**Diary Entry 12th March**
Ill take you to court! Your dog attacked my daughter! The womans shriek cut through the quiet afternoon as she barged into the garden, her face twisted in fury. Clutched in her arms was a weeping little girl, her small hands pressed to a faint red mark on her side.
My stomach dropped. My spaniel, Charlie, lay dozing by the roses, his tail thumping lazily against the grass. Wed raised him since he was a pupclever, sweet-natured, never so much as growled at anyone. Yet here stood this stranger, acting as if he were some monstrous hound. Her voice trembled with fear, already insisting the savage beast be put down. The police had been called, she said.
I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stay steady.
Charlie wouldnt harm a fly, I managed, my throat tight. He adores kids. Maybe something else happenedweve got CCTV. Would you like to see?
The officers nodded, and we headed inside. The camera by the porch covered the whole garden, including where the girl had been.
We rewound the footage.
There was Charlie, sprawled in the shade, watching blue tits flit about. Moments later, the woman and her child stepped into view. The girl wandered toward him We slowed the playback. My heart lurched.
She was gripping somethingsomething small, metallic.
A taser.
The officers stiffened.
The video showed it plainly: the girl reaching outclick. Charlie yelped, scrambled up, and bolted. The child staggered back, tumbling onto the grass. The mark? Probably from the fall or a thorny shrub.
The mother went deathly pale.
Thats thats not possible, she whispered, trembling. She didntthat isnt hers.
One of the bobbies fixed her with a hard look.
Whered a child get a taser?
She sank onto the step, her voice barely there.
My my husbands. Keeps it in the glovebox. She mustve nicked it without us noticing.
Silence. Charlie, sensing the tension ease, trotted inside, nosing my leg as if to ask, *All sorted?*
Poor lad. The things gentle creatures endure because of reckless folk. Lesson learnednever assume guilt before seeing the proof.
