What do animals really think?
Nobody—no body! Absolutely no one knows what animals think. Knows. Or cares.
A cat? A horse? A dog? What do they know anyhow? We take them for granted. They’re dumb! They are just plain dumb Animals. Aren’t they?
How dumb is Dumb? I don’t know.
Instinct? Yes, they have instinct. lt’s inborn. And learned by them, so, they’re not really dumb. Are they?
No. The point of this is that we know nothing. Absolutely!
We know what they do. We know what they can do. What we don’t know is: what is it they do know?
Could they just be “sleepers,” watching us? Watching us do stupid things. And waiting?
We teach them things. We teach our kids things, too, but our kids have voices. Yes, animals have voices, too. We just haven’t figured out what they say. They can’t talk, we say. They can, I guess, but we’re not able to interpret what they say. (What if we could?)
Sometimes, I think I can. Just the other day, I think my cat said to our dog, “Look at that big jerk!” (Me!) “He thinks we really like all that crap he puts in our bowls.” And the dog said, “Humans must think we’re pleased no end with that slop. The grizzle and crumbly dead skin in those dirty dishes are enough to choke a hog right there on the floor. If they only knew what we really know and can’t tell them!” “Yeah!,” the cat said. “Even those ants over there in the corner don’t seem to like that stuff either!”
Thing is, animals are watching us humans all the time. Just waiting for that one false step. One day… just that one… And then, who’ll be the boss?
As for me personally, I think all the animals in this world that we take for granted are former us’s in another life. So be good to your pets. The next ass you see might well be… related?
—Richard Greene, Warren Avenue
