Page 153 of The Billionaires

“Go on,” I say to him soothingly. “She’s a nice lady.” Probably.

“Hi, little guy,” she coos. “Come have some of this.” She waves the cookie.

Decision seemingly made, Colossus bravely lifts his chin and takes a determined step toward the woman. Then another.

“Here.” She hands him a piece of the treat.

Wagging his tail, he accepts the offer.

She does it again and tries to pet him—and he lets her.

Wow. He’s a quick learner. By the time the cookie is almost gone, he seems to have accepted the woman as his new BFF.

“Thank you,” I say when I deem the lesson complete. “I’ll make sure Bruce knows you did a great job here.”

She beams at the puppy, then at me before heading over to a car parked nearby.

As we resume the walk, I see another car pull over not far away, and this time, a man steps out of it.

Another banker?

Yep.

This guy is chattier than the woman was, so I learn what Bruce has done—he’s recruited every local branch of his bank into the puppy socialization project.

“So, yeah,” the man says in conclusion. “The money is great, this dog is adorable, and it’s nice to have a chance to get noticed by the big boss.”

I provide the guy with the treat and the same instructions I gave the woman, which leads to the encounter going a bit smoother this time.

Not surprisingly, another car pulls up as soon as we’re done. The man in this one is wearing big sunglasses and—as it turns out—has a prosthetic arm.

This encounter goes even better, even though I only give this man a portion of the treat.

I’m beginning to think that Colossus is actually a friendly dog. He just needed to learn that about himself.

The next person is an older lady with dandelion-like blue hair. The one after that is a teenage boy with cornrows. With less and less cookie each time, Colossus makes friends with them, and with the people who come after.

I have to grudgingly give Bruce’s bank some credit—there is a great diversity of people working there… at least in the local branches.

“Ready to go back?” I ask the pup when it seems like there’s no more people available.

He looks longingly into the distance. I think he’s learned an accidental lesson today—fun things can happen on a walk. Well, besides sniffing and creating his masterpeeses.

As we turn, there’s another surprise.

Prudence is walking toward us, and behind her, the rest of Bruce’s household staff.

“We heard you’re training him to be friendlier,” Prudence says shyly. “Any chance we can also participate?”

“Of course.” I toss her a quarter of a cookie. “Give him that and see what happens.”

The bribe—I mean, treat—works like a charm, and Colossus quickly accepts Prudence as a friend, with Bob and Johnny after that.

“Mr. Roxford will be very pleased,” Johnny says after he makes friends with the dog.

“Why?” I ask.

“No one at the local branches has a mustache,” Johnny says as he twirls his pride and joy. “He said that it was my responsibility to represent the whole community.”

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