Happy little Hero

Lucy walks into the shelter with her mother, shaking with excitement. While her mother chats to the lady at the counter, Lucy wanders around the shelter, peering at all the lonely dogs in their cages. As she walks down the rows and rows of cages, she notices a small Pomeranian puppy trying to squeeze its face through the bars of the cage. Lucy walks over to it and pats its small, fluffy head. She looks around the whole shelter. “I wish I could keep all of you, but mummy would get mad” she sighs. Lucy skips over to a large cage and inside, she sees a skinny, golden dog with black, beady eyes.

“I wonder what breed you are” Lucy says in wonder. The dog licks her happily reply.

“Lucy, have you chosen what dog you want yet?” her mother asks impatiently.

“Yes mummy, I want this one” she replies, pointing to the golden dog. The dog yaps enthusiastically. The lady at the counter brings out the golden pup and hands them a small chew toy.

“This is his favourite toy” she says, smiling.

“We are going to have so much fun!” Lucy whispers to the dog on the way home.

Her mother places the dog on Lucy’s lap and Lucy puts on her seat belt. In the car Lucy thinks about what to call her new dog.

“How about Archie?” she asks the dog. “No…how about Buddy?” she stares at the dog. He seems to be smiling. “Happy!” she says. The dog barks and licks Lucy on the face. Lucy giggles and cuddles Happy in her arms. When they reach home, Happy sniffs around the garden and has a little accident on Lucy’s favourite roses. She picks him up and takes him inside. At first, Happy refuses to go inside. Then Lucy places his favourite chew toy in front of him and he charges inside. Lucy plays with Happy until she falls asleep and he curls up into a ball beside her. In the morning, Lucy has school. After turning the house upside down looking for her school uniform. She finds Happy sleeping on it. She puts her hands on her hips and gets ready to scold him, but she can’t help but laugh at his childish little face. She gets her uniform and heads out the front door, saying goodbye to her mother and Happy. He pokes his head at the window and watches her go. His mischievous little mind wondering what trouble to get into today. Once Lucy’s mother is out of sight, He prances into Lucy’s room, looking around. Then something catches his eyes. High above the ground, open on Lucy’s desk was a book! He hadn’t seen books in years. Oh, the joy of tearing up paper with his mouth was just unbearable. Happy leaps up onto Lucy’s chair and from there, he climbs up onto her desk and chew his heart out. By the time Lucy’s mother finds out, the book is soggy from all the drool and is ripped from every corner. Lucy’s mother throws away he book and scolds Happy. When Lucy was around, she told her mother not to scold poor Happy, but now Lucy had gone to school, her mother is very mad at Happy. She tells him that he is not allowed to go outside anymore and now he has to stay inside on his little bed and not move! Of course, Happy doesn’t take this very well, and he just has to go outside. He goes outside and not only does he trample over Lucy’s garden, he ruins her mother’s beautiful tomatoes that had taken a full year to grow! When Lucy comes back, she finds a missing textbook, dirty footprints all over her bed, and a REALLY messy garden. Boy, she is mad, she charges over to Happy and scolds him very badly. Poor Happy whimpers and lays on his bed for the whole day. Hopefully, he has learned his lesson. Tomorrow is Auntie Kate’s wedding and Lucy is the flower girl. If Happy doesn’t learn to have manners by then, the wedding could be a catastrophe…Today is the day! Lucy wakes up extra early just to take a shower and get ready for the wedding. Her mother is looking more tensed than usual. Lucy takes a shower and blow-dries her hair. After her hair dries, she tames all her tangles and ties her hair in a tight bun. She puts on her gorgeous red dress and dresses up Happy in a little tie. To be honest, he does look quite smart in his tie. Lucy’s mother also wears a red dress. Lucy’s mother tells her to pick up the bouquet of flowers from the kitchen table to give to her Aunt. Lucy goes and gets the flowers. Her mother approaches her and they all go to the front door.

“Lucy, have we got everything?” her mother looks around, checking they have taken everything.

“Yes, mummy! Can we go now?” Lucy pleads.

“Ok, ok, get into the car” her mother says, locking the front door. Lucy rushes over to the car and sits in the back with Happy. Her mother gets into the car and they are off! When they arrive at the wedding, Lucy’s relatives hand her a basket filled with flowers. Lucy grips tight to Happy’s lead, making sure he doesn’t walk off. Lucy ties Happy to a small pole outside the building. Then Lucy and her mother take seats at the front row. The wedding starts and Lucy crosses her fingers, hoping Happy wouldn’t get in trouble like he always does. Back at the dressing room, Happy is sick of sitting at the same place without moving. After many tries, the lead becomes unloose, and he is free! Happy walks into the building and peeps inside the dressing room. Lucy is just getting ready to walk down the aisle to throw flowers when the marriage officiant exclaims that the wedding rings are missing! Everybody gets up and looks everywhere for the wedding rings. Without them, the wedding couldn’t happen. Happy has just gone inside the dressing room where he sees something shining under a table, he pulls it out. It’s the wedding rings! Happy thinks this is a game of hide and seek and that Lucy has put them there for him to find. He grabs the two rings in his mouth and walks down the aisle to Lucy, where he drops the rings and barks for her to hide them again. Lucy’s jaw drops open and she yells out “My clever little dog has found them!”

Everyone cheers for Happy and Auntie Kate gives happy a big hug. Instead of him ruining her wedding day, he has saved it! He is a clever little dog indeed!