Seven Short Stories For Dogs

Bodie's Tale

it wasn't long ago that my mistress met a new boyfriend on her computer and he seemed to be the right sort of man to make her happy from what she said when she was talking to him and his voice sounded a nice one to me

then one day she went off with her parents in their car with two big suitcases and she didn't come back

but the parents came back and made a fuss of me and said I would soon be joining her I don't always trust the parents because when they go out in their car and don't take me they always say see you soon Bodie and then come back much later but anyway I love the parents almost as much as my mistress

I didn't know where she had gone but I could tell it was far away because the parents talked about whether I would like the long journey and seemed a little unsure about that

then one morning we all got in their car with my blanket my soft toy monkey and my lead and we drove a long time until we came to a large kennel place where aeroplanes were flying overhead

we all got out and the parents produced a lot of important papers which were then looked at for ages by the people in the building while I sat around and was petted by various girls who came by and said I was adorable and wanted to know my name

finally the parents gave me a big hug and left and one of the girls took me to a kennel that was a wooden crate with grill windows and door and a pocket on the side where she put all the important papers and it was all very confusing with lots of noise from other dogs and the aeroplanes in the sky at least I had my little monkey

what was happening?

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Back at the parents' house, the parents sat on the sofa and felt rather sad and lonely that Bodie had finally gone. 

“I do miss him,” said the mother. The father nodded his head and said “Me too.” They read for a while and then they went to bed.            

“I hope he's not too lonely,” said the mother, as she went to sleep.

At breakfast the next morning, the phone rang. The father answered it.                            

“Hello Emmy. How are you? Good journey? What? A problem? With Bodie?” Then he listened. 

“I don't believe it! They've got to be kidding! What idiots! How stupid! Well, don't worry about it. We'll go and pick him up and bring him back and wait for your call.”

He passed the phone to the mother. “You'll never believe this,” he said. “We've got to bring Bodie back home for a few days. Until Emmy can fix a new flight.””

On the way to the airport, the father shook his head in disbelief, several times.

“Can you imagine? “ he said. “In the country that invented air conditioning, they don't have an air-conditioned van to take dogs from the aircraft to reception. After a journey of 6000 miles they couldn't transport a dog 200 yards because they wouldn't have an air-conditioned van available. So Bodie's whole travel arrangements get cancelled! Unbelievable!”

“Well, it was 100 degrees on the ground,” said the mother.   

“Idiots,” said the father. “Let's hope Emmy finds a different route for him.”

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imagine how happy I was when the parents turned up and took me off in their car and we went back home again but my mistress wasn't there so I was a bit sad but still hopeful she was going to come in the door at any moment

two days later off we went again back to that kennel place with the aeroplanes overhead and I was given my wooden crate again the parents gave me a big hug and left I thought this is getting silly

the girls at the kennel place didn't give me anything to eat just water and a friendly pat and then a van came round and my crate with me still in it was picked up and put in the back and driven to the place where the aeroplanes were making a terrible noise and I was put in one and after a while there was a really loud roaring noise and the aeroplane tilted back and after a bit settled down and I took a look around and saw in a crate next to mine a cat and in another big crate a huge snake that looked at me and kept sticking his tongue in and out but I didn't care because my ears felt funny 

after a long time the aeroplane tipped down a bit and eventually landed with a thump and I waited and then the big doors opened and my crate was swung out by a small crane into a very very hot day with a damp feeling also until we got to a big room which was cooler where my crate was put on the floor and a voice said 'There ya go little guy, long journey, huh?'

the next thing to happen was that my crate was picked up again and put on another aeroplane although this was a much smaller one and seemed noisier but it wasn't long before we landed and my crate came off again and was taken with me in it feeling very weary to another van and then I was lifted up onto a strange moving road with lots of suitcases, me and the suitcases went along for ages in a dark tunnel, and then all of a sudden I was in a big, bright noisy room full of people and they were staring at me and the suitcases

I was looking at all the faces wondering what was going to happen next when all of a sudden I saw my mistress - she came rushing over and lifted me out of my crate and hugged me and told me I was a good boy and I was so happy to see her at last and not be in my crate any more

I liked the look of her boyfriend he was wearing a big cowboy hat and leather boots just like in the films we used to watch at home and he drove a very big car with enormous wheels and it wasn't long before we stopped and all got out at my new house and I looked around all I could see was fields to run in for miles and miles and my mistress kept hugging me and I licked her and was so happy that this was the end of my long, long journey