I did not want to speak.
I agreed anyway.
Sombra came with me wearing a plain blue collar.
He hated the microphone.
He loved the children.
At the front of the room, Dr. Morris showed two images with my permission.
The first was the photograph from the roadside.
A black dog curled beside the pavement.Shop Dog Food
The second had been taken that morning.
Sombra standing in sunlight outside the clinic.
Someone in the audience gasped.
Dr. Morris looked at me.
“Tell them what you thought when you first saw him.”
I held the microphone.
“I thought he was dead.”
The room went silent.
“Then his eyes moved.”
Sombra was sitting beside me.
I rested one hand on his shoulder.
“I used to think the biggest moment in his story was when I picked him up.”
I looked toward the old photograph.
“It wasn’t.”
Sombra leaned against my leg.
