Rainbow

And what happened even before the rain ended? The sun began shining. When that happens, you need to look for rainbows, and that is exactly what we did.

With my back toward the sun I looked up. There, in front of me, shining like bright ribbons strung across the sky, hanged a perfect rainbow.

"Red Dog," I whispered breathlessly, look!

Red Dog glanced in every direction, then into my face. He seemed to be asking what I was seeing.

"Don't you see the rainbow?" I asked. "Look!"

Again Red Dog searched in every direction. However, still he acted as if nothing in the sky seemed very special.

Finally I remembered. Once, long ago, I read something in a book that even then made me sad. It said:

"Dogs do not see colors. For all practical purposes they are colorblind."

"Red Dog," I said, with great sadness in my voice, "I'm sorry that you do not see this rainbow, for beholding it fills me with a kind of joy I would like to share with you... "

When Red Dog heard the sadness in my voice, he also became sad. He leaned against my leg and gently licked my hand. He was saying that he felt the same way I did, even though he did not understand what was wrong.

"Red Dog," I said, feeling much better, "to you my voice is like a rainbow, and you hear every color in it."

I laughed and the rainbow grew brighter. Hearing my laughter, Red Dog's eyes became cheerful again, and themselves became like rainbows.