Maggie

• Charlie Burns, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

CRASH! “Maggie!” I hear my mum yell. The crazy dog has done it again. I look over and all I see is the tail of my dog as she dashes from the house through the dog door. “Not again” I say as I see my mum sprinting after her.
This is the second time this week that Maggie has taken one of mum's pairs of clean underwear, and she is not happy. As I walk into the kitchen to fill a glass of water and watch my mum chase after Maggie around the yard in a towel.
Maggie is a 6-year-old golden retriever who has the mind of a demon. Cute on the outside, straight-out devil on the inside. We got her in 2016 and from day one we knew it was going to be a challenge.
I go to the cupboard and get the box of her favourite biscuits and shake it repeatedly until she notices, and suddenly, the evil devil inside is
flushed away to be a perfect angel, that drops the undies and skips over to me mouth-watering in delight for a delicious treat!
But I have other plans, Maggie seems quite dirty from the dilemma so there is only one thing I can do... give her a bath!
I finish the glass of water and put the cup in the sink and make my way to the bathroom to turn on the tap but as soon as the water hits the tub, Maggie is nowhere to be found/
“Maggie where are you?” I exclaimed as I searched for the missing canine. It did not take long to find the dirty paw prints of the missing pup, snaking its way to the kitchen, all the way into the cupboard.
“Ha, I got you” I laugh when I open the door all that is there are the prints, AND A HOLE IN THE WALL!
My anger inside boils like a kettle at its hottest point, but then I have a light bulb moment! I can lure her to the bathroom by shaking the
box... “it worked the first time who says it won't again?” I think to myself, I get up off the ground to grab the box and run to the bathroom and to shake the box and call her name...the demon dog, the naughty pup... MAGGIE, MAGGIE where are you?
And as I predicted in a matter of seconds, she appears out of nowhere and jumps in the tub. My prayers have been answered! The box is the answer!
From that day on, every time Maggie does something wrong all I need to do is get that box from the cupboard and shake it and Maggie will be a perfect angel. If only when I was not there my family would put two and two together and shake the box, then maybe Maggie would be an angel to all... or it is my imagination.