Duke and Misty – Forever Friends!

It was a bright sunny Saturday morning as Sarah Roberts woke up.

“Why do I feel so excited?” she wondered. Then she realized: it was her birthday!

Sarah leapt out of bed and to the living room, but it was as dark as night! She turned on the lights, and her family shouted SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

“Wow!” exclaimed Sarah. “Thanks! ”

“We got you a present,” said Lucille, Sarah’s elder sister, grumpily. “But I hate it.”

“What is it? What is it?” said Sarah impatiently.

Mom laughed. “We got you a puppy!”

Sarah squealed. A puppy! She had a puppy! Dad laughed and showed her a box with holes. Sarah was so excited, that when her dad undid the box flaps and Sarah peeked in. There it was. A little puppy! He had light tan fur and floppy ears. He was so sweet!

“I love it! Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad!”

Lucille added. “So what should we name it? Tofu? Lily? Fauna?”

Sarah gave her a look of disgust. “Don’t be silly. Those are girly names. We’ll call him Duke.”

Duke whined. Come on, he thought. Get me out of here!

Sarah giggled. “Come on, Duke, you’re coming with us!”

Duke looked at her, confused. This wasn’t the pet store he once lived in. But if he was going to have more playmates, then maybe everything would be fine.

But there was a problem the Roberts family forgot. Upstairs, there was a pet cat called Misty. Lucille preferred cats, but everyone knew Sarah loved dogs and puppies. Lucille went upstairs to fetch Misty, who loved to snooze on Lucille’s bed. When she came back down, Misty was snuggled in her arms.

When Misty saw Duke, she yowled. Aaaaaa! She thought, there’s a dog in my house! Is he going to replace me!?

Startled by Duke, Misty leapt out of Lucille’s arms and prowled across the living room floor at Duke, as he whined with fear at Sarah. Whats going on? he thought. Why doesn’t she like me?

Duke scrambled at Sarah, who picked him up. “No wonder you weren’t happy with Duke! You knew he Misty would hate him!” shouted Sarah.

“Sarah, stop yelling. You’re scaring Misty even more!” Then she crossed her arms. “And you’re right about me hating Duke, but it’s obvious why!”

Duke felt like he was left out and forgotten about. Hey! He thought What about me? But Lucille and Sarah were too angry with each other to notice his whining.

“Calm down girls!” called Dad. “With all this arguing, soon Duke and Misty will both be scared!”

Later that day, the Roberts family were coming back from the pet store with Duke’s supplies. Lucille and Sarah were still arguing about Duke and Misty’s fight they had earlier that day, so they decided to separate them. Duke’s food bowl was in the kitchen, and Misty’s was under the dining table. Duke’s sleeping rug was in the living room, and Misty’s cushion was in front of the back door.

The next morning, Sarah and Lucille woke up early because of a strange sound. The sisters ran to the living room and were horrified to see Timmy suddenly jump to the sofa arm where Misty was, and he bit her tail!

Ouch! meowed Misty loudly! That dog bit my tail! That means he really IS here to replace me!

Misty was so scared that she accidentally knocked over Mom’s collection of glass birds! CRASH! The noise got Mrs. Roberts running down the stairs, and when she saw her broken collection, she shook her head and said,

“You two really need to keep an eye on Duke and Misty!”

As soon as she left the room, Lucille glared at Sarah. “Now look what you did. You wanted Duke in the first place. It’s all your fault!”

Sarah felt angry. “No it’s not! Misty broke the statues! Not Duke!” she yelled.

“Only because Duke bit her, Sarah!” Lucille shouted back.

Sarah wanted to yell again, then she noticed something: Misty and Duke were missing!

Lucille gasped. “Where are they?” she said in a shaky voice.

“I-I-I don’t know” stammered Sarah.

Suddenly, they heard barking and… purring? Had Misty and Timmy become friends?

Racing to to their room, their were surprised to find Timmy sleeping on Misty, and she was happily purring!

“So they ARE friends! said Lucille, amazed.

Sarah smiled. “Now they won’t fight anymore…HEY! she shouted. “Duke chewed my blanket!”

Lucille sighed. Life was going to be wild with pets like these!

THE END