Refracted Neurons

Picture taken by Patrick Denker, Source:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma-ponterotto01.jpg Sara spotted them next to the Ponte Rotto, two dark spots against the sheen of the Tiber.  “I wish people wouldn’t dump their trash in the wa - “ Lieto, her retriever mix yanked the leash from her hand.  He entered the water with a clumsy glee, leash trailing him like a balloon’s string.  “Bad puppy!” Sara called after him, “Lieto, come!” Ignoring her, the dog paddled out to the debris.  It wasn’t until Lieto turned towards her, a scrap of cloth in his mouth, that Sara realized it wasn’t trash.  “Is that a baby?”  The closer Lieto drew to the stone walkway, the more Sara was certain.  It was an infant, swaddled in white cloth.  Sara’s mouth ran dry with dread.  There was no way that the baby was alive, it was too still, eyes closed, lips parted, hands unclenched.  Sara flinched as Lieto sent a spray of water in her direction.  When she looked again, the dog had gone, swim

I’ve been perpetually annoyed by the lack of sidewalks by the Northgate Executive Centers.  There is no place to walk except through the parking lot.  I’m not even really sure what an Executive Center is, except that it makes me think of men in crisp shirts with ties so tight, they are like sateen nooses; and women in power suits and heels, their hair coiffed into something so stiff, it's more helmet than hair. But that's another story entirely.  The point is (if I have one) that my doctor’s office is at the end of this cul-de-sac.  Today as I was mentally grumbling about the lack of sidewalks, I happened upon this: For a moment I thought it was a prosthetic, then I saw the post.  It’s a mannequin hand!    The Executive Center snuggles up to one of the oldest malls in North America: Northgate (or Orthgat as the sign read at one point) Mall.  This mall has struggled about as much as any, but not spectacularly.  That was anyway, until the announcement of the Transit Ce