Season of the Stray

The hat was ridiculous — a neon Padres cap his father had worn to every game for thirty years, sweat-stained and smelling of stale tobacco. Matt stood before the mirror, adjusting it on his head, wondering why he'd agreed to coach youth baseball when he couldn't even keep his own marriage together.

"You're doing it for Mikey," Elena had said during their last conversation at the coffee shop, pushing an orange toward him across the table. "He needs stability."

The orange had sat there, bright and accusing, while they discussed custody schedules and therapy appointments like they were reviewing a quarterly report. Now, three months later, Matt's living room was half-empty, his weekends were measured in baseball innings, and his diet consisted mostly of takeout and whatever fruit looked least depressed at the grocery store.

Which is how he found himself eating a papaya at 11 PM on a Tuesday, standing at the kitchen counter in his ridiculous hat, watching a stray dog sniff at his fence line through the window. The papaya was supposed to be exotic, adventurous — something his younger self would have appreciated. Instead, it tasted like compromise.

"Hey," he called, pushing open the back door.

The dog — some mix of terrier and something else that had seen better days — stopped sniffing and looked at him. One ear stood up, the other flopped down. Its fur was matted with burrs, and it was thin enough that Matt could count its ribs from the porch.

Matt set the papaya on the ground and stepped back.

The dog approached cautiously, nose working, then devoured the fruit in three messy bites. When it looked up again, its tail gave a small, tentative wag.

"Yeah," Matt said, surprising himself. "I know exactly how you feel."

Inside, his phone buzzed. A text from Elena: Mikey's game at 3 Saturday. Can you make it?

Matt watched the dog lick the last of the papaya from its jowls. He'd pick up dog food tomorrow. Maybe eventually give the creature a name. For now, they were both just getting by, one strange meal at a time.