Charley’s Puppies
It was Saturday morning, when Chad Helper got out of his bed and said,“What a perfect day to go camping.” He got dressed and ran downstairs. His mother, Mrs. Helper, was at the table reading the morning’s mail. “Hi, Mom,” Chad said. “Why hello, Chad. Good morning.” Mom said. “Can we go camping tomorrow or today?” Chad asked. Mom looked at Chad. “Well,” she said. “Since it’s summer, I guess we can go camping for a couple of weeks.” “Yeah!” Chad shouted for joy. Then his sister, Liz, who was only six years old, came down the stairs. “Did I hear the word camping?” Liz asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She was still in her sleeping clothes. “You bet you did!” Chad said. “Mom said we can go camping for a couple of weeks.” “Can I stay home?” Liz asked. “Can I stay with my friend, Daisy?” “No,”Mom said. “You have to come with us whether you like it or not. It was Chad’s idea to go camping.” “All right.” Liz said. “But we have to pack up first.” Mom nodded. Chad thought that he could choose the place where they could go camping. He knew just the place. After the Helper family got packed for camping, they were on their way. Chad was looking out the window the whole time. Mom said it took only two hours to get to the campground. Liz was complaining, “I hate camping. It’s just a bunch of bugs.” “Now, Liz, we just got in the car. And don’t make such a big fuss.” “I’m hungry already,” Chad said. “I was so excited that I couldn’t eat.” Then Chad forgot to tell his Mom the best place to go camping. “Mom, since it was my idea to go camping, can I choose the place?” “Sure,” Mom said. “Pick a good one.” “He always gets to choose,” Liz whined. “The best place where we should go camping is Spring Falls.” “Oh, that’s my favorite place,” Liz said happily. “There are no bugs at Spring Falls.” “Now look at how happy you are,” Chad said. “All because of I said ‘Spring Falls.’” Mom smiled at Chad. “What a good choice,” she said. Spring Falls is my favorite place too.” “And mine,” said Chad. Chad was happy that he had found a place to camp that everybody liked. “There are wild dogs there,” Chad said to Liz. Liz now had a worried face. “Okay. I don’t like Spring Falls anymore. Can we turn back?” Mom groaned, “Chad, don’t scare your sister to death. There are no wild dogs or bugs at Spring Falls. It’s a lovely place to camp.” Chad was starving by the time the first hour was over. “Can we stop at Famous Ice Cream for a snack?,” Chad asked. “Yum,” Liz said. “Famous Ice Cream is my favorite place to get ice cream. And it’s just up the road, I think.” Mom smiled at Liz. “Yes, Liz, it is up the road. I can see it now.” Before Chad, Liz, and Mom went past Famous Ice Cream, they turned up a gravel drive. Mom said that they can now eat ice cream. After Mom ordered ice cream for the kids, they got in the car. Liz had ordered Chocolate Crazy ice cream, and Chad had chosen, Call It Creamy ice cream. That kind was Vanilla Cream. They ate their ice cream cones in the car. Chad said that was the best ice cream ever. Then they finally got to the campground. Chad and Liz had finished their ice cream. As soon as Mom ordered their campground, they drove off to it. The campground was filled with lots of grass, and it had a waterfall where the kids could swim or fish. Liz and Chad helped Mom unpack the car. After that, Liz walked down over to the waterfall. “Look!,” she screamed as soon as she got there. “I see fish!!” Mom and Chad raced over to the waterfall. Chad put his hand in the water. It was freezing cold. Chad’s hand felt like an ice cube after he took his hand out. “That water is as cold as the Titanic water!,” Chad screamed. All the fish scattered everywhere. Liz, Chad, and Mom started a fire with fire wood they had bought. Chad and Liz were roasting marsh mellows. “Look at mine,” Chad said, “Mine is golden brown all over.” Liz looked at Chad’s marsh mellow. “Mom, Chad thinks his marsh mellows are the best. I just cook mine. I don’t like them golden brown.” “Chad,” Mom said, “You know better than to brag about how good your candies are. Now, it’s getting late. Come on every body. Time to go to bed.” “Can’t I just stay up for five more minutes?,” asked Chad. “No. We have stayed up late enough. Time to go to bed now.” “But, Mom,” Liz whine, “That waterfall is going to make me stay up all night. I can’t sleep with that waterfall.” “Just deal with it,” Chad said. “I can handle a waterfall all night and you can’t. Just go to bed. PLEASE.” Mom, Liz, and Chad got into their tent and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, Chad heard a loud, BANG! BANG! He got out of his sleeping bag and put on his jacket and shoes. He had saved a flashlight under his sleeping bag in case he needed one. He needed it now. I wonder what it could be, Chad thought. It could be a hunter. I’d better be careful. He walked out of the tent quietly. Then he saw a wag of some kind of an animal. Chad backed up. I bet it’s a wild dog. Chad thought. Then he walked closer to the strange animal. Then Chad flashed his light on the standing thing. He gasped. It was a wild dog! Chad walked up to the dog and petted her. “Where’d you come from?,” asked Chad. The dog barked. She had a smooth brown coat, and dark, yellow eyes. The dog wagged her tail and gave Chad a lick on the hand. “I’ll call you Charley,” Chad said. He gave Charley a hug. Then he said to his new dog, “Why don’t we make you a bed of your own?” Charley barked, her dark yellow eyes sparkling in the night. Chad collected some leaves and sticks, and he made a bed for Charley. Then, while Chad was hugging Charley around the middle, he felt a thump, thump, thump, thump. Chad looked at Charley. “Are you having puppies?,” asked Chad. Charley barked a yes. “Oh, how wonderful,” said Chad, “When are you having them?” Charley barked once. “Tonight? Then this might be a good bed for your puppies. Let’s get it finished.” After the bed was finished, Chad told Charley to climb in. She did. Then Chad told her to stay where she was for the night. In the morning Chad slept in and so did Mom and Liz. But then Chad remembered Charley. Or was it a dream? Chad couldn’t be so sure. He went out of the tent. It was cold outside and the grass was wet. The waterfall roared when Chad appeared. Then he saw Charley, his brown Labrador dog, laying down in the bed that Chad had made last night. Inside the bed with Charley, were six brown puppies. Chad counted them. Instead, there were seven. There was a puppy stuck under Charley’s tail. Charley wagged her tail and barked. “Be quiet, or my Mom and sister will wake up,”Chad warned. “They might not want you. So be good and stay quiet.” Chad held the puppy that was stuck under Charley’s tail. It was smaller than the rest, and darker brown in color. “You’re the cutest one,” Chad whispered. He tapped his finger on the puppy’s pink nose. She had pink paw pads, too. Chad put the little puppy down and helped it suck. Then Mom and Liz came out of the tent. “Chad...!,” Mom said, “That dog might be mean. Get him out of here!” “It’s not a he,” Chad said. “This dog is a girl, and she is very friendly. And look at what I made for her, and look at what she had last night! Seven cute brown puppies!!” Liz ran over to the puppies and took one in her arms. It was the smallest one. “Oh,” Liz said, “Oh just look at her! She’s so cute! Can we keep, the puppies and the wild dog?” Mom looked at Liz, and then at Chad. “Well, all right. We can keep all of the dogs. Just take good care of them. I’m not going to do a thing.” Chad and Liz nodded their heads and then started to watch the puppies drink their mother’s milk. “I’m calling this one Watch,” Liz said. She pointed to the second puppy. “I’m calling this puppy Fudge,” Chad said. They had named every single puppy. The first puppy was called Patch, because their was a little black spot on the puppy’s tail. The third one was called Brownie, because he was all really, really, really dark brown, almost black. The fourth puppy was called Princess, because she looked like one. The fifth puppy was called Last, because he was always the last one to do everything. The sixth puppy was called Pooch, because she was very poochie. The final puppy, the small one, was called Fudge. Fudge was a short haired brown Labrador, and she was Chad’s favorite. Every day Chad and Liz held the puppies and helped them suck. One day, when the puppies were older, and had their eyes opened, Charley did a funny thing. She jumped into the pool with the waterfall and got all wet. Chad and Liz laughed. Then they held the puppies again. When it was time to go home, Mom said that the puppies and Charley could fit in the car. Chad was worried. They had everything for camping. The puppies were about one month old, since the Helper family stayed at Spring Falls for about four weeks. Chad helped Liz carry the puppies into the car. Charley hopped in by herself. Then they got everything ready and got the car on the road. Chad and Liz were holding some of the puppies. Chad was holding Fudge, who was still the smallest one, and Liz was holding Princess, her favorite one. Then they began petting and talking to Charley. Charley was wagging her tail all the way home. As soon as they parked the car in the garage, Charley and the puppies hopped out. Chad picked up Fudge and Princess, and Liz picked up Watch and Patch. They all went into the house and played for a long time. Chad was laying on the couch with Fudge on his stomach. Liz was laying down too, but with Princess on her stomach. Just then Charley barked twice, wagging her tail. There was a ring at the door. Daisy, Liz’s friend, walked in the door. Liz ran over to Daisy. “Sorry I couldn’t stay home with you,” Liz said. “It’s okay,” Daisy said, who was about nine years old. “Can you play?” “Sure,” said Liz. They walked into the room where the couches were. Fudge jumped off of Chad’s stomach and barked happily. “PUPPIES!” Daisy shouted. She ran over and picked Fudge up. “Are they for sale?,” Daisy asked. “No,” said Liz. “We are keeping them. Charley trotted up and licked Daisy’s hand. Daisy laughed. “So this is the mommy?” “Yes,” Liz said. “Her name’s Charley. Chad found her at the campground.”“Well,” Daisy said. “Better go. Dad’s taking me to see a dog show. Do you want to come?” “No thanks. But I might go next time there is a dog show. Bye.” Liz waved goodbye to her friend. Chad patted Fudge on the head. Then he went into the back yard and made a jumping course for the puppies. “All right, now, one puppy at a time.” Chad said. All of the puppies were sitting straight up, facing Chad. Chad held out a treat and said, “Come on, now, Princess, jump.” Princess jumped the whole way over to the treat. Chad gave the treat to Princess and then called the next puppy over and over again until Chad ran out of treats. Then he made another course. But this time it was a running course, and this time, Liz was watching. The first puppy Chad called was Watch. Watch ran around in circles and then stood on his hind legs. Chad got a treat out from the house hand fed it to Watch. This is fun, Chad thought to himself. This is really fun with Charley’s puppies.
Copyright © 2001 Kelley Rose |