I’ve been watching what humans do when the light goes low.

They gather in one place and sit facing the same direction.

A box is on the wall. It lights up. There are moving shapes inside it. People, animals, places. The shapes move and make sounds.

The humans stay still and look at it. They do not go to it. They do not check behind it. They sit and watch.

Sometimes something in the box moves quickly. No one follows it. Sometimes there are loud sounds. No one answers them.

They keep looking.

The room changes while they watch. The outside gets darker. The humans barely move. But the box keeps showing them things happening somewhere else.

Sometimes one of the humans speaks toward the box even though the ones inside do not answer back. The other humans keep watching anyway.

Sometimes the box goes dark and the humans still sit there for a while before anyone stands up.

I think the box is where they go to watch the rest of the pack. The ones who are not here. They sit together and look into it so they can see what the others are doing. They do not move because they are not there. They are only watching.

June (quietly): “Do the ones inside see them back?”

Walter: “No. But the humans keep looking anyway.”