Excerpts
Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat (book 1 in the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat series)
Chapter 1
CAN DOGS FLY?
Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat are the best of friends. They eat together, sleep together and best of all, play together.
They were not always friends though. When they first met, they did not like each other at all.
They used to bite each other’s ears and pull each other’s tail. The two little guys were very sad and did not understand why.
One day the house mouse explained things to them. “All day long you two run around here making all kind of noise, barking, meowing, and breaking things.”
“I can’t get any rest. All this fighting doesn’t make any sense. Why don’t you try being friends?” said the little mouse.
Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat really did not like to fight, so they decided to follow house mouse’s advice and gave friendship a try.
It was not easy at first, but soon they realized that being friends was a lot more fun and a lot less painful.
Best of all, the two friends were now happy and enjoyed playing together.
All day long, back and forth, in and out, tumbling, wrestling and chasing each other until they were so tired they couldn’t move.
One warm spring day the two friends were resting under a large shade tree, watching the birds flying in and out of the top branches.
Patchwork Dog loved to chase birds. That was one of his favorite games. But the birds were up too high for him to reach.
“I wish I could fly,” said Patchwork Dog, “then I could chase the birds no matter how high they go. Why not? It can’t be too hard. If a little bird can do it, a big dog like me can do it too.”
Calico Cat just sat and watched her silly friend jumping around, flapping his front legs up and down, and wagging his tail so fast that his back end did lift off the ground.
After a while, Patchwork Dog plopped down on the ground panting. He was so tired. He was ready to give up on his idea of flying.
Calico Cat liked to play tricks on her not too smart friend. With a mischievous smile on her face she said, “You need some help, Patchy. If you run as fast as you can down that hill over there, jump up into the air, then pump your legs and wag your tail, maybe you will fly.”
Patchwork Dog looked at the hill and thought about it.
“Yeah! Maybe you are right, Calico. I’ll go to the top of the hill, and run as fast as I can down the hill and jump in the air. Then I’ll flap my legs, wag my tail and I’ll fly!”
Calico Cat watched the silly dog get into position. She waited and waited but Patchwork Dog just stood there.
“What’s the matter, Patchy? Are you going to fly or not?”
Patchwork Dog looked down the long steep hill, “It’s a long, long way down to the bottom. I don’t know about this.”
Calico Cat laughed and said, “You can’t fly. You’re a dog. You don’t have wings. Birds can do it, but you can’t.”
Well this made Patchwork Dog mad. He didn’t like being told he could not do something, and he really didn’t like it when Calico laughed at him.
“Grrrr…I’ll show that cat. I’ll go to the top of the hill and get a running start, jump into the air, and I’ll show her that I can fly better than any bird.”
At the top of the hill, Patchwork Dog started running.
He got faster and faster and FASTER…..
By the time he got to the steepest part of the hill, the little dog was running so fast that his feet left the ground and he was sailing through the air.
“I’m flying, I’m flying.”
He pumped his legs and wagged his tail but something was wrong. His flying speed got slower and slower and then…
PLOP!!!! Flat on the ground.
Calico Cat ran over to her friend. “Patchy, Patchy are you OK?”
It took a few seconds, but Patchwork Dog looked up and said, “I think I’ll leave flying to the birds. Soaring through the air is fun but the landing hurts too much.”
Patchwork Dog slowly stood up and walked around, checking to make sure his legs still worked the way they were supposed to.
Patchy could have been hurt very badly trying to fly like a bird, but luckily all he got were some bumps and bruises.
He learned a valuable lesson that day. Be happy with who you are and leave the flying to those who know how to do it.
“All this flying has made me hungry. Let’s go in and see if supper is ready,” said the tired little puppy.
So the two friends went back home to eat and get a good nights sleep so they would be ready for a new adventure tomorrow.
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