Puppy Love

"I don't like it here," exclaimed Mary-Beth angrily. "The other
children keep calling me names. Why can't we go back to our old house?"
Mary-Beth threw herself into her mother's arms. "Please mum," she
sobbed.

Mary-Beth's mum stroked her daughter's hair, and spoke to her
soothingly. "I'm sorry you don't like living here. I'm sure, that in
time, when the other children get to know you, you'll make lots of new
friends. We can't move back now. I explained all of this when your
daddy and I divorced. We had to move. I know it's not easy sweetheart,
we both have to make a new start."

"But mum, I'm lonely NOW."

"I know," said her mum. "Now come and wash your face. We're going into
town, I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise. What surprise?" asked Mary-Beth, jumping up and down
excitedly.

"Wait and see. Now go and wash your face."

Mary-Beth ran upstairs and washed her face. Then she ran into her
bedroom. She picked up her favourite toy, a battered old rabbit. "Come
on Flopsie, we're going to town. Mum's got a surprise, just for
me."

Mary-Beth and her mum went to town. First of all they went to a cafe.
Mary-Beth had a glass of orange juice and a big sticky bun."Is this the
surprise?" asked Mary-Beth.

"No, silly. Just wait and see," answered her mum. When they had
finished eating and drinking, Mary-Beth's mum took Mary-Beth to the
local pet shop. She told Mary-Beth to close her eyes. She took
Mary-Beth's hand and led her to a cage. "You can open your eyes now,
sweetheart," she said.

Mary-Beth opened her eyes. "OH MUM, HE'S SO CUTE. Is this the
surprise?" she asked.

"Yes it is, and it's a girl puppy, not a boy puppy."

"Can I keep him, I mean her, forever and ever?" asked Mary-Beth.

"Yes, you can. I saw her the other day. She was in a cage with lots of
other puppies. The other puppies were picking on her. So the pet shop
owner put her in this cage on her own. I thought about you and about
how lonely you've been, so I bought her for you. Do you think you can
look after her?"

Mary-Beth stroked the puppy's head gently. "Oh I will," she answered
eagerly. "Has the puppy got a name?"

"No, not yet. I thought that you would like to give her a name,"
replied Mary-Beth's mum.

"OK," said Mary-Beth as she and her mum and the puppy went home. It was
a few days later when Mary-Beth decided on a name. "Mum," started
Mary-Beth.

"Yes," answered her mum.

"I've thought about a name for the puppy," said Mary-Beth.

"Mmmm, and what is it?" asked her mum.

"Well, you know how the puppy runs all over the place. Then she tumbles
head over heels, all topsy-turvy. Well, I can't call her topsy-turvy,
but I would like to call her Topsy. Do you think that that's a silly
name for a dog?" asked Mary-Beth.

"No, sweetheart. I think that would suit her perfectly," replied
Mary-Beth's mum.

One Saturday afternoon Mary-Beth and Topsy were playing in the park
when, three children approached them. These were the children that had
teased Mary-Beth when she had first moved into the area. There were two
boys and a girl.One of the boys walked over to Mary-Beth. He asked her
if he could look at her puppy?

Mary-Beth was very frightened. "I....I suppose so," stammered
Mary-Beth.

"What's its name?" asked the boy.

"T..Topsy," replied Mary-Beth. "What's yours?"

"Davey," said the boy. "And him over there, with the brown hair, is
Kelly. He's eight, the same age as me. And she's Peg," said Davey,
pointing to the angelic looking girl. "That's short for Margaret, in
case you don't know, and she's seven," said Davey smugly. "What's your
name then?"

"Mary-Beth, and that's not short for anything. I'm five, but soon I'll
be six," said Mary-Beth, feeling a little bit more daring.

Davey looked at Mary-Beth, then he looked at Topsy. "Can we play with
your puppy then? I suppose you could play as well, if you like," said
Davey.

"OK," said Mary-Beth. She didn't want to appear too eager. She didn't
want them to know how lonely she had been.

They all had such a good time playing that all past teasing and name
calling was soon forgotten. Over the next few weeks the four children
could be found playing happily together. Topsy was always somewhere in
the midst of the pack.

Mary-Beth was walking to school one morning. As she approached the
school gates she turned to see Topsy running towards her. "Go home,"
shouted Mary-Beth. But Topsy just kept on running towards her.
Mary-Beth picked up a stone and threw it at Topsy. The stone struck
Topsy, who turned and ran onto the road. She ran into the path of a
passing lorry. There was a terrible sound of screeching brakes, then
silence. Topsy lay perfectly still. A small trickle of blood started to
ooze from where she lay.

"NO. OH NO," screamed Mary-Beth. "Please, oh please, will somebody help
me."

For a few seconds nobody moved. All of the children just stood there in
shock. Mary-Beth ran onto the road, where her injured puppy lay
bleeding. Topsy opened her eyes and licked Mary-Beth's hand. Then she
went to sleep. Mary-Beth looked up helplessly.

"Somebody get help, please."

A young girl who had been standing nearby ran into the school."Miss,
Miss, come quickly. Hurry you must help," said Elizabeth to the
teacher.

The teacher bent down. "Calm down, Elizabeth," she said. "Now start at
the beginning."

"It's Mary-Beth's puppy. It's been knocked down, and she's bleeding,
and, and I think she's dead as well. Come on Miss, you must
hurry."

The teacher grabbed Elizabeth's hand and they ran outside to help.The
teacher examined Topsy, who was still breathing. She picked Topsy up,
and gently carried her to her car. Mary-Beth followed them. The teacher
took both Topsy and Mary-Beth home. The Vet was immediately sent for.
After examining Topsy carefully he smiled down at Mary-Beth."Well,
young lady, you have a very lucky puppy. She has a small cut in her
mouth. But apart from that she's fine. A few days of love and care and
she'll be running about good as new."

Mary-Beth wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at the Vet. "Oh
thank you. I promise I'll look after her very carefully."

Davey, Kelly and Peg wanted to visit Mary-Beth and Topsy. But their
parents had told them to wait awhile, so that Topsy could recover
quietly at home. Mary-Beth didn't know this. She thought that her
friends hated her because she had thrown the stone at Topsy. She was
sitting in the garden a few days later when she heard the front door
bell ring."Mary-Beth, you have some visitors," shouted her mum.

"Who?" asked Mary-Beth."Come and see," answered her mum. It was Davey,
Kelly and Peg. "How's Topsy?" they all shouted together.

"She's going to be OK," said Mary-Beth."That's brill' ," said Kelly.
"Can you come and play now?" Mary-Beth couldn't believe it. They were
still her friends after all. "But I thought that you wouldn't want to
be my friends, 'cause I threw that stone at Topsy."

"Nah," said Davey grinning. "You're not bad, for a GIRL. Now are you
comin' to play or what?"When Mary-Beth told her mum what Davey had
said, her mum said a very silly thing. Her mum had smiled and said:
"Sometimes the end justifies the means."

"Yes mum," said Mary-Beth, not knowing at all what her mother had
meant. She shook her head, "sometimes grown-ups say the silliest
things," she muttered to herself as she went off to play with her
friends.Topsy made a complete recovery, and had many an adventure with
Mary-Beth and her friends.

THE END