Stray Dog Brings a Leaf to the Shop Daily. The Shop Owner Freezes When They Uncover the Reason

A stray dog named Buddy became a local legend for his peculiar habit. Every day, without fail, Buddy would walk up to the local corner shop, gently holding a single, crisp leaf in his mouth. The townspeople watched in amusement as he presented it to Mr. Jenkins (The Shop Owner), wagging his tail expectantly. Mr. Jenkins, always too busy to pay much mind, would shoo Buddy away, puzzled by the dog's actions but never giving it much thought.

It wasn't until a chance conversation with a customer that Mr. Jenkins discovered the heartwarming reason behind Buddy's daily offerings.

One day, when Buddy entered Mr. Jenkins’s shop, a customer who was just at the check-out, paying for his groceries, laughed at the sight of the dog carrying a leaf in its mouth. He mumbled something and then turned back to Mr. Jenkins to pay, but the shop owner was staring at him with wide eyes. “What did you just say?” he asked the customer.

The customer replied that he had heard this dog visited other shops in the neighborhood as well, and people were saying it was trying to trade the leaf for some food. Sadly, none of the shop owners ever gave it anything to eat since business wasn’t going well lately, and the dog always left hungry.

This got Mr. Jenkins thinking, and he decided to learn more about this dog. Up until now, he hadn’t really thought anything at all about it, but now, he was determined to find out its story. And by doing so, he would discover a shocking truth.

Why was Buddy bringing a leaf to shops in town? What did he want, and where did he come from? And what would Mr. Jenkins do upon discovering the truth?

Mr. Jenkins had already shooed Buddy away when the customer told him all of this, and he kind of regretted it. He realized that he had been so caught up in his work that he never really thought about what this poor dog wanted. He assumed that it was indeed hungry and looking for some food, as the customer had said. But soon, he would find out what was really going on.

After the customer paid and left the shop, Mr. Jenkins found himself in front of the shelves with animal food. He picked out some cans of dog food and a couple of cookies and placed them behind the counter. When Buddy came tomorrow, he would give him some food! He felt quite guilty for not having thought of this before, but better late than never, he told himself.

The next day, Mr. Jenkins opened his shop and greeted all the customers with his usual happy smiles and loud hellos. It was a very busy day, and he had kind of forgotten about Buddy in all the chaos. However, his ears immediately pointed when he heard someone say, “Ah, there he is again. Hi, Buddy!”

Mr. Jenkins glanced at the entrance door of his shop, and he was glad to see Buddy had returned. The dog slowly entered the shop, keeping its head down low, just above the ground. As usual, it was carrying a leaf. A little girl ran to it and petted it before her mom pulled her away and told her, “As soon as we get home, you’ll wash those dirty hands!”