The sun was about to set when Hiro decided to get out of the concrete stable he called a house and go for a walk. Tonight it was going to be the beach. He was very happy with himself to have thought of the beach. Usually on a night like this he would walk a couple of miles downtown, hanging around places populated only by junkies and people totally forgotten by the world (like N-sync fans and the like).

Yup. Now that he thought about it that was a great idea. The beach wasn't that far and it have been a while since he was there. No need for special preparation. Just going for a walk. Maybe do some thinking.

As a matter of fact the good old neurons started buzzing the moment he got out the door. Topic of discussion with the alter-ego: dinner. Boy that was a toughy. He couldn't decide between picking something on the way there from the street and having Bart give him something when he was back, as it usually happened. You could say Bart was Hiro's roommate but that's not exactly accurate. More like a companion and protector, though that sounds a little melodramatic. They were just two pals leaving together, taking care of each other. By the time he reached a decision he could hear the waves splashing against the rocks. The alter-ego had won, aided by the smell of pizza down an alley. The poor round delicacy didn't stand a chance against the hungry jaws of Hiro's appetite. It was over quickly ("didn't feel any pain", thought Hiro continuing his pointless line of thoughts).

Thinking while digesting is supposed to be more difficult due to blood concentrating on the stomach leaving the brain empty and alone. Still Hiro had the impression that his most genuine and worth-having thoughts were produced in a heavily digestive state. So he was quite optimistic about tonight's session.

What he was so eager to discuss was actually something deeper than his usual subjects of discussion. Deeper than the mind-boggling, everyday question of where to get dinner. It was about the point. The point. What was the point? What was the point of all of this. Of life.

Was it getting more knowledge? "If it is then that's it for me", he thought selfapprovingly. I have it all figured out (except perhaps some abnormalities on the hydrogen spectrum). The sky is blue. The see is blue. The ground is brown and most leaves are green most of the time. Perhaps he could better describe those entities in more precise woman colors --like violate or cyan-- but he admitted he was not that good at it.

Is it perhaps to survive and propagate? Perhaps. If it was that then he definitely was a winner. Hiro, the survivor. Hiro the guy who spawned more semi-exact genetic replicates of himself in a year than an amoeba on a wild night, in a pool of glucose. Done his duty.

Other alternative: Being good to everyone and help people as much as you can. Well. That must be the craziest thing he heard yet. That's what the jolly christian do-gooders are all about and we all know they are evil. No way. Have you ever seen a tiger feed a gazelle? (unless of course it's about to eat it, but I doubt the tiger is such a brilliant strategist).

Ok then. Got it down to two. Covered both ways. And then, suddenly, he paused his walk for a moment, looking like he was thinking really hard now. And that he did, only there must have been a short-circuit upstairs which had the practical effect of thinking too hard on a void thought. That lasted for about 5 seconds and when he came to, he looked like he had found the basic principle of cold fusion and was about to figure out the meaningless details. His mind was tired but his face was smiling. He was sure he had found a conclusion to the self-debated issue (how else could he explain that brain activity) but he couldn't just pinpoint what it was.

"That's ok". The important thing was that he had found it at one time. If he did it once he could do it again. Easy when you know how. "Man...". That was great. He has done what no other soul could. He found the point. He was so happy with himself. That surely made him better than everyone else. Now that he knew everything would change. He could make solid judgment pro and against other people having the certainty of being right. He could safely ignore what everyone else thought knowing that he already had the answer. He wouldn't have to thing about anything anymore since one day, after the sun had set, on a nearly deserted beach, he thought hard and found the answer everyone seeked.

What more can one expect from a dog. On the way back he tried to catch up to a speeding Porche to smell the hot tires and pissed on a phonebooth. Not unlike his happiness, he found it difficult to control his drool, which wasn't all that uncommon. When he got back home, Hiro ignored Bart who tried to force a plastic bawl of (otherwise delicious, if it hadn't been for the long departed pizza) dogfood around the vicinity of his mouth. "What a pathetic little human", Hiro said to himself as sat on his bed completely void of thought as he had formerly decided. Then a big stupid grin was pasted all over his face and never left since. It was the grin that said: "You might think what you want but I'm better than you and I know it".

So Hiro became a dog with a stupid smile on his face.