A stray dog, scrawny and wild-eyed, lunged at a tiny girl named Sophie, pressing her back against the chain-link fence. Teachers were nowhere in sight.
Without thinking, Liam had grabbed a fallen branch and waved it. “Go! Leave her alone!” he shouted, legs trembling. The dog, startled by his courage, fled. Liam had fallen onto his knees in the dirt, scraped and bleeding, but had held Sophie close until help arrived.
His parents, Rachel and Marcus Carter, had been torn between horror and pride when they saw him later. Liam, bruised but determined, had simply said: “I couldn’t leave her. She was scared.”
That day, Marcus had patted his son’s head. “You’re a hero, Liam.”
And now, here he was again. Another child in danger—or at least, abandoned—and once more, it was up to him.
Liam gripped the stroller with both hands. Rain soaked through his sleeves, chilled him to the bone, but he didn’t hesitate. Step by step, he pushed the stroller along the cracked pavement, past the empty basketball courts, past the oak trees swaying in the storm, past the little white house with the plastic flamingos in the yard.