Nina Woldt

“Jessie!” Come back here!” I yelled at my neighbor’s dog. My name is Jackie, and I’m 11 years old, medium height, with long black hair. Currently I’m chasing my neighbor’s dog that I’m supposed to be walking calmly around the block, but that dog has something else in mind. I am in 5th grade, and I have only one job, walking dogs, and I seem to be failing at that!

When I picked up Jessie (my neighbors Dachshund), they told me that “…she is quite slow and lazy, so she shouldn’t walk at even a brisk pace.” Boy, I wish they could see me now. Jessie reached the end of the neighborhood and raced toward the busy street that led to the middle of my town. “Jessie stop!” I screamed, but to no avail. She rushed into the middle of the road just as a truck came speeding around the corner.

The semi slammed on its brakes, and a nasty, screeching noise filled the air. The driver leaned out the window. “You need to pay more attention to your dog, young lady!” he yelled. “Sorry sir!” I yelled right back, before looking both ways and crossing the street.

Jessie ducked and weaved through the buildings, it was almost like she knew right where she was going and was on a quest to get there. I followed as fast as I could behind her, winded and slowing down. Just as I was about to stop, and catch my breath, Jessie slipped through an open store door. I walked in and stopped, letting my eyes adjust to the sudden darkness.

After my eyes adjusted, I looked around and it appeared that I was in some sort of bake shop. There was a glass case, that was filled to the brim with cakes and pies. A lady was pounding dough and looked up, with a surprised look on her face when I came in. “A dog that I was walking escaped and ran into your shop. Have you seen her?” I asked, while I peered under a table. “I saw something run out the window.” The lady said in a British accent while pointing to an open window. I ran over to the window and saw Jessie licking her paw, with her scratchy tongue. I peered down at that crazy dog and noticed that she was sitting on a tattered, old mattress that was about a foot from the window. Before I could rethink what I was doing, I dove head-first out of the window.

My body hit the mattress so hard that I felt the springs that were inside it. I rolled onto my back, but then I saw it, the spectacular sight that was going on around me. For when I had hit the mattress on the side near the window, Jessie had bounced high into the air! She let out a sound that would embarrass all of dog-kind. Then she started to plummet. I watched, still on my back as Jessie landed straight on my stomach. I groaned! The wind had been knocked straight out of me, but I found enough energy hidden in my body to wrap my arms around that little ball of fluff.

After I grabbed her, I hooked her leash back on, still holding her. She was not going to run away from me again! I looked around and realized that we were in an alley. I also spotted a pure white stroller. “Perfect!” I breathed. I loaded Jessie into the stroller, and used the buckles to strap her in. Then I took her leash, that was still connected to her, and wrapped it around her body before tying it to my wrist.

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I made a mental note to return the stroller. And then I set off home.

When I reached my neighbor’s house, I took Jessie out of the stroller before knocking on their door. They both came to the door and smiled at me. “How did you like walking Jessie.” Mr. Randel asked. “Never experienced anything like it.” I replied. “Well, if you like it, we have 4 more dogs you could walk,” Mrs. Randell said. “I don’t know, I’m kind of rethinking a dog walking career,” I said sheepishly.

Nina Woldt