly black against the glow of the hall lights.

  “Max, mind if I come in?” It’s My Nurse and she’s armed with juice and crackers. She flips on a small portable lamp, its soft glow revealing her cheerful smile. “So, here you are back from therapy!  I’ve missed you. Seems as if you’ve been gone forever, and yet not gone at all now that I see you back again. Here, drink up. Don’t mind if I have a bit too, do you? Didn’t think so.” She pauses to gulp down some juice out of a foam cup.  She hands me one and I taste the subtly sour-sweet red liquid.

  She prattles on. I try to listen, but my mind wanders, maybe because on some subconscious level I know she’s not really saying anything important anyway.

My thoughts drift, and I can feel myself forgetting again, losing sight of the last few days. Already the scenes in my head are growing foggy. I remember…. the dream. It’s all I can firmly grasp. Even the names I worked so hard to memorize are slipping away.

Ren something. And Ham. Ham…what? I can’t remember. Hamilton? I think. It’s fading fast. But always I remember the dream. I close my eyes and I see Her face. She’s calling but I can’t find her. I need to get Outside, to run free, to find the girl who never stops calling for me.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

323


  I stare directly into his eyes and my gaze radiates cold, steel stubbornness. He meets my stare and says to My Nurse, “Miss James, you’re excused. Please see to your other patients for now. Dr. Reynolds and I will call you if we need you.” He turns and smiles at her, long and slow.

 I was wondering how long it would take for him to get rid of her, my one ally.

My Nurse glances nervously between Hamilton and me, evident worry puckering on her pretty face.  Confused and agitated, her frighten eyes come to rest on me, hoping for a sign. Our eyes meet and I smile, softly this time, and my eyes send a message unspoken.

I’m not afraid.

She understands. Relaxing visibly, she nods and replies, “Alright. Thank you Doctor.”

With a last look at me, My Nurse slips through the door, the last ray of compassion in the room fading away. I’m on my own. But my eyes didn’t lie: I’m not afraid. Because nothing they can do to me will be any worse than what they’ve already done.

Just close your eyes


I’d wish you happy birthday if I could

But you’re gone

It’s too late

Eighteen was the last year you saw

And now I don’t know what to do.

I only know that every time he calls you baby brother

I feel tears start again

Though I hardly even knew you

I can’t forget that smile.

Do you ever wonder why bad things happen? Why the world can’t just be a happy place full of love and joy and perfect peace? It’s our fault, I know that. Us people we messed it up. But it never stops making me sad. Or grateful. I’m grateful that I have a Savior who died. Because of His love, someday I won’t have to be afraid anymore.

323


My smile works. It’s a good smile for this… cold and just a bit wild. It reminds him that I’m bigger than he is and stronger, and in his mind I’m psycho too. Reynolds falls silent and pale at the sight of it. Success. Now I’m in his head and I’ve scared him good. His throat is still red from where my hands nearly forced the life out of it an hour ago and he won’t forget that any time soon.

  This “Hamilton” is a bigger problem. I repeat the name over and over in my head, trying to force myself to remember it. Reynolds I can afford to forget, and My Nurse will always be there. But this man…something tells me he’s important to remember.

  “What’s your favorite color Max?” He asks me again in that deep rasping voice. “What’s your favorite color?”

No. I won’t play the game.

I stand motionless, forcing my feet to stay still.

“You can do it, dear. Just show him. You can do it.” My Nurse smiles at me encouragingly, her face alight with hope. I know what they want. They want me to point to something. But it won’t end there. There will be dozens of other tests and then needles and then strapping me to a table in a dark room and then pills and more pills and a light in the sky and a voice and questions and more questions and new pills and old pills and growing older and weaker and all the while I’ll still be a prisoner soul trapped in a voiceless body.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

323


For a few minutes there’s silence in the little glass-walled room. The older man plucks the last shards from my skin, cleans the wound and wraps it up. The three of them say nothing, and I can tell the younger two are waiting for something, though what I cannot tell.

After he finishes, the older man takes off his round spectacles and rubs them with a soft looking cloth. Restless from staying still so long, I shuffle my feet and rock back and forth. Still, he says nothing, but his eyes are on me.

  “Max,” His voice makes My Nurse and Dr. Reynolds jump, but it doesn’t startle me. Few things do. Surprisingly he talks directly to me, not across me like so many of Them do. “I want you to tell me something about yourself.”

Oh no. I’ve been here before and I’m not playing this game again, mister.

I can’t remember the details. I only know that it didn’t end well for me. It ended in room 323.

 “Tell me, your favorite color.”

 “Doctor he can’t        ”Reynolds starts.

  “Let him try. If what Miss James says is true, and this man has a working, thinking brain capable of understanding what I’m asking, then he’ll find a way to communicate with me.”

 My Nurse looks suddenly frightened, those doe-brown eyes growing wider in fear. “But Doctor Hamilton, surely you can’t base such an important matter on stakes like this. Max doesn’t always respond in the right way. After all, I’m not saying that his mind works as well as yours or mine or Dr. Reynolds. You can’t expect this of him.”

  “Miss James, I want to monitor his response.” She opens her mouth again, but closes it as his stern gaze falls on her. She can’t help me out of this.

I swallow. I’ve been through this before, but with different workers and different questions. They play it like a game. Ask me a question and dare me to find a way to tell them the answer without using words. Point to an object in the room, use my hands; when that didn’t work they even forced me to try to speak.

  “Come on Max. We’re waiting.” He says coldly. I realize that all this time I’ve been trying to decide whether or not I like this man. Now I know.

I don’t.

I stand unresponsive and silent. I have all day, all year, all my life. I’m in no hurry. Chances are I won’t even remember this encounter tomorrow. He on the other hand, has a full day dealing with all the Others like me, washing those tools of his, cleaning his glasses. He won’t wait forever, and the longer I do nothing, the less likely he’ll be to play the game again.

  “Max, please.” My Nurse lays a gentle bare hand on my arm. The warmth of her touch is strange and foreign after countless months and years of latex gloves. I don’t look at her. She wants me to comply and if I look at her I might give in. She doesn’t understand. The only way to win the game is not to play.

 “Come on Max, why don’t you just do it so we can all go home. We’ll take you back to 323 and I’ll lock you in myself.” Reynolds smiles sardonically. “Oh, and then we’ll know your favorite color so we can help you redecorate.” He adds.

I say nothing. Somewhere deep down I remember faces and voices like his. He’s the sort of man who thinks himself above me and everyone like me. He has no compassion, not because he’s a bad man, but because he hasn’t learned how to become a good man. I know how to beat him.

I smile.

Because if I’m outnumbered and I can’t be stronger, I can at least be creepier.

Monday, April 1, 2013

323


“Well, Max, I’ve heard you’ve been having some problems with a few of my staff. Care to elaborate on that?” He sits in one of those rolling stools straight across from me and smiles. The bed I’m on is covered in paper that cracks and crinkles with every move I make.

I can’t answer him of course, and I know this so I don’t bother to make any feeble attempts. I only try to speak when it counts, and this doesn’t count at all. Why? Because he knows too. He knows I can’t answer. At least not in words anyway. So why ask me? Because in his eyes not only am I incapable of speech, I’m incapable of understanding. He’s wrong.  

  “Let’s have a look at you my friend. Miss James, won’t you assist Mr. Max in standing up. I’d like to examine him just a bit more closely.”

My Nurse nods and comes to my side. “Stand up Max. Come on, he just wants to look you over a little, make sure you’re alright. Everything’s going to be fine.” She smiles and I detect sincerity and concern for me in the subtle curve of her mouth. I stand up. The man looks me over, Reynolds still scowling at me from the corner.

 “I see you incurred an injury today.” He takes my arm in his hands, examining the skin. To my surprise, I look down and see red slashes dashing across my flesh. I remember the sound of breaking glass but nothing more. “How did this happen?”

  “Broke a vase full of flowers when he made his attack on me.” Reynolds says with a cynical twist of his mouth.

  “I see.” The low rasping voice comes again. The older man’s gloved fingers trace the outline of my wounds causing pain to shoot up my arm. He looks up at me, studying my reaction. “This fellow either has a very bad nerve system or a very high pain tolerance. Or maybe he’s been trained not to show weakness, like a Special Forces man as you suggested Doctor.” He pulls a pair of scissor-like metal prongs from a tray on the table and with them he begins extracting the glass shards from my arm. “He looks about the right age to be an ex-service man. Eh, probably a bit too young. There wasn’t any ID at all when he was first brought in?”

  “You oversaw the case, Dr. Hamilton. Remember, it was the couple who found him wandering outside their RV. There wasn’t anything linking him to anyone, anywhere.”

My Nurse speaks up, her soft brown eyes still fixed on me. “His face stays like that. No sign of pain, no sign of emotion. But there are times, rare it’s true, but there are times when he shows a great deal. A little before the incident with Dr. Reynolds I’d asked him to play on the piano in the hall downstairs. I had no idea he could play. He never has before. But it was beautiful, and not just a random assembly of notes either. It was a definite tune. Something from his memory. When he finished, he was in tears, Doctor.” She pulled her gaze away from me with the reluctance of a dog savoring an intriguing smell. “That kind of emotion doesn’t stem from someone with no working brain cells.”