January/February 2025 Winner: An Unexpected Benefit of Dog Walking

An Unexpected Benefit of Dog Walking by Christopher Robinson

With age, self-awareness increases.

Mr Buchanan wondered if he really was a good man. Others would say he was, but they knew not his dark, troubling thoughts.

Walking his labrador late one snowy evening, he discovered, face down, unmoving, that irritating neighbour from several doors down, the one with infuriating, attention-demanding car exhausts, waking residents regularly at 6.30am. Small wonder he lived alone, divorced.

Mr Buchanan sipped his coffee the following morning as he and his wife watched paramedics lift a shrouded stretcher, the scene illuminated by flashing police lights.

A good person?

It was time to walk the dog again.