“My pet-sitting day ends around sunset, and it's very satisfying to know that I've made several living beings happy that day. That I left their food bowls sparkling clean and fresh water in their water bowls. That I brushed them so their coats shined, and played with them until all our hearts were beating faster. That I kissed them goodbye and left them with their tails wagging or flipping or at least raised in a happy kind of way. That's a heck of a lot more than any president, pope, prime minister, or potentate can say, and I wouldn't switch places with any of them.”

“Thanks," I say. Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.”

“Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.”

“I like flowers, I also like children, but I do not chop their heads off and keep them in bowls of water around the house.”

“I hoped my absence made them happy or at least made them forget that they weren't happy and never will be.”

“In the back of the fridge I checked out some stewed apples destined to fester. I examined them closely and reckoned they had only a day to go, even by my standards. I spooned the apples into tiny bowls, tossed in some dried fruit and sprinkled them with crumble topping. Delicious, they said that night, scraping the bowls so clean they hardly needed to go in the dishwasher. The fools.”