A nasty little story

One summer afternoon a small group of children gathered out in front of "Sam the Greek's" house, where he tied empty tin cans to a stray dog's back legs.  The dog was a large, emaciated, short-haired brown animal with sad eyes and a docile manner.  It may have had a Weimaraner ancestor back in the 15th century.

I was six and had no idea why an adult was tying cans to a dog's legs.  Was this a party?

When the burly Sam finished tying more than a half-dozen cans, he took a switch from a tree and beat the dog's rump with all his strength.

The dog howled and took off running, the cans clattering behind, the howling increasing with the dog's terror.

Sam growled a smutty laugh.

We children wandered, helpless, toward home.