True IllusionAuthor(s): Alex EpsteinSource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Fall, 2008), p. 85Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20537012 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 04:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Iowa Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.147 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 04:56:12 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

True Illusion

This was just another one of those minor miracles that is forgotten in a moment, maybe so that it can happen again. The stoplight was

red. The old Labrador put a paw into the road. He dragged his legs

along, making heavy progress. "He's going to get run over!" screamed a girl who was walking

with her mother on the opposite sidewalk. She turned away with

an anguished look. She was six or seven years old. Her hands were

as slender and delicate as frost. She waited to hear the screeching of tires and the thud, but the dog reached the sidewalk without

injury.

Dragging her mother after her, the girl knelt at his side and buried

her hands in the fur at his neck. According to the harness circling the front of his body, this was a seeing eye dog. Maybe his owner

was old and couldn't take him out very often. Or his owner had

died, and the dog was guiding a ghost that could no longer sense

danger.

85

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.147 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 04:56:12 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions