Violet's+Point+of+View

(Image from //**The Great Fuzz Frenzy**//, by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, published By Harcourt Inc., c2005)

=__**From Violet’s Point of View…**__=

Hi. My name is Violet. I am a lovable golden retriever, and I live in a great house with my human. I love my tennis ball. It is the best toy in the world! I like to carry it around with me so that whenever my human is nearby, I can drop it for her and she will run to get it! I love to play fetch.

Everything was great with me, my tennis ball in my yard, until one day, disaster struck! I was trotting across the yard when I noticed this hole in the lawn. I knew my human would not be pleased with a hole in her yard. Now my human is pretty great most of the time. She feeds me, lets me share her bed, plays ball with me, and even gives me treats. But when she thinks I have misbehaved, she can be quite cross. I can guarantee that one look at this hole, and she will think I definitely misbehaved!

I needed to investigate further. I stuck my nose down in the hole. Unfortunately, I forgot to drop my ball first, and while I was checking out the hole, I dropped it! I whimpered and whined a lot, and I even barked down the hole, but my ball never returned. It was gone!

I sauntered back up to the house, and sadly lazed the rest of day away, laying out in the sun on the deck, without my ball.

It turned out that laying on the back deck was a mistake. When my human came home, she came out back looking for me. She gave me a good pat and a scratch, and she even brought me a treat. Then, she asked me where my ball was. Of course, I can’t talk to tell her (she never has figured that out!), so I just gave her my best puzzled look. She walked out into the yard to look for it. I figured I was better off to stay put on the deck.

That’s when it happened. She saw the hole! She looked at the hole, and she looked at me. She looked at me, and looked at the hole. I did my very best to give her my saddest, biggest, most lovable puppy dog eyes. It did not work. I got a spank and sent to my room.

It was a couple days later, when my human seemed to have forgiven me (for something I did not even do!) and I wandered back near the hole. You will never believe it! Right there, in the yard, in plain view, was my ball. Or at least what used to be my ball. It used to be green and fuzzy and warm. It tasted great! Now, it was all rubbery and cold, and all white. I could not imagine what on earth happened to it. I decided that unless I wanted to be in more trouble, I better hide it. I took it and I buried it in the trees (where my owner does not mind digging). I never saw that ball again.

It turns out that my owner had indeed forgiven me. In fact, when she came home that day, she brought me a brand new ball! This ball was just like my old one, only it was orange. I decided that I liked it just as well, and took it out to the back yard.

While I was sliming up my new ball real good, I heard a noise. It was coming from that hole! I just had to check it out. I raced over there to take a look, with my ball still in my mouth….



(Image from //**The Great Fuzz Frenzy**//, by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, published By Harcourt Inc., c2005)

Story by Tammie Klage.