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Aug. 17, 2009
I'm still alive...
Hey, everybody! I'm still breathing. I haven't been on the computer for days, just because I've been pretty busy. But I figured I needed to blog. I don't have much more of the Adam and Sam story done, so I'll post a chapter of a story that I have finished. So I'll just post a chapter everyday or every other day.
Chapter One
This book is about me. Phil Ross. This story takes place when I was about 14. I had brown hair and brown eyes. I was average height and weight. I lived in a family of 4: Dad, Mom, Julie and me. Julie was 7 years old, and always wanted to do everything I do. It was almost as if she wants to be a carbon copy of me. It was really weird. She has blond hair and blue eyes. No idea how that happened. Mom and Dad both have brown hair and brown eyes, like me. She must have gotten them from Grandpa on my Dad’s side. He has icy blue eyes, the kind Julie has. He also has that blond hair. Or at least he did. It’s white now.
Mom has brown hair, a little lighter than mine. Her eyes are brown too. She’s the person I can always go to when I’m upset about something.
Dad, as I told you before, has brown hair and brown eyes. He is a little big boned, but not what I’d call fat. He’s nice a lot of the time, even if he is a couch potato. All he likes to do that I know of is sit on the couch and watch TV. And that’s where he was when I found him.
“Hey, Dad,” I said.
He ignored me. I knew he would, so it wasn’t some big deal. He always ignores everyone if he’s watching TV. It’s even worse if he’s watching football.
“Dad,”
I sat down on the couch next to him, took the remote out of his hand turned off the TV. He looked at me.
“Dad,” I said again.
“What?” He asked, sitting up and stretching. “What was so important that you had to go and shut off the TV, huh?”
“I need to ask you something,” replied.
“Well, ask away! I’m listening.”
“Remember… back in New York…”
“What about it?” Dad interrupted.
“Well remember when you said that when we moved out to the country we would get animals?”
“Yeah, I do. What about it?”
“Well… can we get some?”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether or not I think you could handle it. Let’s start small.”
He got up from the couch and made his way to his computer chair. He opened up the internet and, after some searching, found what he was looking for.
“How about starting with this?”
I leaned over to see the computer screen. There was a picture of a little puppy.
“What kind of dog is that?” I asked Dad.
“It’s a Blue Heeler pup,” Dad answered.
“Cute,” I answered. “I guess I could start small… Just to see if I like taking care of animals.”
Dad nodded and clicked something on the screen. Then he started typing. I looked at the screen and he was emailing the people with the puppy. The email said:
To whom it may concern,
I am interested in the Blue Heeler puppy you have listed for sale on the internet. I would like to teach my son about responsibility and found this the perfect way to start out, as I could take up the care of the animal if he proves himself unable to care for it properly. I am willing to pay whatever price you have set, and am very interested. Please email me if the dog is still available.
Thank you,
Timothy Ross
“Why did you do that, Dad?” I asked him.
“Do what? Email the people with the dog?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you saw what the letter said.”
That seemed to finish the conversation. Now, my dad may be the laziest couch potato in the whole state of Missouri, but when it comes to writing letters, he sure knows what he’s doing.
The next morning, Dad woke me up by shaking my arm. I groaned and looked at my watch.
“Wake up!” Dad yelled at me. “If you’re going to have a dog you’ve got to get up early and feed it and walk it.”
“What?” I mumbled. “I don’t even have a dog yet.”
“Well, you will when we go and get it. Now get up! Get dressed! Get washed! Let’s go!”
“Where are we going?” I asked while getting out of bed.
“I told you! To get your dog. Now let’s go.”
I was pulling a T-shirt over my head when Dad poked his head in the door again.
“What are you doing?” He hissed at me.
“I’m getting dressed!” I was really going pretty fast, too, because I wanted to see my pup. I grabbed my baseball cap and a pair of socks and ran downstairs to find my shoes. Dad had gone outside and was starting the truck. I grabbed my tennis shoes and ran out to the truck in my bare feet. I got in and started putting my socks on.
“We’ll need some old towels,” Dad said. “I’ll be right back.”
When he was gone I heaved a sigh of relief and put my shoes on. I had hardly gotten the last one tied when Dad got back with the towels.
“Do you have directions?” I asked Dad.
He nodded and threw the towels on my lap. He put the truck in gear and we started out. We drove for a little while in silence till Dad stopped to get gas at the Signal.
“Can I trust you to run in and get me a Cappuccino while I fill up?” Dad asked, handing me a one dollar bill. I nodded and he said, “Large, two thirds full of French Vanilla, the rest with House Blend.”
I nodded again.
“Get one for yourself, too,” he added, and I grinned. I had never been into a Signal gas station before by myself, except to go the bathroom, so this was a new, exiting experience. First, I headed to the bathroom, since Dad didn’t let me go this morning. Then, I headed over to the coffee stand. I got out a large cup and filled it like Dad told me. Then I got out a medium cup and filled it with two thirds of Pumpkin Spice stuff, and filled the rest with real coffee. I stirred both the drinks and fitted lids on them. When I went up to the cashier I set the coffees on the counter and handed the lady my one dollar bill. She asked if the drinks were coffee or cappuccino and I said cappuccino. She nodded and gave me my change. When I got in the truck and gave Dad his coffee he tasted it and seemed surprised that I actually got him the right thing.
“So, Dad, about this dog…” I began, but Dad took it from there.
“She’s a blue heeler puppy. She’s 7, almost 8 weeks old. She was rescued from a breeder who’s dog had too many pups. The breeder needed someone to take the puppy off his dog, because she was skin and bones. So these people we’re getting her from took her. Now they’re giving her away for free.”
Dad put the truck in gear and we drove off. We drove for about an hour. Then we got there. Dad pulled up in the driveway and we got out. He rang the doorbell, and a lady with long brown hair answered the door.
“Hi, I’m Timothy Ross and this is my son Phil. We came for the puppy,” Dad said.
“Oh, sure! I’ll go get her.”
She left us standing in the doorway and came back with a little wiggly puppy. She set the pup down and let her sniff around outside. I picked her up and looked at her. It was love at first sight.
I wrote this story probably about 6 months ago. The horses in this book are based on and named after real horses that I found on OzarksHorseExchange.com. I finished this story and then contacted the owner of Sparky asking if he would make a good horse for me. The answer was no, but it just so happened that Sparky's owner's name was... Guess. Phil. I thought that was interesting.
Chapter two will be posted in a day or two. :)
Oh, and thank you to Anna and Anonymous who commented on chapter one of my other story. I apprieciate it. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :) |
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Aug. 17, 2009 - blue heeler puppy