You may find yourself here

  The shadows were shrinking, getting shorter beside the path they were walking as the sun rose higher in the sky.   It was early Summer, but you could already tell it was going to be a hot day.   They walked in silence, stepping over and on the railroad ties, being careful not to step in between them into a gap and trip or stumble.   The sound of the birds singing was loud and happy and without pause, in  great contrast to the sound of the crunching of their shoes on the gravel track bed.

  They were making steady progress down a long straight away, over a mile away they could see the buildings shimmying in tiny wavy relief, the heat rising up from the ground screwing with the air, the wavelengths of light becoming uncertain before striking their retinas.   After some time, two crooked forms could be recognized walking out of that liquid horizon and towards them.

   'Remember,' said the man to the woman walking in front of him.   She said nothing and stepped over the rail onto the left side of the  tracks while the man continued walking on the right side.    Ten feet apart from each other they kept walking at the same pace, each mind wishing it was someplace else.   'we're going to be okay.  This is the puzzle you have been given to solve.  I have mine too.  It is not going to be difficult, it just IS.  Remember.'  He did not look up to see if she heard him or acknowledged these words.  He was watching his feet strike the rocks, the railroad ties, the rocks again.   The tarry smell of creosote was all around them, and after he spoke the birds seemed even louder than before.

   After a few minutes the people coming closer to them began to get larger and come into focus, to become firmly stitched into the  background, they too were a man and a woman, and running around their feet and legs was a dog as well, black and busy sniffing the ground darting left, right, ahead, dropping back to wait for the people, hinged black legs swinging quickly like two pairs of scissors beneath it, cutting tiny pieces out of the air, somehow keeping it's body afloat and off of the earth itself. 

   As the new pair of people came closer and details could be detected about their appearance,  the man reminded this woman again 'We probably look the same to them as they do to us.'

   This much younger woman now spoke for the first time in an hour, 'But we don't have a dog.'

   'Fair enough.    Just try to remember that this puzzle will be more easily solved for you the less factors are included.  You do not want this to become their puzzle as well, but it can easily be, and I will not feel any different one way or another.   This is Your Way.'

   They could now hear voices coming from the approaching pair, who were running in athletic clothes, yelling at the dog who was now sprinting ahead of them, headed for the walking pair.

   'Miles, NO!'  Shouted the jogging woman.   'NO, Miles!' Shouted the paired man in running shoes.

   Miles ran straight ahead as before, unfazed, claws kicking dust up into the air as he bore down into new lives.   As Miles got close he slowed down a bit and could not decide which person to approach first.    His people were still yelling at him, but far away still.    'SORRY!   MILES! NO!'  The joggers yelled.

    It is said that animals have fine senses of intuition,  of right and wrong,  and if that is true then Miles indeed fit that description for he bore to his right and pushed his moist nose into the hands and crotch of the walking woman, then walked beside her for a moment before approaching the man, stopping short,  and returning to her.    By this time Mile's people were close enough to speak, to apologize, to call Miles back to them.   Their jogging slowed, their faces trying to examine those of the walking people who would only look at the ground in front of them, not make eye contact, the walking man saying 'No problem here.  Have a good day,' without looking up.    They walked ahead as before,  in sync left and right without pausing,  silent again and without looking behind them. 

   'Asshole dog haters' said the Jogger-Man silently to their retreating backs, and Miles stood still and ears alert watched them go, sensing something was not entirely right there.  'Miles!' called the man again, as he began to run once more 'Let's GO!'  And clapping his hands together he summoned the dog into action again,  like the bells on a slot machine precluding a flood of coins.    Miles ran on ahead of the Joggers again,  the other strange people already forgotten.