Sometimes he curled up in the grass.
Sometimes he sat upright.
Sometimes he slept peacefully with his nose resting between his paws.
He never approached me looking for food.
He never begged for attention.
He simply stayed near Caleb.
Eventually, I started bringing dog treats in my purse.
He accepted them cautiously.
“You’re getting expensive,” I told him one morning.
His tail tapped the grass once.
That tiny movement stayed with me for the rest of the day.
Still, his presence bothered
me in a way I couldn’t explain.
Not because I disliked him.
Quite the opposite.
I had started looking for him every Sunday.
What unsettled me was how deliberate his behavior seemed.
The cemetery was enormous.
Hundreds of graves stretched across several sections.
Families came and went.