"'Let's pretend you are my cowboy,' he said." -James Tate, from The Ghost Soldiers

Gone

As I was walking down the road, I noticed a lion, male, with full, brilliant mane and muscular haunches, walking among all the other pedestrians. Nobody seemed to notice. No alarm was raised. I walked as quickly and as quietly as I could to the next pedestrian walking in front of me. Lion I whispered. What the man said. Look at that lion I said. Can you believe it. The man looked at the lion for a moment. Well, yes, I suppose I do he said. His cell phone began ringing, so he put up an index finger to me, slowed his pace, and answered. I continued to follow the majestic creature, cautiously. It walked with a sort of sweeping motion, in perfect, unchanging pace, like a pendulum. It almost looked as if it wasn’t even touching the ground, like there was a very thin layer of air between paw and concrete, propelling him forward as smoothly as possible. I walked up to another pedestrian. What’s with the lion I said. The woman looked at me as if I were a lunatic. That lion she said, pointing at the lion. I nodded. That’s the new mayor. Haven’t you heard she said. Or are you not politically active. She looked disgusted with me. She was right, though. I wasn’t politically active. I had no idea that there was a new mayor that was a lion. So that’s mayor…I said. Plimbton she finished. She shook her head and walked faster, walking past the lion, and around the corner. I and the few other pedestrians, and the lion, caught the “no walk” light, and so we all stopped at the corner. My heart was racing. The only other time I had seen a lion was on a television safari show. I inched towards the lion. So, do I call you Mayor Plimbton, or King of the Jungle Plimbton I said, chuckling nervously. The lion looked up to my face, curled its lip, and emitted a low growl from its throat. I took a step back. Oh, no worries, I definitely voted for you I said. The lion opened its large mouth and let out a full-scale roar, and I could feel its hot breath against my face. I continued to back up until I bumped into another pedestrian. You never talk to the mayor he said. He’s great, though. Besides the fact that he’s generally not very personable, he’s really cleaned up these streets he said. I looked around. The streets were cleaner. I hadn’t been mugged once, on this walk. The “walk” light turned, and we all walked on, along with the lion, the new king of our town, and we were all very impressed.