Fred And His Really Unusual Dog

  Once upon a time in a large metropolis called  Danville, Va., there lived a 10 year-old boy named Frank who was a really cool kid, except he had one problem, he was constantly lying about various things.  He would do that whenever he got in a spot of some kind.  The problem was it happened so frequently that he lost all his credibility with his parents, his teachers, his friends and even his neighbors who lived around his hood.  It soon reached the point where whenever any- body would see him heading in their direction, they would immediately take an alternate route to avoid any kind of entanglement with the young boy.  Even in school his best buddies who he hung around most would see him headed in their direction so they would quickly get involved with their own little huddle.  That meant life was exceptionally difficult for him, not just because of his lying problem, but because he was at the age where very few people would even want to give him the chance to converse with them.  That included everybody in his Church, at his school, with his football team, with his Cub Scout pack, with his neighbors and even those he considered his closest buddies.  That made for quite a lonesome lifestyle for the poor, young boy, but he just couldn’t help telling lies.

     Then one day when his parents asked him to show them his homework assignment, he told them he had made it into a paper airplane and some foreign dude had hijacked it to Cuba.  That infuriated them so badly they sent him to his room without any supper.  They called a psychiatrist to set up an appointment for him to be seen by one.  Since Frank was actually a really cool kid, with the exception of telling so many stories, he went for a walk outside of his house, into the woods which was a place his parents had warned him not to ever get close to because there were a lot of rumors circulating about some weird sounds coming from deep in that forest.  Yet since Frank was really fearless, and besides that, it seemed he had nothing to live for any- way,  so he decided to explore things, like what was in the woods which scared all the people who’d returned.

     Because it was mid-afternoon, he figured it would be the best time to check out that strange, new place which everybody had told him to stay away from.  Yet Frank was a real thrill-seeker who enjoyed doing wild and crazy stunts such as going into wooded areas he had been forbidden to be near.  As he walked through the deep forest, he fancied there was a definite path made by somebody.  Finally his curiosity got the best of him and he couldn’t stand it any more so he went for a hike through those forbidden trees he had been warned to stay away from.  “I’m not going too far into that place,” he thought to himself trying to form what resembled a smile to cross his face, “and besides, nobody likes me anyway so they will not miss me, even if something bad does happen.”  It was that kind of logic which made him venture deep into the woods, although he saw a path which meant there was no way to get lost, so on into that forest he went.  That was when he started to whistle a made-up tune which had no melody, to relieve his stress.  Since he was also quite young, youth was on his side to help him not get too tired from all the jogging he had been doing lately.

     Unfortunately, he got somewhat carried away and ventured way too far into the deep, dark forest.  His imagination began playing tricks on him, making him see and hear things that weren’t even there.  Each time that startled him, but he quickly realized there wasn’t anything out there to be afraid of.  His made-up tune quickly turned into squeaks of utter fright, but his lips refused to point northwar, they both continued to point down south. He swallowed deep and went on.

     Just then, he heard something rustling in the leaves behind him.  He turned around with a jolt, expecting to see some kind of wild animal there which would be his demise.  Instead he was absolutely shocked to see a little dachshund puppy who was wagging her tail at him and appeared to be smiling, although Frank knew that was quite impossible because according to his teacher in school, dogs were not able to change expressions.

    All of a sudden, he was amazed when the dog said, “Hay there, pal.  Don’t be afraid of me.  I won’t bite.  I’m just curious. What’s your name and why are you here?”

     “Ggee, mmy name is, uh,” he swallowed hard. 

     “Gosh, I’m sorry,” the dog continued with his smile, “I didn’t mean to ask such a hard-to-answer question!”

     Frank swallowed extremely hard and stammered, “Well, hey.  Mmmy name is, um, FFFrank.”

     “I’m sorry I asked such a difficult question,” said the dog, still smiling, “I didn’t think it would be that hard.  Do you not know your name?  If not, we can think of one.  How about Rover  Maybe Spot or Fido?  I’ll call you Spot because that ‘s what you look like you’re in at this point in time.”  He shrugged his shoulders, which was the first time Frank had ever seen a dog do that.

     “Uh, well, no.  My name is Frank.”  The words were beginning to come out of his mouth a little bit more confidently by then.  “It’s just that I’ve never actually had a conversation with, well, a dog before.”

     “Why not?” replied the dog, who was a little bit irked by Fred’s response, “Do you think humans are the only kind of animal who can carry on a conversation or something?”  It was clear he was more irritated by then.

     “Well, yeah,” replied Fred, feeling a little stupid, “I’ve never heard of an actual talking,” he stopped then pinched himself to try and wake up, thinking it was all just a silly dream since what was happening there was quite absurd in his way of thinking.  He was shocked.

     “Well surprise!” replied the dog with a little snicker, “My name is Zunar.  I’m from the planet Izzit.”

     “Where is it?” asked Fred, beginning to get a little bit more confident with talking to the strange dog.

     “I’m right here, silly!” replied the dog, who was quite irritated with Fred’s non belief about what he was doing.

“Oh, that was a rich one!  AW!  Aw!  Aw!  Aw!”  Then he punched Fred playfully on his arm with his tail wagging.

     “Oh, peachy!” thought Fred to himself with a scowl, “10,000 comedians out of work and I wind up with this!”  Then collecting his wits he asked the dog, “Do you have a name? I mean what in the world can I call you?”

     “Let’s stick with a common dog-name like Shwartz,” replied the dog, who was looking quite happy, and wagging his tail in a circle,  “That’s pretty common.”

     “Yeah?  Well, I have got some news for you, that is not a name anybody on this planet has ever heard of.   I’m sure about that.  Let’s try something like Spot.”

     “Hay, yeah!” said the dog wagging his tail in a circle with delight, “That is a great name!  That is what I did to you when I first saw you!  I just, ‘spot’ ed you!”  By then, Fred’s new acquaintance was levitating 4 feet off the ground.  A bright, purple light flashed around him.  At least they had agreed on an appropriate name for the special k-9.

     Fred didn’t know it at the time, but Spot had come from a planet which was way, way passed any of those that are visible by high-powered telescope which was far beyond our own milky way.  He asked Spot a lot of questions about how life was on his planet while at the same time educating him on how things worked on Earth.  After saying, “Excuse me, don’t go away.  I’ll be right back with something to write your information on.”

     Before he turned around, Zunar said, “No, don’t go away!  Wait just a, ‘person-gone’ minute here!”

     The next thing Fred knew, he was seated in a really comfortable, heated, massaging chair which massaged his hind-quarters.  That caused him to laugh-out-loud as if he’d just heard the world’s funniest joke ever told.  “Let’s start at the beginning.” he said, “Begin by telling

me about where your planet is located and how you got here to Earth.“ His hand was quivering with excitement.

     Yet before the little dog could utter another word out of his smiling mouth, a net was swiped over him.  That caused him to scream out, “Hay!  What’s the deal?”  It was some dog-catchers.  They were both laughing until they heard him speak human words.  Then one of them said, “Wow!  Did you hear that?  This dog can talk!  We must take it to a scientist right away!  There they can do a phlebotomy on him to find out where he comes from!  This could make us both filthy rich!”  Then they slapped each other high-5s and laughed really sinister- sounding type laughs.  They put him in their truck, gassed him to knock him out and left while Fred chased them screaming, “Hay!  Come back with my dog!” but by then the truck was gone, taking his pet and best-friend to do the awful things scientists will do to explore new things like hurt him to make him talk.  If not, they’d probably kill him and do a lobotomy on him to find out more about him.  Yet since Fred was under-aged, nobody would believe what he told them.

     He was positive nobody would believe him if 

he would tell them about his extra-special dog from another galaxy who had fallen into his life from his spaceship from outer space.  Since he couldn’t drive yet, he ran home and got on his new Schwin 10-speed bike he’d gotten for Christmas from his grandmother.

     Fortunately, he knew where The Department For Unexplained Phenomenons was since he had visited it to get information for a lot of his science projects.  He took a short-cut across some people’s yards so that he could get there to claim his special dog.  As he got up close to it, he dropped his new bike on the pavement and ran in.  The thing was not fast enough to beat those evil men who had his precious pet.  He sprinted through the front door, knocking down several people who were holding things in their hands.  One of them had a drink for a cure of the common-cold, another one had a miracle drug to combat all venereal diseases, that is including AIDS, another one had a sure fire cure to defeat the effects of aging and one even found a cure for head-injuries.  They were each talking amongst themselves while trying to convince the others that theirs was the most important discovery in history which could change the lives of many victims who had experienced all of those infirmities.  Their discoveries were a lot more important and would help many more people than just a 12 year old and his dog, which was what it looked like to any layman’s eyes.  Fred screamed at the top of his lungs, “Please!  Somebody!  Let me get through!  This is an emergency!  I’ve got to claim my dog!  Some jerks picked him up before I could get him a proper tag and a collar!  They’re going to do a lobotomy on him and he’s still very much alive!  Now, please don’t let them even touch that beautiful fur-ball with legs!  I know he looks like that, but he’s really special to me! He’s so much more than a little pet now!”

     That was when an evil, familiar voice behind him said, “I’ll listen to you, you little brat!  Now, you’ve caused me enough trouble so far!  You’re not going to stand in my way between the most incredible discovery in the history of the universe!  I just euthanized him!”

     “Murderer!” screamed Fred, “That’s all you are!  Just a mean, filthy, rotten, evil, terrible, gross murderer!

He was my only friend in the world and now you have killed him!  He never did anything bad to you!  I hate you!  I’ll hate you all the rest of my time on this planet!”

     Then he broke down sobbing uncontrollably.  When some Priests and Pastors came over to lay hands on him, he shrugged them off.  That’s when one of them said, “Don’t cry, my son.  Call on the One Who can really help your friend.  If it’s His will for him to be alive once again, He will find a way to do it, and you can bet your boots on it!”  All those who were Spirit-filled prayed in Tongues while they nodded their heads in agreement.  Just believe in the One Who can do any kind of miracle you really need from Him. Just let Him.”

     Suddenly it hit Fred.  A mighty strong feeling of peace went through his entire body, filling him  tremendously awesome feeling of peace. That’s when it registered, he remembered his Sunday school teacher quoting that great Scripture, “All things are possible through Christ.”   He knew there were no exceptions to the Good Book unless it stated otherwise, and it didn’t in that case, so that had to include the situation he was experiencing at that awful grieving moment in time.

     Although Fred was still just a child, he realized what that teacher was saying was true, and that’s when a brand new feeling came pouring across his body, it started from his heart.  Even though it had been broken, it was still there and he knew it was wrong to use that horrible 4 letter-word, h. a. t. e..  Then he thought about it and realized those men who appeared to be the workers of Satan were just doing what they were told to do, which was follow their boss’s orders.   That was when a warm feeling came upon him.  It started in his heart and flowed through his whole anatomy, filling him with forgiveness, and even love.

     Then he heard the most beautiful sound of his entire life, like panting.  He whirled around to see Zunar sitting there with his right paw extended towards him like he wanted to shake his paw with his hand, but how?  First Fred shook it, then he embraced him in a huge, warm, full-bodied bear-hug.  He didn’t say people-words, he just smiled the biggest grin Fred had ever seen on any creature.  His ecstasy flowed out of his body and into everyone who was around him, including all those, so-called, “murderers” whom he had told he hated just a few minutes earlier.  He’d never felt so happy before.

     Fred found Zunar the prettiest mutt he’d ever seen.  They hit it off right away.  Within a few weeks, they were busy celebrating a huge litter of the weirdest kind of puppies anybody on the planet had ever seen.  Fred sold them all except one the first week they turned old enough to leave their mamma’s care, and like any species of puppies, they were quite messy, although it was to be expected since they’re from the same, “litter.” Like the greatest written children’s stories of all - time will officially finish, “THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!!” The end. By, Cuz Roye, ….1-434-228-7572. Please call me sometime, or call me, Cuz.  Praise God for Alexander Graham Bellskee, the first telephone, “Pole.” Now, the best ways to spread news are by teli- phone, telegraph and, “tell-a-woman.” Mom loves to hear her, “son-dial” that number.  Thank you very much.