For two weeks the dog came to the hospital door. The staff couldn’t believe it when they found out the reason

Katya, a young nurse with fiery red hair and sparkling eyes, burst into the hospital waiting room. She was obviously excited about something.

— Anna Pavlovna! He’s here again!

The head of the department rubbed her temples tiredly. After a twenty-four-hour duty wanted only one thing — to drink a cup of coffee in silence, and here again these exciting stories.

— Who’s “he”? — she asked reluctantly.

— The dog! The dog! Black, with a white spot on his chest. He’s been coming and sitting outside the ward for two weeks now. Today he hasn’t left the door since this morning.

Anna Pavlovna wrinkled her nose. Of course, this was not the first time that stray animals had come to the hospital. Usually they were fed by the staff, but this story was clearly out of the ordinary.

— All right, let’s see him.

Going outside, the superintendent immediately noticed the dog. He sat on the pavement, stretched out his front paws, and stared fixedly at the windows of the second floor. It seemed as if he was waiting for something.

— Where had he been before? — she asked.

— Always here, at the entrance,” Katya shrugged. — The nurses and I tried to chase him away, but he’s stubborn. He won’t go anywhere.

Anna Pavlovna looked at the animal again. It, sensing her gaze, turned its head. In its eyes read not just devotion, but some desperate hope.

— Who is lying in the second building, in the ward with windows here?

Katya opened the clipboard.

— Pavel Andreyevich Loginov. Seventy-one years old. In serious condition after a stroke. No relatives, only a neighbor’s phone number in the documents.

The headmistress wondered. Could it be that this dog was somehow connected with the patient?

The solution came naturally.

— Call the neighbor. Find out if Pavel Andreevich had a dog.

Katya dialed the number. In a minute she was already listening to the confused voice of an elderly man.

— Yes, yes, he had a dog! Rex. Loyal as a shadow. Pavel picked him up off the street when he was a puppy,” the neighbor said. — And when Pavel was taken away by ambulance, the dog was in a bad way for a few days. Then suddenly he disappeared.

Katya covered the phone with her palm and whispered:

— It’s definitely him! The dog found him!

Anna Pavlovna felt a chill run down her spine. How long had this faithful friend roamed the streets, following the ambulance? How did he know that the owner was in this building?

The next day the dog was still sitting at the door. Then the superintendent, breaking the rules, sent an unspoken order to Katya.

— Have them bring him up to his room.

— But… This is a hospital!

— I know, — Anna Pavlovna smiled softly. — But if he has been looking for his master for so many days, how can we separate them?

When the staff carefully brought the dog into the room, Pavel Andreevich was still unconscious. But as soon as they put Rex next to him on the bed, a miracle happened. The dog whimpered softly, licked the trembling face of the owner’s hand … And at the same moment Pavel’s fingers trembled weakly.

— It’s incredible… — Katya whispered.

A few hours later he opened his eyes. The doctors were astonished — the prognosis was disappointing, but he came to his senses faster than could be expected. And when he saw who was lying next to him, his eyes filled with tears.

— Rex… You found me…

The dog wagged his tail and rubbed his nose in his palm.

After that Pavel Andrejevich quickly recovered. Doctors only shook their heads — they did not expect such a rapid recovery. Every day the dog came up to the ward and patiently lay next to him, and his master, stroking his fur, as if he was getting drunk with strength.

Two weeks later he was discharged. Leaving, Pavel Andreevich shook hands with Anna Pavlovna:

— Thank you. Not only for the treatment… but also for not leaving us without each other.

Anna Pavlovna only smiled.

Since then, passing by the hospital building, she sometimes saw the two of them: a gray-haired old man with a stick and a black dog with a white spot. They walked along the alley, not hurriedly, but always side by side, shoulder to shoulder.

And every time her heart was filled with a warm feeling.

Because now she knew for sure: true loyalty knows neither distance nor time.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)