A Cellarful of Nose - Future Shoes

Inside the Canine Head
Every dog owner wonders what it would be like inside a
dog's head. But I, and I almost alone among our species, have
actually had that experience.
Over the holidays, my son's school held a fundraiser at a
local bakery. All profits from that day's sales went to the school.
To lure traffic in, human volunteers were asked to dress up in
semi-realistic animal costumes and parade around outside the
bakery.
You know how it is: when you see someone dressed up in an
animal suit, you just want to whip out your checkbook. The last
thing you would do is cross the street to avoid the person/animal.
I was volunteered for this operation ("We thought you would
be perfect for public humiliation," one of the moms told me, like
it was a funny joke), and the suit I was given was of a husky dog,
possibly a Samoyed.
It was a very good suit. The fur looked real, and the head,
though oversized, was naturalistic. No sooner did I slip the
enormous outer head over my inner one, and peered out the gauze
eye-windows, than I felt different. Not just unable to breathe. No,
it went deeper than that. I began to feel like the creature I was
portraying. Not a real dog exactly, more like the iconic figure of a
dog. Scruffy. Barky. The soul of a dog.
It was a slushy day, and it had begun to snow when I slunk
out to my appointed post along Summit Avenue. Altogether I
spent two hours on the corner, and in that period I went through a
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