Introducing ‘Animal’: Walnut

hey it's Michael today we have something. really special for you a blissful break. from the news it's a new series from nyt. audio called animal my colleague Sam. Anderson from the Times magazine. traveled the world to have encounters. with animals not to claim them or to. tame them but just to appreciate them. each episode is a journey to get closer. to a creature that Sam loves.

a bonus you can listen to this series. with your kids for the next 6 weeks. we'll be running this limited series. every Sunday here on the daily feed but. if you want to hear all the episodes. right now you can search for it wherever. you get your podcast today episode one. hope you like. it let me tell you a story about a. hole a big gaping black hole in the.

floor of my house. upstairs from the time when I climbed up. on a ladder to fix something in my. daughter's room and underneath me a. floorboard. cracked it opened up this freaky looking. Chasm about the size of a burrito but. like a big burrito a burrito stuffed. with pure Darkness.

I'm honestly scared of this hole and I. was supposed to fix it before something. bad happened but I kept putting it. off and. then something bad. [Music]. happened what happened. was our daughter's hamster mango escaped. from her cage and she didn't just climb.

under a blanket or hide in a corner she. went down into the hole into this. yawning Vortex of. Doom which means she entered the secret. infinite Maze of the inside of our very. old. house now mango was a fat little Golden. floof Ball not the kind of creature who. would survive long without fresh water. and. food we looked everywhere.

occasionally we thought we heard. rustling in a closet or under a dresser. and we'd shine our lights in there. nothing 24 hours passed 48 Hours passed. we tried to go on with our normal. routines but we all felt sad and on edge. it was like the whole house had a. toothache finally on the third day we. gave up.

we just had to swallow hard and accept. the fact that our sweet little mango. who'd been our daughter's 16th birthday. present who used to nibble fresh. raspberries right out of our fingers. sweet little mango had met her maker. somewhere deep in the walls and someday. there'd be a terrible smell or some Home. Improvement project would uncover her. tiny tragic. skeleton however.

when I say that we gave up on Mango I. should actually say that the humans in. our house gave up on her because late on. that third night when the rest of us. were all past hope a different golden. floofy creature came to the. rescue our dog. walnut walnut is a completely ridiculous. creature a purebred long-haired. miniature doxin with thick creamy fur.

like vanilla pudding and a tail so fancy. it should probably be on a tropical. fish he's spoiled and lazy and he spends. most of his time staring lovingly into. my eyes or napping in. sunbeams but during the mango crisis. while all the humans were busy. grieving Walnut suddenly took a break. from his napping and became obsessed. with a small patch of our living room.

wall he just stood there staring at it. pointing his long weener dog snout and. wiggling his. nose at first we ignored him because to. be honest walnut's nose is probably too. powerful for his own good so he ends up. fixated on the tiniest. things but he kept at it for hours he. looked at the wall from one side then. from the other side he cocked his head. and made little snorting noises until.

finally we got the. hint I took out my tools and. disassembled this ancient set of sliding. doors in the wall to expose a dark. cave we put an open peanut butter jar on. the floor as. bait and we all held our. breath a few minutes. later out St agged.

mango she was filthy covered with the. grime of the centuries probably starving. and dehydrated but she was. alive she looked like she'd climbed out. of her own grave which basically she had. we picked her up and dusted her off and. put her back in her. cage and we all showered Walnut with. extra love and praise and snuggles and. treats.

and then he went back to. [Music]. sleep we humans tend to think of. ourselves as Superior with our pants and. our phones and our. skyscrapers but I. believe I have always believed that. animals are basically. magic these creatures that are so. obviously not us but that exist right.

alongside us sleeping in our beds. munching grass on the side of the road. rattling their tails fearing us loving. us biting. us they enter worlds we never see they. sense things we can't detect like how. Walnut just by being Walnut rescued. mango in his lazy snuffly way he. performed a resurrection.

ction in fact Walnut himself came into. our lives as a sort of. Resurrection he was our second wiener. dog a very deliberate replacement of our. first whose name was. Mobi I'm not going to say too much about. Moby here because to be very honest I. will start weeping so hard it'll ruin. all of this nice audio. equipment but. basically Mobi was the greatest dog of.

my life in the most profound nonhuman. relationship I've ever had I loved him. so deeply that I became a. vegetarian my affection for this little. dog radiated out to cover the whole rest. of the animal. kingdom and I just thought that he and I. would be together. forever but of course that didn't. happen when Mobi turned 12 he got cancer.

and very suddenly died and it was a. complete. shock that first night in bed I reached. out for him just pure muscle memory and. there was nothing there and I broke down. sobbing at one point I found myself. petting a photograph of his. face I was also full of. Rage I wanted to burn down the Universe. I either wanted Mooby back back which I.

knew was impossible or I wanted nothing. no dog ever. again because life seemed to be some. kind of. scam a little shell game in which every. living thing secretly carried the pain. of its own. loss and I was determined never to fall. for it. again this is when my wife Sarah went. out and brought home waln. [Music].

he was from the same breeder as Mobi and. in fact the same bloodline a descendant. of Moby's father's brother's cousin or. something and walnut was outrageously. cute big eyed fuzzy clumsy strangers. gasped when they saw him in the street. friends threatened to steal him the rest. of my family needed 0er seconds to love. one.

completely but he was not. Moby he was a different color with long. fur instead of short he didn't cuddle in. bed like Moby didn't walk on his leash. like Moby he didn't make little huffing. noises while he mashed his forehead into. my. chest also Walnut barked at. everything and so for a long time I did. not love him.

but day by day Walnut wore down my. defenses he molded himself to my habits. and I molded myself to his and. eventually I accepted. him then I started to love him and today. it actually hurts me to say this but I. think I love Walnut as deeply as I loved. Mobi differently but as.

much which means that I have fallen yet. again like a total. sucker for the stupid trick of. life and. inevitably terrible pain is on its. way because Walnut just had a birthday. he turned 12 the age Mobi was when he. died the hair on his face has turned. white. [Music].

but the hair on my face has turned white. too I'm no longer soft and unsuspecting. and naive and not just because of. Mobi a few years ago out of nowhere my. father got a horrible illness and died. right before the global pandemic that. killed millions of other fathers and. mothers and sisters and. brothers every month now there seems to. be some new terrifying report about the.

decline of the whole. planet and so every morning as I drink. my coffee I run my fingers through. walnut's luscious fur and I think about. the fact that he will soon be. gone and then I think about the fact. that I too will be. gone as well all the other living things. on this planet that I've loved and. admired they'll also be. gone because we will all eventually slip.

into that great Cosmic hole in the floor. and there will be no Walnut to rescue. us and I have no idea what to do about. that. except pet my. dog which feels very. anchoring the truth is we are all. animals. we are born we grow up we grow hair we.

age some of us produce other animals and. they are born they grow up they watch us. lose our. hair eventually we all. die and we do all of this surrounded by. millions of other creatures human and. nonhuman who are each doing their. version of the same. thing that trajectory is set nothing we. can do about it but instead of just.

feeling sad or trying to burn down the. Universe I am choosing a different path. I've decided to go out into the world to. have a series of encounters with other. creatures animals who do not live in my. house not to claim them or tame them but. to do something much simpler to just be. near them to look into their eyes and. see what I can see right there right.

there they're all over well we're all. still here to see it they're. everywhere you got one wait what happens. if I put my fingers in that bottom cage. he will probably fight you to the Bone. to the Bone all right we got a loose. Parr really close to my. head is that your blood or it's blood I. think it's mine I guess what I'm asking. is for you to improvise a song about. rescuing Pufflings searching down in the.

darkness below for the puffet of my. soul something like. that from The New York Times I'm Sam. Anderson this is animal. [Music].

look at. him also I've still not fixed the hole. in the floor.