Your Messenger message:

"Dear Tito Tony,

"May I bother you with a dream question? My beloved puppy ____ ran out of our compound yesterday afternoon and is nowhere to be found in the bgy.

"Last night I dreamt that she came back as soon as I came home (I am in Manila now studying for an exam tonight) but was wet. I attributed this to the stream that runs next to our house.

"This morning we heard that she was seen running frantically deep in the bgy yesterday

"Thank you in advance, Tito "

My reply:

Hello ________!

Your dream is not precognitive, it is a wish-fulfillment dream.

Disseminate the photo you sent me, but change the words to "LOST DOG" or "NAWAWALANG ASO" with your contact numbers. The words "____, COME BACK!" addresses the dog and not the viewers. Such subtlety is lost on atchays.

In my mind's eye I see the dog being coddled by two children and one man who is considering breeding dogs. Let us hope that your posters eventually bring the dog home, with the assistance of barangay personnel, as they always do in Larry Levinson melodramas.

On one hand, dogs who escape might be unhappy and desire to be elsewhere (something I seriously doubt because you love your pets and treat them like fellow human beings). On the other, they are supposed to know how to find their way home, and therefore must be in others' possession.