Mikhail glanced at his watch for the hundredth time and exhaled irritably. Ten minutes. The damned train was already ten minutes late! And as it was, the day had been nothing short of a disaster.
First, there was that pompous client who backed out of an order at the last minute. «You see, we’ve had a discussion and decided to go a different route…» Right, a different route. Probably straight to the competitors. So much time wasted traveling to their suburban office.
Then his boss called. My God, had the man completely lost his mind? Yelling at the top of his lungs over some typo in a report…
And at home… Another round of boxing with reality awaited. The unpaid mortgage hung over him like a sword, and Lena, his Lena… Of course, she was right. But how could he explain that he was already stretched to his limits?
“Attention! A commuter train is arriving on Platform 1. Please be cautious…”
“Finally!” Mikhail grumbled, pushing his way through the crowd to board the train.
Collapsing into a seat by the window, he instinctively reached for his phone. He should call Lena, apologize for the morning… What was it this morning? An argument? A fight? Who even knew. It had just piled up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement. He turned his head and froze.
An enormous German Shepherd was climbing onto the seat next to him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Not just climbing — doing so with a dignity that suggested he commuted daily. The dog sat upright, straightened his back, and… stared out the window.
Mikhail blinked. Then blinked again.
«Hey, whose dog are you?»
He looked around, searching for the owner, but no one even glanced their way. As if it was perfectly normal for a huge Shepherd to ride the train like a seasoned passenger.
«Oh, you mean Bright?» a friendly voice said.
Mikhail turned. An elderly man in a worn leather jacket with gray mustache and kind, slightly sad eyes was smiling at him.
«He rides every day. To and fro. For the past two months now.»
«You mean… alone?» Mikhail’s eyebrows shot up. «Without an owner?»
The old man sighed heavily, and his smile turned sorrowful.
«His owner is gone.»
He paused, staring out the grimy train window before continuing.
«Sergey, my neighbor… A good man. Found this one,» he nodded at the dog, «as a month-old pup, right by the railway crossing. Can you imagine? Someone just dumped him…,” the old man’s voice took on a bitter edge. “But Sergey took him in. Raised him. And every day, Bright went with him to work — Sergey worked in a workshop at the station. Bright knew everyone there, was everyone’s favorite…»
As if hearing his name, the dog turned his head toward the old man, then gazed back out the window.
«And two months ago…» the man hesitated. «His heart. Right here, on the train. The doctors said it was instant. No suffering…»
Mikhail felt a lump rise in his throat. He looked at the dog — at his straight back, the profile sharp as if from an old coin, and the intelligent eyes fixed on the distance. Somewhere out there…
«And now Bright rides this route every day,» the old man shook his head. «I feed him, and so do others. Everyone knows him here. The inspectors don’t even ask for a ticket anymore.»
The train car fell silent, save for the rhythmic clatter of the wheels: clack-clack, clack-clack…
«You know,» the old man’s voice trembled slightly, «sometimes I think he just can’t believe it. That Sergey is gone. He rides this train every day, waiting. Hoping his owner will come back.»
Mikhail looked at the dog, and something shifted inside him. Something big and important that he seemed to have forgotten in the whirlwind of deadlines, mortgages, and office dramas.
He pulled out his phone and found his wife’s number. His finger hovered over the green call button…
«Lena? Sorry… for this morning. For everything… I love you, you hear? And you know…» he glanced at Bright, «I think we’re going to get a dog soon.»
Bright slowly turned his head, meeting his gaze. In those brown eyes was something… Wisdom? Understanding? Or maybe hope?
Outside the window, stations passed by, people hurried somewhere, the scenery changed. And time seemed to slow down, offering a moment to realize something simple yet profound — about loyalty, love, and the need to stop and truly see those who are close.
Lena’s reaction to the dog news was unexpectedly calm. She just looked at him strangely and asked:
«Misha, are you sure?»
For the first time in a long while, he realized — he was. Absolutely, crystal clear.
The next day, they went to the station together. Bright, as usual, was sitting by the train window. When Mikhail approached, the dog didn’t even turn his head — just glanced sideways and wagged his tail faintly.
«Hey, buddy,» Mikhail sat down next to him. «Meet Lena.»
And then something incredible happened. Bright slowly turned, looked at the woman, and… rested his head on her lap. Just like that, without hesitation. Lena gasped and gently stroked his soft ears.
«Wow…» she whispered. «He feels… like family.»
The elderly man with the gray mustache — his name was Pyotr Ilyich — helped with the paperwork. It turned out Bright even had a passport; Sergey had done everything properly.
The first days were… challenging. Bright seemed to be testing them — their strength, their loyalty, their willingness to embrace his story. He would sit by the window for hours. Sometimes he wandered the apartment at night, sniffing at something only he could sense.
One morning, Mikhail woke to a strange sound. Was someone… crying? He rushed to the hallway and froze.
Bright turned to him and, for the first time, licked his cheek. Then he padded off to the kitchen, where Lena was clattering dishes as she made breakfast. His walk was no longer cautious or sorrowful — it was confident, like someone who knew they were home.
Now Mikhail wakes up an hour earlier every day to walk Bright. The dog still often gazes out the window, but differently — calmly, contentedly.
And recently, Mikhail noticed Bright looking at him and Lena more often than out the window. In those brown eyes was no longer just a memory of the past, but a quiet joy in the present.
Spring burst into their lives suddenly — with lilacs on the windowsill, sunbeams on the walls, and… the news of a baby on the way. Lena mentioned it casually over breakfast.
«You know,» she laughed, «it’s like he understands! He follows me everywhere now. Even to the bathroom.»
Mikhail just shook his head, watching as Bright curled up by her feet whenever she sat down. Their wise Bright had taken on a new role — as guardian, not just of their love, but of the new life beginning to grow.
Last week, Pyotr Ilyich brought surprising news. In the workshop where Sergey had worked, they found an old photo album. In one yellowed picture with curled edges, a young man held a puppy in his arms. Bright, still just a baby.
Now… Bright sleeps by the crib. And sometimes, in the quiet before dawn, you can hear him sigh softly in his sleep — as if telling someone far away how beautifully everything has turned out. How right it all is.
