Read a few pages. - Enjoy!
Cole's Perfect Puppy - SAMPLE
Chapter 1 - The Dog House
“Hurry up and pick one, Caleb! Uncle Bobby wants us to be home before dark. And I want to go to the Dog House before we go home.” I sat my backpack down and looked at the clock behind the counter.
It was 4:45 and I knew it would be dark by 5:30. It always gets dark early in the winter time – especially this close to Christmas. I figured it would take us thirty minutes to get back to our bikes and ride home from the mall. That would leave only fifteen minutes to play with the puppies at the pet store – if we hurried.
Caleb looked up from the video games he was holding. “Cole,” he said, “I like both of these games, but I only have money for one. Which one do you think has the most action?”
I groaned and grabbed the games. I like video games too, but I really wanted to go play with the puppies. It was my last chance before Christmas. “Here, this one,” I said and shoved the new ‘Truck Trauma’ game at him. I put the other game back on the shelf. “Go pay for it and let's go.”
“Okay,” he said. He fumbled with his backpack and pulled out an old bank bag Uncle Bobby let him use to carry his coins.
I groaned again. It was going to take a long time to count out the coins. I picked up my backpack and thought about going on ahead. The pet store was only a couple of stores down. But I wasn’t supposed to leave my younger brother by himself at the mall. I went to the door and looked out while I waited. I made sure I could still see Caleb from where I stood.
Oh, no! There was a crowd of people at the Dog House. Families with children were standing around the display window looking at the puppies. I could also see a crowd of people inside the store. I would not have time to get any of the puppies out of the cages to play. My heart sank.
“I’m ready,” Caleb said. His game was in a shopping bag and he had a big smile on his face.
I felt a little bad about rushing him. I just had to look at the puppies, even if there wasn’t time to play with them. I took a last look at the clock behind the counter. It was 5:00 - time to leave for home. I grabbed Caleb’s hand. “Come on.”
I pushed through the now large crowd at the window of the Dog House, pulling Caleb with me. “Excuse, me,” I said to the man I nudged out of the way. I knew Mom would not have approved, but I would worry about that later.
Suddenly, I was right up to the window. There they were!
All thoughts of heading home, of taking care of Caleb, of Mom and Dad being gone at Christmas - just flew out of my head.
A big puppy, with thick, gray and silver fur, shook a ball at the other puppies. A solid-black puppy ran around the big one and nipped at his heels. A white puppy with black spots growled at a brown, wrinkled puppy. It was funny to see wrinkles on a puppy.
“Look at that one!” Caleb said, pointing to a little puppy with red-golden fur. She was jumping on the window, trying to lick a man’s hand. The puppy couldn’t understand why she couldn’t lick his fingers through the glass. She sat down with a thud and a single frustrated bark.
I have heard grown-ups talk about 'love' at first sight. Until now, I never really understood what they meant. But there she was. The love of my life!
