Story by Leilia Claggett, for Rina Takeda
The first thing I can remember Anne saying was, "I wanted a baby sister, not a
puppy!"Then mom said, "Well, it looks like that's not going to happen. Anyways, we took
this puppy into our home and now we're going to take care of it. Go on,pet her.She won't
bite." Then Anne tentively stuck in her fingers. I liked them. Anne said,"But..."."No
buts",said mom,"she's ours now, so you better get used to it." Anne sighed. "Why dosn't
Anne like me?",I wondered. "After all, I am her sister".
After a week, Anne started getting used to me. She feed me, and cuddled me.
But they kept taking me outside to do my business. Finally,I figured out that they did
they're business in a room called a "bathroom". For a long time I wouldn't go in it. After
all,who wants to go where you get baths? But after I found out what it was for, I walked
right in and did my business on the floor. Just then, Anne walked in, and shouted," No
Aleasha! Bad!" Then she cleaned up the mess, muttering to herself. Why was she so mad?
Why did I have to do my business outside and eat on the floor? Why was I so different?
One day, I was in the closet, talking to Miss Kitty, the cat, when I
smelled some new shoes. I turned around, and barked at what I saw. It was another animal
in the closet! I sniffed it and it had no smell! Miss Kitty was laughing. "Aleasha,",she
said,"that's you! It's your reflection!" "That can't be me!",I said. " I don't look a bit
like Anne!" "That's because your a dog",said Miss Kitty. And she walked away. So this is
why i'm treated differant. Well, i'm going to have to make some changes. My nose would
have to get shorter. And my hair should grow mostly on my head. And I have to learn to
talk...........
All that week I thought like a human. Changing into a human would be easy.
The hard part would be learning how to talk. Of coarse,I couldn't say Mom or Dad. But I
got close to Anne once. I said "nnnnnn". But she put me outside. She thought I had to
throw up.
The next day, Anne put some clothes into a bag and said,"I'm leaving for
ballet leasons, Mom!" Mom shouted,"Okay dear!",and then Anne left. When she got back she
left her bag on the floor, open. I took a peek inside. I pulled out some long stetchy
things and started ripping them."Aleasha!",yelled Anne."Bad! You knew it was wrong!" I
nodded my head. "And you'll never do it again, will you?" I shook my head. "And......
Hey Aleasha, did you understand what I said?" I nodded,then liked her face. "Wow",she
said,"you must be the smartest dog in the world. You look different. Your nose is smaller
and your ears are lower.' I smiled, glad that someone had finally noticed, and said,very
clearly,"Anne".
That night,I talked for mom and dad. Then a funny thing happened. Mom went
to sleep on the kitchen floor. When she woke up, she said I had to learn to do normal
people things. Finally, when I really looked like I was a little girl instead of a puppy,
I was aloud out of the house and I lead a normal life.
The End
Story by: Leilia Claggett, age 11
