I don’t recognise the place where I grew up any more. The skyline has mutated and there are animals everywhere
At the beach down the road from my father’s house in Connecticut there is a goose standing on one leg near the water’s edge. It’s standing on one leg because it only has one foot. A man who lives adjacent has been feeding it, and my sister-in-law has gone home to get a dog bowl of water for it, but I wasn’t there for any of that.
I arrive later by paddleboard, with my sister, after we’ve paddled ourselves a long way up the river and back to the mouth, getting a good look at the mutating skyline of our home town. I don’t recognise the new buildings, and I can’t remember what was there before.