Chapter 1
Wow am I hot! I feel like we have been running for hours! (even though I know we just started five minutes ago). My tongue is hanging out the side of my mouth as I trot next to Mike. It has to be at least two hundred degrees! I know that’s not logical, but with my thick coat of fur, that’s what it feels like. We do this every day. Throughout the seasons. Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. Hot days, cold days, breezy days, and rainy days. It’s always the same.
I can’t wait to get home and see Cassie. She normally comes with us, but she’s about to have puppies. Puppies! I’m going to be a dad. This is Cassie’s first litter. She hopes that they are girls, but I’m hoping differently. By the time Mike and I get home, the puppies should be born. This is so exciting! I start to speed up, but Mike pulls me back. “Whoa boy, I think I’m as excited as you are, but we’re gonna stay at this pace. The puppies will still be there when we get back.” Yes, I know all this but I just can’t wait! In ten more minutes we will spin around and head back home. I know Cassie won’t want to play; she’ll be exhausted, but maybe she will tomorrow! She hasn’t played with me since we learned we would be parents. She claimed it would “push her heart rate up possibly harming the puppies.” I mean, I guess she’s right, but she should still exercise! By the way, right now she looks like a blown up horse! I’m not blaming the pups for that!
We still don’t know what to name the puppies yet, but we’re working on it. Well actually, Mike and Nicky are working on it. Just like they named Kim(who I still think should have been called Noisy, because for a three year old, she hasn’t changed much) and they named Cassie(which is the perfect name). Mike found me on the street a year ago, when I was a tiny, yellow lab. He named me Correy.
Chapter 2
A New Beginning
‘We’re home!”
“Mike, come quick! Bring Correy with you!”
“Is it happening?!”
“You’re just in time”
Together, Mike and I ran into the kitchen. Cassie was lying there in silence.
“What’s wrong Cassie?” I asked her.
More silence.
“Cassie?”
She started moving her head up. There they were. Seven wet puppies lying next to Cassie. The vet stood up and brushed himself off. “It will be about six weeks before you can sell these guys.”
I snapped my head up and stared at Mike.
“ We might keep one or two, but not all of them.”
I growled softly and stood in front of Cassie and the puppies.
“Or we’re keeping them all” he said staring at me with a smile. “I’m sure we can find plenty of jobs for them around the farm.”
Cassie looked up at me and whispered “Thank you”.
I wouldn’t stop fighting for this cause. Not if it meant losing our litter. Not if it meant having one or two to remind us of what we had lost. And I think it might hurt Cassie to lose her puppies. My puppies.
“ Mike, what are we going to name them all?” Nicky asked.
“ How many girls?”
“Six girls and one boy. What are the odds?”
“That’s good because I can only think of one boy’s name that I really like and that’s Lucas.”
“That’s a good name but what about all of the girls? We have to come up with six names. It’s easy for one child, but six? And they are puppies, not babies.”
“Grace, Lucy, Anna, Zia, Kara. That’s only five, but it’s all I can think of right now.”
“How about Nemo?”
At this point, I growled. What kind of name was that?
“Nicky, I think Correy doesn’t like it. How about we let Kim name her?”
“Okay, but I’m not sure if Correy will like the names Kim will come up with.”
I followed them to Kim’s nursery. You never really know what Kim could come up with. She has quite the creative side.
“Kim, honey would you like to name the new puppy? It’s a girl.”
“Yeah! I wike Penny.”
See what I mean? What better name? I told her so by going over and licking her head. Then I started coughing because I got a string of her blonde hair in my mouth. Nicky smiled and then sighed, resting her head on Mike’s shoulder.
“It’s perfect.”
One little puppy started yipping her head off.
“I’ll go check who it is” said Cassie, who had poked her head in the door.
“I’ll come with” I said.
Together, we trotted off to the kitchen. Penny was crying.
“What’s wrong Penny?” Cassie asked. Instantly, Penny stopped crying.
“Cassie,” I said. “I don’t think she can talk.”
“Oh, yeah, I just got really excited that we are parents. Parents!”
I licked her face and Cassie picked up Penny with her mouth. She went towards the dog door. Mid - way through, she stopped.
“Hef gack en.” Cassie said.
‘What?” I said.
“Head back in!” She cried
I backed up until there was enough space for Cassie to get back through. Cassie pushed herself backwards, dropped Penny on the floor, and knocked over a chair. She pushed it in front of the dog door so that it could not be opened. Only then did I realize she had a big scratch mark on her shoulder.
“Cassie, what happened!?” I yelped.
At this point, Mike and Nicky had heard all the barking and had come running
into the room.
“What’s wrong, guys? I heard all the barking and I thought something bad might have happened, but nothing looks different.” Nicky said looking around.
“ Nicky, look.” Mike said pointing to the tipped over chair.
“What in the world! How did this happen? Guys? “ Nicky said.
Cassie barked and jumped up on the window sill, staring out the glass.
“What is it girl?” Mike said looking out the window.
“Nicky come quick.”
“Oh my stars”
It was bugging me not knowing what everyone was talking about. I stuck my head out a tiny hole of the dog door that wasn’t covered by the chair. I was shocked by what I saw.
Chapter 3
Cassie’s scratch
The coyote were covering my yard, talking in whispers. They were all crowded around a squeaking creature. In my yard. Unacceptable! I was bigger than all of them. And I made a mistake. I yelled.
Each and every coyote head turned my direction. One snarled a command and they ran away in a single file line.
“That has to be the weirdest thing I have ever seen, Nichole.” Mike commented.
“Mike, we didn’t even look at Cassie’s shoulder. It looks awful! She must have gotten scratched by a coyote.”
Then Cassie fainted. Nicky checked her heart beat whispering under her breath. She then breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the pounding of the beat. She lifted Cassie up onto the couch and put a pillow under her head. No fair! Dogs aren’t allowed on the couch. I put one paw on the cushion and was about to hoist myself up, but then Mike pushed me back down. Twice! Then Lucas ran into the room, followed by Lucy and Zia. All three of them leaped up onto the couch next to Cassie and sat there. Nobody pushed them off! I put up my paw on the couch one last time, but this time, Nicky pushed me off.
“No boy, the pups need their mama right now, but you know the rules. Cassie fainted and I don’t want her on the ground. As soon as she wakes up, I’ll move her to her pillow, but until then, she’s not going anywhere.”
Well then, let me make it easier. I went over to her pillow and dragged it (being extremely careful with my teeth as I don’t want to rip it) over to the couch. Then I went back, getting my pillow (not being so careful) and dropped it next to Cassie’s. I laid down and almost fell asleep when I remembered the squeaking creature in our backyard. I was wide awake instantly.
Chapter 4
Zim’s story
I pushed the chair away from the dog door and jumped out onto the porch. I barked once. I heard something scrabble on the ground over by the greenhouse. I ran over and I saw a small squirrel limping away, (quite slowly, I might add) and I bolted towards it and leapt onto the half-tail of the squirrel. It squirmed and moved, but I didn’t budge. Then it started yipping it’s head off screaming:
“Help it gonna eat me! Coyote gonna to eat me!”
Surprised at the fact that the frightened creature thought Iwas going to eat him, let go of the creature’s tail. Then it started running, and just before it got to the tree, I grabbed it tenderly with my jaws. I brought it over to a deep, empty flower pot and dropped it in.
Then I said what I hope was an okay tone, “Now I can talk to AND you can’t get away.”
“Why on earth would I want to eat you?” I said back
“Didn’t you see the coyotes?” the squirrel said.
“Yes of course I did. I scared them away and saved your life.”
“No, you didn’t save my life. You might have put it in more danger, if anything,” said the animal with a shiver.
“How so? And I didn’t catch your name.”
“Zim.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, my name is Zim. I didn’t catch yours… ”
“My name is Correy.” I said
Zim started to whisper“Can we speed this up a little? If the coyotes come back…”
“I will personally keep you safe if they come back” I said. I didn’t want him tricking me into letting him go
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