Long Walk Home

Date: 5/7/2026

The first part I remember, I am at a man made outdoor rink with a child that I am babysitting, I think it might be my friend Mia's kid. It is a hot summer day and it's ironic that we are skating on the ice. We are having a blast, skating around and having fun. We go off to the side, almost like it's a man made pool and there is a little beach around it and a weird group of three guys shows up, one has a peg leg. One of them connects with me and we are hitting it off but the kid I'm with wants to go so I say to the guy "here take my number if you want to connect again!" Now it's three girls and they have his phone and one of them is tall, skinny, and Asian and she is like ok what should I name you in his phone...and she is going through rude words that I can't remember. We were walking away at this point and I was like "forget about it, ugly!" Something really snappy and good and I felt extremely proud for not needing the validation of being in this guy's phone when he surrounded himself with people like that. As me and the kid are walking away Holly runs by with a pack of small dogs. Kind of wild outdoor summer vibes. She is with 3-5 other small dogs of different shapes and colours. I say to the kid that we have to try and stop her! We manage to get in the way of her running and grab her lease, now she can come with us. We begin to walk the long way home. This walk was extremely interesting...it's summer time and very hot and life outside is very alive. Kids are playing with hoses, animals are running around, groups of teens are hanging out and adults are barbequing and doing laundry. Very communal village vibes. At one point we have to pass through an apartment building or two and as we are walking through it it's like it's a whole village inside each building. People are living all together and there are so many cultures. Washing clothes in buckets, old men smoking and drinking, kids everywhere, it was colourful and alive. The kid turns into my old best friend Kirstie and we still have the dog, are going up and down stairs to get out. At one point I take a wrong door and there is a huge drop onto some rocks in the basement of the building. Holly goes over the edge and I try to lower her gently via her leash. She is ok and we get out just fine. Outside of the building Kirstie tells me how worldly I am and how brave I am to go into such different spaces. The end.