Story Time
Hey kids! It’s story time! So settle in and I will tell you the story of:
“BO, THE PUPPY THAT THOUGHT HE COULD DRIVE A CAR”
Once upon a time there was a young puppy named Bo. Bo was a happy little dog with big ears and a very thoughtful expression. Bo liked to think. He would spend hours just thinking. He would think about this, and then he would think about that. Sometimes he would just think about thinking. Bo never did do very much but he sure had a lot of ideas. He would share his ideas with his little puppy friends. “Oh, those are wonderful ideas” his friends would say.
One day Bo was out thinking and playing with his friends on the co-op farm where they all lived. There was a girl dog named Pel. She was a little dog that liked to yip a lot and would often show her teeth and snap. There was Hairy, a small dog that was given his name because he actually didn’t have very much hair at all. And there was Barney. Barney was a little Dachshund or wiener hound as some people call them. Barney spent most of his time outside because when he was inside the farmer’s house he made pee-pee on the carpet. The farmer would scold him and spank him with a rolled up newspaper. “No, no, no Barney” he would say. But Barney kind of liked the spankings so he would make pee-pee on the carpet all the time.
There were some other little dogs on the farm, but Bo and his friends didn’t like them very much. There was old Mac. He had been around the farm longer than any of the other dogs. He had been a guard dog for most of his life, making sure that the bad dogs from the other farms in the area didn’t come and make trouble. Once while fighting off some of the bad dogs Mac was grabbed by the dog catcher and put in the pound. He wasn’t sure if they were going to put him to sleep or not. But eventually the farmer brought him back home to stay. “I love this farm and I would do it all again if I had to” Mac would say.
And there was a new comer to the farm. Another girl dog named Rah. She was an Alaskan Fox Hound who liked to go out into the fields and hunt. Sometimes Bo and his friends would play with Mac and Rah, but it usually ended up with an argument.
While Bo and his friends were out playing they came across the farmer’s car. The farmer had left the car running and the car door wide open. Bo said “You know, I was thinking that I would like to drive this car”. “Oh, that’s a wonderful idea” said his friends. “You will make history” Pel added.
Old Mac and Rah were sitting close by watching. Mac asked “Do you have any idea how to actually drive that car?” “Oh cry, do you even know how the car works?” added Rah.
“Oh pay no attention to them Bo” said Hairy. “Yes” said Pel, “None of that matters as long as we can be a part of this historic drive”. “Does this collar make my face look fat?” asked Barney.
So Bo and Pel and Hairy all got into the front seat. “This looks dangerous” said Barney as he climbed into the back. “Oh go hump a leg” said Pel “Nothing can go wrong. And even if it does we’ll just blame Mac. He never sticks up for himself anyway.”
Mac and Rah moved back a good distance. “This looks like an accident waiting to happen” said Mac. Bo studied the dash board and the pedals. “This doesn’t look too hard” he said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Here’s how this is going to work. Hairy you push the gas pedal and Pel you push the brake. I’ll do the steering. But which way should I steer?”
“Go straight” yelled Rah from farm house porch. “Hello! I think not” said Barney. “You can go a little right and a little left” said Mac. “Oh, stick a sock in it” said Pel. “Go left and just keep going left.”
“That sound good to me” said Hairy.
So Bo put his paws on the steering wheel and turned it to the left. Hairy pushed on the gas and Pel pushed on the brake. VAAAAROOOOM went the car engine, but the car didn’t move. “Push harder” said Bo. “We’re pushing as hard as we can” said Hairy and Pel. “Oh you big sillies, you need to move that gear lever thingy” said Barney. “I’ve seen the farmer do it lots of time. It’s that bone shaped thingy right there.”
Bo looked at the lever. “It’s pointing to the P” said Bo. “Should we put in on the R or the N or the D.?” “Did someone say pee?” said Barney. “Put it on the R” said Pel “Yes, the R sound good to me” said Hairy. So Bo grabbed the lever with his teeth and moved to the R. “Now push” said Bo. So Hairy and Pel pushed the pedals but the car didn’t move, it just rocked a little. “Push harder” said Bo. “Oh, for crying out loud, let me see.” said Pel, and she took her paws off the brake to look.
Suddenly the car sped off backwards. “Stop pushing, stop pushing” cried Bo. Hairy let off of the gas and the car slowed to a stop. “I think I need the rolled up newspaper” said Barney “And a towel”.
“You put it on the D” said old Mac from his seat on the porch. “My friends, everybody knows that you put it on D to move forward.”
“I said put it on the D all along” said Pel. “Me too” said Hairy. “I’m certain I said put it on the D too” said Barney. So Bo moved the lever to the D and Hairy began pushing on the gas pedal. The car began to move but as Bo had the wheel turned all the way to the left it just kept going around in a circle.
“We’re moving but we’re not going anywhere” said Bo. “That doesn’t matter” said Pel. “As long as were moving it will look like we’re getting somewhere. Go faster, go faster.” So Hairy pushed harder on the gas and the car went faster. Pel got up from her place at the brake pedal to watch as the world zipped by “Weeeeeee” she said. “My tummy hurts” said Barney. “Faster, faster” cried Pel.
The car continued to go faster and soon the back end started to swerve. The circle the car was making got bigger and bigger. Soon it got so big that the car was now zipping very close to the old apple tree that stood in the yard. “STOP!” hollered Mac and Rah. “Let off the gas and press the brake. You’re going to smash the car.” But the car continued to race in a larger and larger circle. “Let off the gas” said Bo. “Yes, that will do it” said Rah. Hairy took his paws off the gas. The car slowed down a little but its momentum kept it going toward the tree.
Finally Mac yelled “Pel. Get back to what you’re supposed to be doing and push that brake before you crash!” Pel had gotten so carried away with sitting next to Bo that she had forgotten that it was her job to keep the car from crashing. She finally jumped down and pushed the brake. The car began to slow and stopped just short of the tree. Bo moved the gear lever back to D.
As Bo and his friends got out of the car Pel looked at Mac and said “I knew we wouldn’t crash. I didn’t need your help. I was in complete control. I got us going and I got us stopped. And we did it, we drove the car.”
“Yea, right” said Mac. “Cry,” said Rah “you drove it around in circles and you almost killed yourself and wrecked the car in the process. Look at the mess you’ve made of the lawn. That’s going to cost the farmer a lot of time and money to get it back to the shape it was in before your little stunt. He’s not going to be too happy with you.”
“It was Mac’s fault.” said Pel. He should have stopped this but he chose not to. The farmer should be mad at him not us.” Bo and Hairy and Pel and Barney walked away, a little weak in the knees and a whole lot of dizzy.
Rah looked at Mac and said “She would have let that car crash had you not reminded her. I can’t believe she is so ungrateful”
“I know,” said Mac “But it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. As long as the car didn’t get completely destroyed, the farmer can rebuild his yard and keep driving his car.
“Do you think the farmer will be mad at Bo for his yard?” said Rah.
“Maybe, maybe not” said Mac “It all depends on who the farmer blames for this mess.”
“Well then we should tell him. We should let him know it was Bo and his friends.”
“We can tell him alright.” said Mac. “But sometimes he just doesn’t care about what is true and what is not true.
“Well I hope he comes to his senses” said Rah.
“Me too” said Mac. “Cause that tree is still there for the next joy ride.”
The End. ?????
