Penny

Penny was so excited. Her mom had put a nice new collar on her, with a matching leash. Her fur was brushed, and she had eaten a delicious breakfast. Mom had even given her some of her bacon! Now they were getting in the car, and Penny thought they just might be going to the park.

Something was a little off, though. Usually, when they went to the park, Penny saw lots of other houses go by. There were big ones and small ones, some that had dogs that barked as they drove by and some that only had humans in them. She would smell gardens, and breakfast cooking, and then the pool by the park. But today, she saw big fields with strange, huge black and white dogs in them. They made funny moo-ing noises instead of barking. And she could smell all kinds of new things she hadn’t smelled before. Where were they going?

Finally they slowed down and parked. The parking lot was just like at the park, with warm flat ground that burned her paws a little and the sound of human children playing. There were other puppies, too. She could hear them yipping, and splashing like at the pool. But instead of the park and pool, she saw funny yellow dirt and flat blue as far as she could see. What was all this? Penny’s mom started walking towards it, and Penny, when she knew where they were going, started pulling at the leash to go faster. That made her mom laugh.

When they got to the end of the path, Penny ran into the yellow stuff, which her mom called sand. It was hard to run through, like snow. But it was so warm! Penny’s mom laughed as she rolled in it. Then Penny’s mom walked her down to the water. It was cool, and moved to the sand in little waves. It smelled cool and fresh and a little salty. Penny’s mom took off her leash. The waves chased her up the sand, then Penny chased them back down. This was so much fun!

Penny was starting to get tired when her mom rubbed her back and pointed out at the water. There were more dogs out there! Penny ran and jumped into the water. Paddling hard, she swam out farther, and farther, and farther… Penny could hear her mom yelling from the shore, but she was almost to the other dogs. Boy, was she tired, though.

When Penny reached the other dogs, she was surprised. They acted like dogs, and talked a little like dogs, but they smelled like fish and had fins like fish. Penny was getting scared now. She was so tired, and the sand and her mom were so far away! Penny started to turn around, but she wasn’t sure she was going to get back. Suddenly, she felt something nudging her back paws. The strange new dogs were helping her! They swam behind her, pushing her along until she was almost close enough to touch. She was so happy to let her mom carry her back to the car. And even though she loved car rides, she slept the whole way home.

Penny really liked adventures, but next time, she was going to listen to her mom when she called!