Ghost is delighted! He leans into Mulcahy's hand.

"Yeah, seems so," Snakes says. "There were a whole bunch of 'em around in the fall. Some of them decided to stick around people and they stayed after the rest of 'em moved on." He smiles a bit. "I've never met any animals like them. They seem to have human-level intelligence. Ghost is real good, yeah. No need for a leash."

Then he frowns a bit as the rest of those statements process. "What kind of a place were you in that didn't have animals?"