The flames were rising higher behind the dog’s back.
Smoke was filling the entire room.
The glass had become a wall of fire between life and death.
The dog kept striking the glass with his paws, leaving desperate marks on the burning surface.
His eyes were filled with fear.
Time was running out.
The old man looked around.
People were screaming.
No one was stepping forward.
On the ground, near the fence, he noticed a long wooden stick.
He picked it up.
His hands were shaking.
Not because of his age.
But because of the weight of the decision he was about to make.
“Don’t!” someone shouted from the crowd.
“It’s too dangerous!”
But he couldn’t hear them anymore.
He raised the stick and hit the glass with all his strength.
Once.
The glass trembled.
A second time.
A deep crack spread across it.
The third time —
the glass shattered with a loud explosion.
A wave of smoke and heat burst outward. The flames roared inside like a violent storm.
But he didn’t step back.
Using the stick, he pushed away the sharp pieces of broken glass and reached his hand inside.
“Come! Come!” he shouted, his voice shaking.
The terrified dog leaped toward the opening.
The old man grabbed him with all the strength he had left and pulled back, away from the flames.
The crowd erupted into screams and tears.
Some people stood frozen, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
The old man sank to the ground, holding the ash-covered dog tightly in his arms.
Both of them were trembling.
But both of them were alive.
After a few seconds…
the dog slowly lifted his head and gently wagged his tail.
And on the old man’s face, a small smile appeared.
The house could burn.
The walls could collapse.
But what he did that day would last longer than any fire.
Because sometimes…
a simple wooden stick in the hands of a man with a big heart
becomes the strongest weapon against fate.