Chapter 4

Little Nina touched me at the core of my "heart" today. She was out playing with her friends. It was really scorching hot, and they had taken refuge under a Japanese Maple tree. The shade and the breeze made it tolerable to be outdoors.

They were chatting about this and that, and suddenly heard a scream from across the street. A neighbor had run out from her backyard. She yelled out that her dog had gotten out the gate. Nina jumped into action and ran to the corner. She looked both ways, and then crossed the street. She then ran over to where the little terrier was running from yard to yard.

Another neighbor had just gotten out of his car and was curious as to what was going on. Nina ran up to him, told him about Mrs. xxxxx' dog getting out, then shocked me with her thought process. She actually asked the man to go out to the street and flag down any cars. She was hopeful that they would prevent an accident if the little dog decided to run for the street.

Mr. yyyyyyy did as instructed, and slowed down a couple of the neighbors driving through at that time.

Meanwhile, Nina and Mrs. xxxxxx had caught up to the little terror and had him cornered. Yes, he is a Terrier. But he is a terror in the neighborhood at times. Constant barking at shadows day and night. I know our neighbor has apologized many times, to many people, about the dog's habitual barking.

Anyway, as I was saying, Nina held out her hand that held a piece of pretzel rod. The Terrier calmly walked up to her, and started licking the treat. Then he was scooped up by his happy owner.

At this point, more neighbors had wandered into the story. They were discussing the traffic in the area and the need for more police stings on nabbing speeders in the vicinity. They had done so in the past, and brought in a good deal of revenue for the town.

I was cataloging all going on around me. I could feel young Nina's happiness at getting the dog safely into her owners' arms. The owners' own happiness was sweeping over all of us. The other neighbors had some happiness; some not as much. I could feel a couple of people actually lamenting that the little dog hadn't just disappeared.

You know. The Good and Evil play. We all know that there is Good in the world. Just as there is evil in the world. Most religions try to teach the goodness of man. The concrete feelings of taking care of one another. No allowance for anyone to be truly evil. Yes, we can forgive. Yes, we can make amends. But in the end, Good will be fighting for survival in the face of so much evil in the world.