The Stray

The Stray

Walking slowly to the corner, the stray pup cocked his ear for any sounds, it seemed quiet. The men he sometimes met here were mean, so he was always careful to check first. They yelled and chased him away. All he wanted was food. Why did they care? They were throwing it away anyway.

He could smell food. There were dumpsters in this strange street and always many people going to the dumpsters. He had no idea why they threw food away, but if he could get some, before the angry men saw him, he would not have to go to sleep hungry again.

As he headed toward the smell, he suddenly realized there was a boy. Fear ran through his body, he stopped, waiting for the yelling to start. But the boy didn’t yell, not knowing what to do, he stood there. The boy looked right into his eyes, oddly, he felt powerless to run away.

“Are you hungry?” the boy said softly, slowly lowering something he had been holding in his lap. It was the food he had smelled. “Here, you can have this,” the boy said.

He didn’t know what to do. This human was different; humans had never spoken to him softly. He was curious about this tiny human. He slowly inched forward. When he got close enough, the boy reached out a hand and very softly touched him. It felt good, safe, it was his first human touch ever. Suddenly, he yearned to be with this special person.

“Would you like to live with me?” said the human. He didn’t know what the words meant, he just knew he wanted to stay, and protect this boy, this small, smiling, gentle, little human. And so he did, for the rest of a long happy life.