Chapter 4The Role I Played

He sent a string of four or five happy emojis. After replying with a "Good luck," I opened the group chat for dog owners who often played with Lucky. I invited them to bring their fur babies to Lucky's birthday party in 5 days.

The group cheered. But my thoughts were pulled by that help post. I refreshed the post from time to time, wanting to see how the OP was doing. Maybe because I also had an old dog at home, even though I knew a person likely wrote the post, I couldn't help but project it onto my own dog.

Sarah laughed loudly. "Except for his age, what part of your Lucky is like an old dog?" "When he goes out to play, he runs faster than a two-year-old puppy. Energetic as a bull calf. Don't overthink it."

I was amused by her string of adjectives. Thinking, yeah. Lucky eats well and drinks well. When I asked him a few days ago how long he could still accompany me, he chose the "10 years" card. Dogs don't lie. Endless warmth surged in my heart. Clutching the new toy I bought for him, I wished I could fly home immediately.