A motion-sensor chime went off: someone was at the door. I went to go retrieve the package-?
He’d been nicely groomed and you could see his sweet face. His tail was wagging happily at the sniffing all the new smells: roses! Holly bush! Azalea plants!
I walked to the front of the house to see if the little guy’s owners were coming right up behind–I know he’s always on leash when they’re on walks–but they were nowhere in sight.
He ran next door and that had to have been even more fun because they have a white dog about his size. Who was not coming out to play; when I called, he came back over to me.
Not the least bit skittish. He let me pet him. (So soft!) But I had no leash to help take him home.
And then he sat. And looked up at me. He seemed to be expecting something.
Would he let me pick him up? He would, quite happily, that tail and those big eyes and lashes looking up into my face as if he’d discovered his very bestest friend and I always thought he was cute but let me tell you, that little dog melted my heart right there. He didn’t wriggle nor try to get down, he was where he wanted to be.
Nobody answered the door at his house.
I finally stepped back a bit and saw that their gate was open. Mystery solved. I walked over there thinking I would put him down in there and quietly close it behind him, but a plumber was on the other side of the yard and I got glimpses of the neighbor on the other side of him.
I called out his name: Would he like his puppy back?
The two of them walked over towards me, chuckling, and the neighbor took up his small dog fondly into his arms and I had to let it go.