I’d walked past many times. Every time I did the dog was out in the yard.

He was big, looked mean, and barked his head off every time anyone passed. He had a lot of teeth, too.

I would always just walk by and ignore the thing.

I would never stick my hand into the gate. Or at least I shouldn’t have. It was a stupid action, and I’ve no idea why I did it in the first place.

But one day as I was walking by I was eating a sandwich. The Dog started barking at me. For the first time I stopped, turned, and faced the Dog.

For a moment he hesitated, then went back to barking and showing off those big teeth.

Then I stuck my hand, with the sandwich in it, through the fence.

The Dog looked at me for a moment, then grabbed the sandwich, gulped it down whole, and then licked my hand. His tail was wagging.

I kept walking. Three weeks later the dog was put down. The sad woman standing in the front yard told me. I asked why. Old age.

But still, he wagged his tail at me. That’s something, I guess.