Neighbors

They are so majestic in the water, and even walking through the neighborhood they are beautiful, though there is something comical and incongruous about their walking down the street, the sidewalk, and through our neighbor's lawns, and cute is, of course, a better adjective for their fuzzy babies. We've seen this same family a number of times over the past couple of weeks, and are relieved and delighted to count still six babies between their parents. Last year the pair lost all but two of the babies, likely to predators, but it's a thought I cannot entertain as I watch them trundle off down the street, the babies plopping down to rest every now and then, anytime the impulse takes them, sitting so briefly that it seems almost like a mistake: "oh, you mean we aren't stopping here?"