The Pyle Inside

Ever since 2010, I really wanted a dog. When I turned 8, my mom agreed to let me and my sister get a dog as long as we mostly took care of it on our own. We finallyfound the perfect one in July of 2013. A fluffy, playful schnauzer poodle who didn’t care for toys but loved people and shoes.

She didn’t mind a quiet hike, so we would go almost every day. She loved to sniff the dewy scent of the grass and the crunch the leaves made when she stepped on them. Pepper was like the dog version of me. I spent every moment I could with her.

But, one day, Pepper, my babysitter, at the time, and I were returning home from a quick walk. As I walked inside, the mailman came. Pepper was spooked and ran to the other side of the driveway, barking at the startled mailman.

“Pepper!” my babysitter scolded. She went towards Pepper. The mailman quickly set the packages down, walked back to his truck and drove off. Pepper kept barking at the truck, and started to run after it.

            “Pepper!” yelled Carin again. I saw Carin running after Pepper on the side of the road through the window.

I burst out of the door, panicking, without shoes on, and ran as fast as I could after Pepper. Pepper started to run faster, forgetting about the mailman. She was undoubtedly terrified and confused of us chasing her. Unexpectedly, she ran across traffic and jumped into the woods. We crossed the street when it was safe, but Pepper was nowhere to be found. We looked around the forest that she had just jumped into, and called out her name. No sign of her. 20 minutes later, defeated and worried, I walked home with Carin.

When my mom came home, I sniffled and told her what happened. “We’ll find her,” she comforted me, “We’ll make some posters and put them around town. So, if someone has seen her, they will call us.”

That night, we went around town putting up “Lost” posters everywhere. But, by the next day, we still got no calls about Pepper. What if she got injured in the woods? What if she was what if something more serious happened to her?

But, 2 long days later, I was sitting in the backyard with my sister, and we saw Pepper, running up the hill, unharmed. Muddy, wet, and skinny, but unharmed. I ran over to her, hugged her, and picked her up. My head was spinning with excitement, and a heavy weight I barely noticed I was carrying lifted itself off of me.

 It was like the perfect happy ending to a story I knew I would be telling. I promised to myself that anything similar happened, I would try to calmly resolve the situation rather than panicking first and worsening it.