On that quiet Sunday morning, the sound of footsteps was the only background noise in the path near the park. The German Shepherd, a beautiful specimen with a faded red collar, kept circling nervously around a metal manhole. No one knew where he had come from, but it was clear that he was not a stray. He seemed… on a mission.
The first to give in to curiosity was a young employee named Matteo, who jogged along that path every day. He stopped, intrigued by the scene, and turned on the flashlight on his cell phone. He bent down and looked into the manhole.
His face turned stone.
— Call the fire department! — he shouted in a trembling voice.
People began to approach, and within minutes a small crowd had gathered. The dog, seeing the growing agitation, began to whine and wag his tail, as if he were saying: “Finally!”
Help arrived. Lifting the manhole cover, a small opening was revealed that led to a pipe in the old, disused sewer system. And under there, curled up on a pile of rags and visibly dehydrated, was a little girl of about six years old.
Her hair was tangled, her knees scraped, and she was clutching a dirty doll in her arms. Her eyes, frightened and shiny, lit up at the sight of the light. Her voice was shaking as she murmured:
— He… he found me.
The rescuers carefully pulled her up. Those present held their breath. The little girl, after a sip of water, pointed to the dog:
— His name is Rex… he’s my dog. He ran away to get help… like I told him.
The story quickly made the rounds on the news. It turned out that the little girl had disappeared two days earlier from a nearby neighborhood. She had slipped into that hidden trap door while playing hide-and-seek with other children. No one had seen her fall. Only Rex, who was with her, had understood where she had ended up.
But what left everyone speechless was a detail revealed by the firefighters: the manhole was completely closed from the outside. The dog could not have opened it. And yet… he had found a way to attract attention, keeping watch day and night on the exact spot, without ever moving.
Rex was proclaimed a local hero. But for the little girl, he had never been just a dog.
He was her best friend.
Her guardian.
Her four-legged angel.