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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Hero's Journey

Once there was a little stray wiener dog named Chilli. Chilli was sleeping in a cardboard box one night, waiting for his mom and dad to come home. He waited for five hours, and then they went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning, she still wasn't back. Chilli was worried, so he went out to look for his parents.  As he was walking across the street, A pigeon flew down from the telephone wire. "Are you looking for your parents?" the pigeon said. "I'm sorry to tell you, but the dog catchers took them to the pound yesterday. There is not much you can do for them now."
Chilli was young but he knew that the dog pound is a dog's worst nightmare. He ran into a corner and cried. He cried for a very long time.
"Hey, What are you crying about?" Someone was poking Chilli in the ribs. He looked up to see a mangy orange cat looking at him. "Who are you?" Chilli asked.
"My name's Joe. I live in that crate right there, and you're in my way." The cat was getting angry. Chilli stared blankly at the cat. "So get out my way or I'll scratch you!" Joe hissed.
Chilli scampered a few feet to the side, startled by the cat. Joe lay down in the crate and closed his eyes. When Chilli didn't leave, the cat mumbled "What is this dog's problem?"
Chilli told the cat about how his parents had been taken away. "Dude, My parents died when I was two. Stop crying. Man up." said Joe.
"They were taken to the pound. Can you show me where the pound is?"
At the mention of the pound, Joe perked up. "See this scar right here? A stupid dog bit me there when I was little. I heard he's at the pound. I promise that I'll help you find your parents if you let me have revenge on that dog."
Chilli agreed, because he was so desperate that he would do anything to to save his parents.
They set off across town. Suddenly, as Chilli looked up at the tall building, he regretted wanting to go on this journey. He immediately regretted it though, because he would die to save his parents if he had to.
They started to cross the road, but then a huge car zoomed by, almost running Chilli over. Joe and Chilli scampered back to the curb.
"How will we get across?" asked Chilli.
Joe looked up. "The telephone wires."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I'm a dog! I can't just walk across a wire! And if I fall, I die. If you fall, you land on your feet and do it again until you make it across."
"I never said it would be easy."
"Okay, I'll go if it's the only way."
Chilli and Joe snuck into a building and climbed up the stairs. Chilli had noticed that he could not move as fast as Joe, because he had tiny legs. Joe was getting angry because Chilli could not keep up with him. as they rounded the next corner, they saw a man in a suit running towards them. There was an open window to the left, and Chilli and Joe raced towards it.
"Jump!" said Joe.
Are you crazy? thought Chilli, as he jumped onto the window sill. They were 5 stories up in the building. If Chilli missed the telephone pole he would be a furry pancake.
Joe Jumped off and landed gracefully on the pole.
The man was running towards Chilli with a broom. Just as the man reached out, Chilli jumped.
And missed.
He plummeted down, screaming. Suddenly, he felt a violent jerk upward. His paw had caught on a loose wire. Slowly, the wire started to swing across the road. Chilli saw his chance and jumped. He barely made it to the building opposite the one he had started at. Joe had already made it across, and he met Chilli at the other side of the road. "Man, I was really scared for you! you almost died."
Chilli was surprised at Joe's unusual concern for him. Maybe Joe was learning that he wasn't the only person that mattered in the world.
They continued down the road. All of a sudden, Chilli and Joe saw a big warehouse looming in the distance. They heard the sound of hundreds of dogs wailing in vain. They sprinted over to the doghouse, crawled under some barbed wire, and found themselves in a room full of kennels filled with howling dogs. It was like a torture chamber.
Chilli saw his parents locked up in a kennel. He ran over to them and stuck his little nose through the fencing. They looked up from where they were sleeping.
"Chilli! You came to rescue us!" They said. Chilli looked around for a key.
As he turned his head, a huge, menacing shadow appeared over his head. Chilli's parents screamed. As Chilli whirled around, he saw a huge man with a shovel in his hand. The man raised the shovel, and swung it at Chilli's head. Chilli ducked just in time to save himself. The shovel slammed into the concrete floor, and skidded out of the man's hands. He grabbed for Chilli, but Joe yelled "Run!"
Chilli and Joe ran across the warehouse. Joe had long legs and he easily outran the man, but Chilli had little wiener dog legs, and he couldn't run fast enough. The man was close behind ChillI. He reached out and grabbed Chilli and shoved him in a little cage. The last thing that Chilli saw was Joe running away to safety. Joe had sacrificed Chilli to save himself.
Chilli came to an hour later. His head really hurt. He looked around for his parents, and he suddenly saw them in a cage on the other side of the room. They whined back and forth to each other, but it was no use.
Chilli looked around the room, and he saw something that stopped his little wiener heart. Hanging on the wall was a sign that said "Dogs not adopted by January 29 will be put down"
TODAY was January 29. Chilli was so sad. He started crying and crying. After what seemed like hours the man came back to his cage. In his hand was a doctor's needle filled with fluid. Chilli whimpered and curled into a ball, but the man opened the door and cornered Chilli. Chilli closed his eyes, and he felt cold metal press against his skin. He whispered a goodbye to his parents as he felt a small prick in his skin. Just as he felt the poison enter his bloodstream, a loud scream interrupted his prayers. The needle fell out of his skin. Chilli looked up to see the man laying on the floor, screaming as something clawed at him. As Chilli got a better look, he realized that it was Joe!
Joe beat the man unconscious, and then took the key and gave them to Chilli. Chilli took the keys in his mouth, and, with the help of Joe, He unlocked all of the cages and set all of the dogs free.
As they approached the last cage, Chilli looked inside and saw an old dog with many scars lining his face. Joe saw him too, and his fur stood up on end. "This is the dog who bit me. This is the dog who I wanted revenge on."
 The dog sadly looked up from his cage and gave a deep, melancholy whine.
"Give me these," said Joe, snatching the keys from Chilli's mouth. Slowly, Joe opened the door. Chilli held his breath, expecting a huge fight to ensue. But instead, Joe opened the door and let the old dog out.
"Thank you" the old dog said in a sad, raspy voice and limed out of the warehouse.
"I thought you would kill him!" exclaimed Chilli.
"I would have before I met you, but you have showed me that being mean and tough isn't always the way to solve problems. Thank you."

Chilli introduced his new friend to his parents. His parents were a little skeptical of their kid befriending a cat, but when they got to know Joe, they couldn't think of a better person for their son to spend time with.
"We also have good news!" His parents said. "We are getting adopted! We won't have to sleep in the streets anymore!"
Chilli was so excited because he had never lived in a house before. The next day, some people came to take Chilli and his parents to the new house. Everybody got into a big cardboard box in the back of a truck and drove off. As they drove away, Chilli stuck his nose out of an air hole and yelled "Goodbye!" He knew that he might not ever see Joe again. He knew that Joe was the best friend that he would ever have. They kept waving to each other, as the car drove away. They kept waving until they were each a little speck in the distance. Then the car turned the corner and they disappeared from sight.




THE END




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1 comment:

kaleb said...

I got half way done but so far really good! It's really long