WE WALK A lot. Weekends are all about walking now. We leave after breakfast and wander home after dark, Splinter my shadow, walking with the city crouched over our shoulders like Barad-dûr. I watched Lord of the Rings the second Saturday you were gone, and you were right. They were really long and a bit frightening. No worse than the news, though, or the house. I downloaded all three and watched them in one go. The sun was coming up when I finished so I slept late that Sunday. That was the first afternoon we really walked. Splinter was mad to get out, and once I got down to the river the idea of going back to the empty house and slept-in couch kept my legs walking away.

The next weekend I was more organized. We were up early. I packed snacks and a bottle of water for Splinter. We crisscrossed neighborhoods. When we came to a street or alley, we walked it. Moving further and further out—or in, depending on the direction we’d started in. We’ve been to the CBD: Splinter wasn’t a fan; Kensington: I liked the little houses; up and down the Maribyrnong with its riverside parks and crowds of people for maximum anonymity; West Footscray, Seddon and Yarraville are good places to blend in too, there are lots of kids. We’re learning all the streets. We quite like the river trail around Footscray but that’s best on rainy days, otherwise there’s too many cyclists on the bike path, and rainy days haven’t been that common.

So today we’re doing neighborhoods, up and down the streets. I like to look at the houses. Maybe like isn’t the right word. I wonder about them: how it would be to live in them. I like the imagining but not how it feels when I stop. I still look, though. I remind me of you when Splinter was still so puppy he tripped over his own paws and we’d pull-walk him through the hot streets after dinner. You’d point out all the things you liked. This door. Those flowers. And we’d imagine what we’d do to each house if it was ours. We’d do this every night, even though by the end of the walk you’d have frowned and gone quiet. By the time Splinter grew into his paws and could walk properly on the lead, you stayed home, mostly, and Splints and I were only allowed to go as far as the parks.