“TEDDY!” Screamed Paige at the top of her lungs. Teddy was Paige’s beloved dog. “That dumb dog, if he keeps running out the door like that, He’s gonna get himself run over,” said Nanna shaking her head sadly. Every time the door opened or the backyard gate was open, the dog went running wildly across the street. Thank goodness that street wasn’t busy. Paige, her sister Miranda and her grandma who she called Nanna lived on a street called Contri way. Paige’s parents were away on a trip in the Bahamas for their anniversary. Paige sprinted out the door across the street to where her neighbors and friends, the Trenzarello’s lived. The Trenzarellos had a dog named Rocket. Teddy always ran over to play with rocket. “Teddy, treat Teddy treat! TREAT TEDDY!” yelled Paige. But it was too late, Teddy had dodged Paige’s dive and headed for the backyard of the Trenzarellos. That wouldn’t be so bad except, there was a hill at the far side of the backyard that led down to a highway. Paige, in panic, ran as fast as her legs would let her to stop Teddy. Teddy started going down the hill. Paige in fear of chasing Teddy to the highway, knelt down and cried. Teddy looked up to see Paige kneeling. And Teddy, had too kind of a heart to not go and lick Paige’s face. So he realized the “game” was over and went to comfort his owner. Paige was so happy, she scooped up Teddy in her arms and skipped home. When she entered the house, Miranda came bouncing up in front of Paige. “Did ya get Teddy back, huh? Huh? Did ya?” Miranda asked. “No,” Paige responded sarcastically. “That silly cockapoo!” Giggled Miranda. Paige hugged Teddy close. Ever since that vacation Paige and her family took, she has been awful scared about Teddy getting lost or worse…dying. When Paige and her family went to Florida for a family vacation, Teddy was left with some people that got recommended for dog sitting. This was during a chilly late winter. It was snowing hard in NJ when Paige got the message. “WHAT? NO IT CAN’T BE!” Paige screamed hysterically. Teddy was lost. And in the middle of this snowstorm too. Paige cried her eyes out well her Dad called and checked their message machine, incase someone found Teddy. Finally her Dad came across a message. Some woman had found Teddy nearly frozen and had taken him in. “When we got back I cried and thanked the woman over and over again. I don’t know what I would do without Teddy. He’s my best friend and I love him so much!” Paige thought, thinking about the incident. She shivered just thinking about it. Paige hugged Teddy close. When Teddy finally got put down. He sat down and looked up with his creamy brown eyes, sparkling. For a second Paige thought she saw Teddy smile! Teddy always made Paige laugh, Especially his shiny, curly black hair. His brown mustache was adorable! And the way he ran, he looked like a little bunny rabbit! Paige got so scared everytime he ran out the door though! He was not very big so Paige was trying to think of ways to make it so Teddy never left the yard. “We could put up an invisible fence…OR I COULD TRAIN HIM!” Thought Paige. So off Paige ran to train Teddy. “ Hi paige!” hollered Ryan, Paige’s cousin. Ugh…Paige always got so disguisted by Ryan, Brendan, and Kiran, her three cousins. Not today! Why did they have to visit today! Immedietly Kiran started making his rude duck noises, putting down everyone’s patience. Then came Brendan’s teasing. Everyone thought he was an angel but NO! He teased Paige nonstop. The last straw was when Ryan let Teddy out and yelled at Paige to calm down when she ran outside screaming for Teddy. OH NO! A car was headed right towards Teddy who was running around in the street. Paige ran onto the street trying to chase Teddy off of the street. Right before the car was going to hit him. He swerved off the road. Paige cried of happiness. She thought she had lost Teddy. She picked him up, stormed inside and spent the rest of the cousins being angry. They always had a way of ganging up on Paige and making her feel like a speck of dust. No! They made her feel smaller than that. They asked her why she didn’t want another dog over the age of 5. Paige sighed and told them the truth, “I’m scared of the dog dying too soon. I always bond with him or her and love them more than anything but then in the blink of an eye, they’re gone. Gone from your life, and there’s a big empty spot in your heart where they used to be,” Paige said with tears welling up in her eyes. “That’s stupid, everything dies you baby. You will get another dog and it will die, get over it,” Said Ryan. That was why Paige did not like her cousins. Paige went up to her room and wrote a poem about Teddy to make her feel better. It went like this:
Teddy, you are the best thing about waking up each morning,
You make everyday shining and bright
The way you lick my cheek and wag your tail
It fills me with this amazing feeling
That I only get when you’re near
Without you, I don’t know what I’d do
It would be like cutting my heart in half.
Taking away my best friend
Who I love and cherish more than anything
I love you Teddy, please don’t ever leave me
Alone in this harsh world
And even when you’re gone,
You’ll live on my heart forever

Spilling her feelings out into a poem made Paige feel so much better. At last her cousins left. Finally Paige could train Teddy! But where was he? “NANNA!? WHERE’S TEDDY?” Screamed Paige worryly. “I don’t know!” Yelled Nanna back. Paige ran outside and searched all over, she checked the whole house. Every single one of Teddy’s favorite spots were empty. Paige made Nanna drive her all over town to search for Teddy. There was no sign of him. Paige made a hundred posters to put up. They said
“Lost dog, 12 pounds, black fur, cockapoo, Teddy.” His name was on his collar so all she could hope for was that somebody found him and would call them. Paige spent all night and all the next day curled up in a ball worrying. Days went by and no calls came about Teddy. About a week and a half later the phone rang early on a Wednesday morning. Paige sleepily picked up. “Yawn…hello?” “Hi, My name is Robert and I think I found your dog!” Said the person on the other end of the line. “WHAT? OH MY GOSH THIS IS GREAT? SHOULD I COME PICK HIM UP OR CAN YOU BRING HIM HERE?” Paige screamed. The man said he would bring Teddy over at 10:30, in thirty minutes. When the doorbell rang, Paige ran to the door! The door sprang open and out of the mans arms jumped…Teddy? No it couldn’t be! This was not Teddy. Paige even tested it out and with a heavy head, sent the man home. About 3 weeks had past now and Paige was losing all hope of finding Teddy. Another 5 days went by when Paige went to a news stand. The headline was “Brilliant mixed breed dog wins dog show in San Francisco, California. The dog looked exactly like Teddy, and had the same collar and sparkly eyes. It was Teddy, Paige knew it! That was when she figured it out. There was a man about 4 months ago coming and asking if Teddy was for sale saying he looked like a good mixed breed dog-show dog. He must have stolen Teddy and taken off for California for the show. Paige got a taxi to the airport. At the airport, she asked for the next flight leaving to San Francisco. It left in 30 minutes! Paige had all her money saved up, plus Nanna’s 200 dollars from 2 birthdays. She had enough for a flight there and back to get Teddy and get home. Right as Paige reached to give the lady her money, her cell rang. She looked at it, oh no! It was Nanna! Paige picked it up. As Nanna spoke to her, she thought the voice sounded closer. She turned around and there was Nanna and Miranda. “We saw the headline too and figured you’d be here. So what are we waiting for? Lets go catch that plane!” said Nanna. So Off to California they went. They finally arrived 5 hours later. They got a cab to the dog show. They couldn’t get to the back! There were 2 guards. “Miranda!” Thought Paige. “Mir, go distract the guards well I sneak to the back” whispered Paige. So off Miranda went. “Hi Mr! My name’s Miranda but my friends call me mir or randy!” Miranda said enthusiastically. It worked! Miranda had the guards under her spell. Paige ran back to the section where the dogs were kept. There was Teddy, on a table getting blow dried! He jumped off when he saw Paige. He obviously remembered her.
She hugged him and picked him up. She headed towards the door. “Ms?” Paige felt a tap on her shoulder. That man was talking to her. “YOU STOLE MY DOG, TOOK HIM HERE, PUT HIM IN A DOG SHOW AND NOW I WANT HIM BACK YOU DOGNAPPER!” Paige screeched. She turned and ran. The guards stopped her. She had to sit in the office with Teddy and “that man” and explain things to the person in charge. She said the whole story, even including the cousin part. The person in charge believed her but said she needed valid proof. “Just look! I bet he has not changed his collar!” Paige said. And sure enough, he hadn’t. That was valid enough for the person in charge. She called the police to take away “that man” And sent Paige home happily with Teddy. When they got back to the house, Paige hugged Teddy so tight. But the Miranda carelessly walked in the door, leaving it open. “NO!” Screamed Miranda. She did not want Teddy leaving again. But oddly, Teddy made no step towards the door. They opened it wider, still nothing. “Well, I guess there was at least something good about this,” Miranda said. “And whats that Randy?” Asked Paige. “Now Teddy won’t sprint out the door when we open it! I think he’s had enough adventure to last him a lifetime!” Paige and Miranda giggled. The door then opened. “MOM! DAD! YOU’RE HOME! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! YOU MISSED TONS HERE!” Paige said. And then Paige hugged them and caught them up on all that had happened in that month.