During my first month in Africa, the principal took Oliver and me to visit one of the students' homes.
The heat was relentless, and the land stretched endlessly in every direction.
We had been walking for nearly twenty minutes when a dusty gray stray dog suddenly burst out from the grass beside the road. It bared its teeth at us.
Oliver screamed and jumped back several feet. The dog looked straight at me. For two long seconds, we just stared at each other. Then it turned around and disappeared into the bushes.
I froze in the middle of the road. My legs felt heavy.
The principal looked back and laughed gently. "It's okay. Just a village dog. It won't hurt you. Honestly, it's probably more afraid of you than you are of it."
I stood there and took another half minute to calm myself.
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