A Strange Shadow

A few days ago, Diamond and I were on our daily walk enjoying the early evening breeze and lengthening shadows. The sun was low on the horizon ahead and to the right of us, casting our elongated shadows slightly behind us, to our left.

I was gazing at the sky and deepening green on the trees lining the road, when Diamond began slightly pulling on her leash. I glanced down at her to see that she was looking back over her right shoulder. Thinking about the bicycle race we had encountered the week-end before while walking, I immediately thought that she must be looking for bicyclers coming up on us from behind. I tugged on her leash, gently scolded her, and got her back into a heel position, giving her a treat for obeying my command.

We walked on a few more steps when she looked back again. I glanced back to my left, where she was at her station beside me, about to scold her again for not behaving correctly. I was startled to see a third shadow on the road behind us. I wheeled around to see who was following us, seeing nothing but empty road. There was no one there. Diamond continued to look back, as if she could see something.
I re-checked our shadows, and the third shadow was gone. Now, I joined Diamond in looking back behind us every few steps. What could have caused the third shadow? What could Diamond see that I couldn’t?

As we continued our walk, Diamond calmed down and began paying more attention to the road ahead. My thoughts wandered to thoughts of guardian angels, ghosts, and other explanations for an additional shadow on the road with ours. I decided that something, or someone, was following us and got caught by the sunshine. When I related this event to a friend of mine, she suggested that it might have been one of my parents watching over me that afternoon.

I don’t know who or what it was, and have no good explanations. I do know what I saw, and it was, indeed, a shadow that didn’t belong to either Diamond or me. I might have thought it was all in my imagination if Diamond hadn’t been acting the way she was, looking back and putting tension on her leash as she kept turning her head to check the road behind us. I felt no fear, but instead a warm reassurance that we were not alone, and certainly not in any danger. Diamond never growled, barked, or moved into any defensive protective stances with me. Whatever it was, it simply caught her attention and curiosity, like the bicycle riders we had seen a few days earlier.

Those guardian angels need to be more careful about their shadows!