Droopy

Walk location: neighborhood
Skies: overcast with rainy mix of sleet
Temperature: 29 degrees
Steps: 2300
iPod: Jonathan Kellerman's Bones

It is a droopy morning. There is little wind so the icy spatter falling from sullen skies exacerbates the stillness of the morning. The trees which have remaining leaves stand still, their latent foliage drooping in the cold sleet. As I walk in the elements of the day I, too, pull my appendages toward my center. My shoulders are rounded, my hat-covered head watching the frozen streets to avoid falling. Even Gizmo, my faithful walking companion, is droopy, his tail plastered against his body, not its normally assertively curled posture. His ears droop downward, his pace consistent and his disposition steeled against the weather. Most days he is eager to sniff every telephone pole, every water hydrant, but today his focus is upon completion.