The story of Blu the Basset Hound

The sun rose early on the little town of Summer. Our story begins in a small animal shelter called Paws. The first sound of the day was always the same wake – up call by a small grumpy man. Here, he was very mean to all the dogs in the shelter. Of course the owner, a sweet older man who knew nothing of his employees abusive ways. All of the other dogs but me tried to shrink into the corners of their cages every time he came down to feed us. That’s all he ever did was feed us. He never played with us or walked us in the field. He just dumped the cheapest dog food he could find on a plate and stuck it in the cage. I, a medium sized brown and white Basset Hound, was about the only one who was not afraid of him. Little did the man know I had a plan, a plan to escape this horrid prison. So when the man came towards my cage I was ready. As soon as he opened my cage I jumped out and ran for my life. “Hey get back here you little mutt!” The man screamed as he ran after me. But there was no stopping me! I had planned this great escape for years, and I was running so fast I almost tripped over my long floppy ears. At last I was at the door. I was so close to freedom. Until wham! “I got you now!” The man had trapped me under a net. I was stopped. A week had passed since I tried desperately to gain my freedom. I sat in my cage day after day and studied the man’s schedule- when he left for lunch, the exact moment he walked back in the door ect. I waited until I was absolutely sure the man had gone on his lunch break. I carefully slid the lock to the left and then down (A thing I so carefully watched the man do) A moment later I was walking out the door that the man carelessly left open. Finally! I was out of the shelter. I was so happy that I barked several times until I realized that someone would hear me barking and return me to the shelter. Everything looked and smelled so wonderful! The large Oak trees, the green grass, and of course the hot dog stands! A week later the greatness of everything around me was wearing off. Sure, in the day there were lots of things to see, but at night everything grew cold and dark. I was tired, homeless, and most importantly hungry. Things were not going as I planned. So when it started raining one night I ran. Soon my problem of getting wet turned into fright. I didn’t know where to turn next. I was scared of the lightning. I must have been whining loudly because a light flickered on in one of the houses and a girl stepped out on the porch with a giant pink umbrella. Hoping that the girl would take me in, I ran to her. She looked at me for a moment and then stepped aside leaving the door wide open. Even though I was dying to run inside the house, I still cautiously sniffed around, looked once more at the girl, and ran in. I soon came to love the girl. She was so kind to me, but still she had posted up “Found” posters all over town. I knew sooner or later the guy at the animal shelter would recognize my picture, and come to lead me to my doom. When the guy did come I was ready to defend my self. I soon found out I didn’t have to. The girl found out I lived at the shelter and adopted me! She gave me my name, Blu. I knew that I finally found a place that I could call home.
THE END

-By Aleah Chambers
Age 11