Shengliver’s Note: The teen writer Yangming had an extraordinary canine buddy.

 

When I was 12 years old, I was transferred to a new junior high school, where I was a complete stranger. I had no friends there, also because I am a taciturn boy in nature. My only friend then was my pet dog, Black.

One day, I was walking the dog with my mother. We passed by a park and a school before we stopped by at a shopping centre, where we needed to get some necessities. At the place, there were such hordes of shoppers at the time that several guys even bumped into me. All of a sudden, my dog Black started to bark. Woof! Woof! While growling fiercely, he ran up to a man in front and seized him by the trouser leg.

“Oh no, Black!” I yelled. “What are you doing? Stop!” I was very much afraid that Black might hurt the guy.

Just at this moment, I saw my mobile phone in this guy’s hand. Right away, I delved into my pocket, but my device was no longer there. It turned out that the guy was a pickpocket. He had stolen my phone. Although I was oblivious of it, Black had witnessed everything.

So much paralysed was the guy that I had no trouble grabbing my phone back.

Thanks to Black, not only did I retrieve my phone but also became kind of a celebrity around the new neighbourhood. More and more schoolmates got to know me through my smart loyal animal friend. Therefore, I made lots of new friends.

Loneliness became a thing of the past. The credit, of course, belonged to my pet dog Black.