Breaking The Silence: Our Contribution to The Neighborhood

A young boy in our neighborhood has recently taken up bouncing and under-inflated basketball every day after school. Other than that, our 'hood is pretty quiet . . . until tonight. Tonight, Rufus decided to add his vocal talents to the sporadic bouncing of the ball. He took up barking like a maniac for the duration of the boy's play time. I am letting him participate in the fun so that he will deplete his energy stores and let us sleep without interruption tonight. Barking is quite a physical activity for Rufus, as all four of his paws go airborne and his tail flails with a mind of it's own. I gladly put up with his barking now, knowing that it means a peaceful night's sleep later.