The boy squints in the mirror hoping to discover something irresistible. “If I half-blind the poor girls,” he reasons, “perhaps I’ll be gorgeous.”
Turning to his pooch he wonders. Does Rex look over his water dish at the passing dogs outside and pick out the pretty ones?
Is there in the lonely mind of a blue-tongued lizard the ideal of a handsome reptile?
Baboons, we have learned, ignore the face and go for the big red butt. Is there a mule on a hill that fancies himself a leg man? Do cheekbones quicken the heart of a lovestruck squirrel?
“My god,” sighs a wistful crow, eyes damp with tears of desire. “That one is so cruel, but *caw!* he is achingly beautiful.”
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