I Make a Friend

 

I Make a Friend

 

I was fascinated by the satellites that the Russians began launching in 1957 and horrified when they launched a dog named Laika with no way of bringing her back to earth. That was about the same time that Uncle Benjamin bought a dog for his daughter Kate. She named it Sputnik. 

I’d learned in school that “Sputnik” was Russian for “Traveling Companion”. Sputnik was Kate’s traveling companion. Sputnik followed Kate everywhere and at night she slept at the foot of Kate’s bed. Kate had a lot of things I wished that I had, but the thing I wanted most was a dog. I yearned for a companion like Sputnik.

 

It wasn’t too long before I got my wish. I found Waggles a few months after Kate got Sputnik. Actually I rescued him. The Norfleet boys had tied him up in the middle of the road. There were two ropes around his neck. One rope was fastened to a tree and the other was tied to a fence on the other side of the road. The little dog struggled to free himself while the boys pulled the ropes tighter.

I couldn’t believe anyone could be so mean. “What are you doing to that dog?” I asked.

“We have a bet on how long it will take before someone comes around that curve too fast runs over this mutt?”

“Will you give him to me?”

“What do you want with this mangy old thing?”

“I never had a dog before and I think I’d like to have one.”

They looked at each other and shrugged. “This is getting a little boring anyway. Sure. You can take him.”

They untied the dog and he ran right to me wagging his tail so hard he almost fell over. “I think I will call you ‘Waggles’. Come on, Waggles. Let’s go home. “

Mama wasn’t happy when I showed up with a dog. She complained that we didn’t have enough for ourselves much less a dog. 

It was Aunt Sarah that convinced her to let me keep him. “Come on, Rose. It will be fine. He doesn’t look like he’ll eat that much and it will teach her responsibility. “

Mama just shook her head and walked out in a huff, but Waggles stayed.

Reviews

[Mathias Winters]

I think this is part of a larger story so I'm just going to make a few suggestions. There are some words repeated constantly in some of the paragraphs. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it interrupts the flow of the story and ultimately doesn't make it sound very nice. I like the first opening paragraph which talks about the dog in space. That was a great way to begin. The dialogue is also a little off. It doesn't sound too realistic. If those were the exact words of something true that happened though, by all means keep them the same.