Then one day I left work early and took the long route home. That’s when I saw him duck behind the old hardware store. I followed from a distance and watched him unwrap a sandwich, break it in half, and place one piece beside a rusted dumpster. A bedraggled little dog crawled out, ribs visible, tail wagging with desperate gratitude. Theo fed him, gave him water, and talked to him like they were lifelong friends. The dog he later named Rusty.
I didn’t interrupt. That night, I quietly packed extra food in his lunch. And so their routine began — every afternoon after school, Theo would sneak behind the store, and Rusty would be waiting.
Then a teenage girl saw Theo feeding Rusty and posted a photo online. It went viral overnight, praised for showing the best of human kindness. The whole town buzzed about it, though Theo couldn’t have cared less. “Rusty doesn’t have Facebook, Mom,” he said. “He just wants lunch.”Continue reading…
