Homecoming, Tuesday afternoon
A white haired couple sitting on a South Hill front porch with a black and brown dog watched as a car pulled into the driveway.
They kept looking as a woman got out of the driver's side. Then a little girl emerged from the passenger side and went around the car toward the front of the house.
The dog, a medium-sized mixed breed (I'm guessing) saw the little girl and bolted off the porch. (Maybe the older couple released it.) The pet was going so fast, I thought it was going to knock the kid over. But just as the dog reached her it pulled up and refocused its energy on circling, shimmying, tail-wagging and jumping up to greet the returning student.
The little girl absent-mindedly put her hand down to pat the pooch, like I suspect she has done countless times before.
But this afternoon wasn't just any old day. This was the first day of school.
Dogs can't talk, of course. But maybe that's because sometimes they don't need to.
The little girl was home and now everything was all right again.
