Johnny and the Mischievous Squirrel

The first time I saw her, she was peeling a fallen apple. She used two hands to hold the fruit, and bit down on one side, then the other, letting the flesh fall in soft slivers to the grass. It looked delicious. My mouth watered.

I approached her slowly on my belly and licked a drop of apple juice off the grass. The taste was sweet. I moved closer and lay down next to her. She had gorgeous ears, so fluffy and soft, held back by little silk bows. Her eyes were kind, even though they were surrounded by dark rings. Her cheeks were smudged with dirt from her playful adventures through the woods. She smelled like cinnamon. "Hello," I said, wagging my tail.

"Hello," she replied, "I'm Missy."

"I'm Johnny."

"Nice to meet you Johnny."

We sat together for a while. I yawned and stretched out on the grass for a nap, but suddenly felt something rough brushing against my back leg. I looked up to see Missy running away from me with a stick in her mouth. "Wait!" I called after her, "What are you doing?!" She stopped running and turned around to face me. Her eyes looked mischievous. "I'm having fun!" she called back at me, as if that explained everything. Then she threw the stick over my head into the garden bed behind me! I jumped up and ran after it as fast as I could, but it was too late - it was gone!

"Hey wait!" I shouted again when she picked up another stick and dropped it in front of me again, "You can't do that! It's not fair!"

She laughed and shrieked like an animal, jumping around like a lunatic until finally, she started rolling in the grass like some sort of deranged hippo!

"Missy!" I barked at her, trying to be stern but also confused about what was happening here, "Stop it! You're crazy!"

The harder I tried to get mad at Missy's antics, the more amused I became myself at this strange little creature's wild behavior! Suddenly Missy stopped rolling and sat upright next to me with another stick in her hand. She looked at me earnestly for a moment with those intelligent brown eyes of hers before speaking: "Johnny," she said seriously, "I want you to go fetch this stick for me." And then she took both of her hands and held them out in front of me like paws holding something invisible between them that we couldn't see... but nonetheless seemed quite real! The way she did this made me think of how people hold cups when they pretend they have coffee or tea in them - that is exactly what Missy looked like she was doing right now!

"But Missy," I cried out desperately as my heart sank after realizing what she meant by this game of hers "I don't know how to fetch sticks!"

She stared at me intently for another moment before finally dropping her arms back down to her sides again with a shrug that seemed to say 'Oh well' before standing up herself to start walking away from me towards the garden bed where we had seen all those apples earlier today... leaving behind this imaginary stick for me to fetch as if nothing had happened!

"Hey wait!" I barked after her desperately again just as before because what else could I do? What else could any dog do except try their best? After all - you can't give up when there is something so wonderful just waiting for you out there in the distance - no matter how hopeless things look with all these distractions getting in your way! And anyway - if there's one thing we dogs are good at it's perseverance right? Because who knows - maybe one day we'll succeed where others would give up! So why not try? Maybe today is that special day when your dreams will finally come true... Maybe today is your lucky day after all Johnny boy!