In my childhood, I committed horrible “crimes” with my little companions. In retrospect, I can see how mischievous we were.

When I was in primary school, I hung out with my playmates a lot. A normal Friday afternoon would see us get together in our yard. At one rendezvous, one day we found a helpless but adorable puppy lying there all alone. We could not help petting it. After comparing notes, we decided to adopt it since no one came and claimed it. Obviously, it was abandoned.

First, we found a cardboard box and fetched some old clothes from our homes. Then we lined the box with the material to make a kennel for our puppy. After we settled it in, we decided to put the dog home on the rooftop of our tower block, since all our parents adopted a no-pet-indoors policy.

First thing after school every day, we ascended the staircase to the rooftop to check on our puppy. We would take some bread and milk to it. After a few days, we gave it a name, Alan. Showered with our care and love, Alan became a bit stronger and started to respond to us with his eyes and tail. The little tail wagged merrily whenever we turned up. Time with Alan was heavenly.

One day when I came up to meet Alan on the rooftop, he was nowhere to be found. Upon inquiry, my mates sadly told me that Alan had died. I could not believe it. My friends took me to a corner of our yard, where the poor creature was lying motionless in the box, dead. We all shed many a tear and felt sorry about it. It turned out that Alan had dropped off the roof to his death while we were away at school. We felt great repentance. We should not have kept Alan on the rooftop in the first place.

The next day, after paying the pet our last respects, we dug a hole and buried Alan in a grove at the neighbourhood. For years my companions and I visited Alan’s grave on Qingming. We even burnt his favourite bones for Alan. At the little service, we reminisced about him. Grief could not be wiped off our hearts.

Had we not adopted Alan, he could not have died in our hands. Had we not put his provisional home at that high place, Alan would not have fallen down to his death.

Sorry, Alan.