Toby The Dog

• Noah Edwards, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2020

Toby the brown mongrel poked his fluffy little nose out his kennel at the foot of the great oak. The great oak was the biggest, tallest, most humungous tree in the whole town. It towered above all trees, making them look tiny. As Toby stepped out of his home, he saw his stick. Toby loved his stick and played with it all day. He’d do anything for the most magnificent and velvety stick in the entire world.
One particular day, he jumped and pounced around with his stick all morning. Afterwards, he set out for a walk. He walked for hours.
As he walked along he heard a cry for help. Quickly, Toby rushed to where the sound was coming from. He found a hole with a helpless pup inside. The pup’s body was trembling all over; her poor legs were like jelly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll try and get you out” Toby yelled.
Toby ran round the forest in circles, looking for something that might be able to help the poor little dog. Finally he came across a vine. He threw the vine down to the pup, being careful to keep hold of one end himself. She tried to climb up, but the vine snapped.
“It’s no use,” said the pup, “I’m never getting out of here.”
But then Toby disappeared from her sight. He’d remembered his stick. He’d never shown another dog his stick before; he knew that everyone who saw this stick would want it for himself. But this was more important. The pup needed his help.
He ran back to his home, and picked up his stick before dashing back.
“Here you go” Toby threw the stick into the hole. The pup positioned the stick against the wall and climbed up the stick, out of the hole. When the pup got out she starting jumping and yapping and running round in crazy circles. But Toby wasn’t celebrating, he was looking down at the hole, his stick down there.
Toby didn’t have the best stick in the world anymore. Suddenly the pup noticed Toby looking longingly down the hole. She realised what that stick must have meant to Toby.
Toby turned his head away from the hole, and starting walking back home. The pup followed. They said their goodbye’s, the pup promising to be more careful in future.
It was a long night for Toby, he tossed and turned in his sleep. He was missing his stick. In the morning he got up and walked out his kennel, wondering how he was going to spend his day now he didn’t have a stick to play with. He nearly tripped over something left at his door. It was a stick – not his special stick, but a stick. He heard a yapping in the near distance, a thank you. Toby smiled. It was not magnificent like his stick, but it was special all the same. He picked it up in his mouth and went out to play.