It was Halloween night when I was a little third grader, and I was in the dimly lit living room, waiting for trick or treaters to stop by our house. I relaxed on our green couch sorting out my favorite candy from the bowl, Dots. I heard the trick or treaters outside scream, “Look what I got!” or, “Trick or Treat!” Whenever I opened the door to pass out candy, my dog, Smitty would attempt to escape from the house through the little space between the door and me. But every time, I would barricade that space between the door with my feet; so he wouldn't run away.

I carried the candy bowl as more trick or treaters knocked at our door. This time, there were a group of teenage boys who wore their sports jerseys as costumes. “Trick or Treat!” they chanted. As I pass out the candy to them, Smitty bolts out the door as if he were a robber escaping a bank. Shocked, I stood there like a rock. The teenagers were nice enough to chase after him. One boy stayed with me because I started to cry.

“There is no way they will get him now,” I thought, “He will be gone, and I’ll never see him again.”

As if he could read my mind, the guy said, “It’s gonna be ok. Your dog will be fine. I know these guys, and they are fast. Real fast. They’ll get your dog back!”

I perked up a bit. His words comforted me as we watched the chase from afar. We watched my fluffy white dog bounce around the streets in circles, which made us laugh. After what seemed like an hour, they still did not catch Smitty. They started to get tired, and I imagine my dog was too.

After a few more minutes, surprisingly, Smitty decided it was time to go home, and ran over to me. I picked him up, said thank you about a billion times to the nice guys, and walked home.

I was so grateful to the teenagers for spending their time helping me get my dog back, instead of trick-or-treating . And especially grateful to guy who helped a little girl while she was crying. And I was grateful to my dog, for coming back to me. Ever since that strange Halloween night, I never saw those boys again to say thank you, and Smitty hasn’t run away ever again.