The Library Dog: Part #2

Part #2: (This will be a 3 part story)

The next morning, Kanani motioned for Payton to come speak with her while the other girls were all hustling and bustling around, finding homework assignments, sweaters, backpacks, and lunchboxes for school.

"I made a call to Dr. Paisley already," Kanani informed Payton.

"You did?" Payton asked. Payton felt a little upset that Kanani had taken charge of finding Honey's owners without her, but Payton tried not to show it. She knew that Kanani was only trying to do what was right.

"Yep. She said that she can make a house call at 9:30 this morning. It's a good, because the parents will be out of the house in time and we will be home alone for her arrival. The secret will stay safe. I told Dr. Paisley that we'd take the appointment. She knows to drive right to Cabin 8 to examine Honey."

Payton nodded. "So, are you planning on staying home too?" 

"Yes. So is Lanie - we just need to make sure that Honey gets the attention he needs. Last summer I rescued a seal in Hawaii and ever since I've really found joy in helping animals."

"Good," Payton smiled. Suddenly, Payton was really excited for what the day was going to bring.

The girls hid under the bunk beds to hide from their mothers so they could stay home from school. When all the parents had left the house to go their separate ways and run errands or work, the girls crawled out from their hiding spaces at 9:27. Dr. Paisley walked through the door to Cabin 8 (the shared girls cabin on the farm) moments later.

"Well, Payton, Kanani, Lanie, hello!" Dr. Paisley was a fun and young yet experienced veterinarian.

The girls all said hello and Dr. Paisley then set into examining Honey. She knew information about him already since she had spoken with Kanani earlier in the morning.

The girls all watched nervously as Dr. Paisley poked and prodded and inspected Honey's nametag and collar set. Finally, after a 15 minute examination, Dr. Paisley addressed the girls.

"He seems to be a perfectly healthy dog. From what I can tell, he hasn't been lost too long, he's only about 16 weeks and I can still smell shampoo from his latest bath! I need to take him back to my office though, to consult my veterinarian team and to check his microchip."

"Will you bring him back?" Payton asked hopefully. She didn't want to admit it, but she was getting attached to Honey.

"Possibly. I think it may be better to have him with a nice family than to have him nervous in a cage in my office. So, I'll call you in about an hour and I'll return him around noon if I haven't tracked down the owner yet."

"Okay, well, see you soon, Honey!" Payton ignored the possibility that Honey would possibly be returned to his rightful owner.

Dr. Paisley picked up Honey and walked out of the room and climbed into her aqua blue pick up truck.

Kanani sank back into the chair and sighed. "I just hope that we can track down Honey's owner. There are so many dog owners out there. I sure do hope that Honey has a microchip."

 

"I know," Lanie shook her head sadly. "Someone must be missing that dog something awful right now. I can't imagine what it would be like if I lost my bunny Lulu."

 

"I don't know what I would do if I lost Barksee. I can barely make it through a day without seeing him!" Kanani became lost in thought.

Payton didn't say anything, because she didn't really have a pet. Sure, she had the horses and all the girls shared their animals with her, but she could never say that she actually owned an animal. All the other girls had an animal - some of them even had more than one!

"I wish I had a pet," Payton sighed.

"Well you might not own one, but the horses and barn animals are kind of your pets," Kanani smiled.

Payton knew she was right, but Payton was thinking of a dog or cat or even a bunny!

Suddenly Payton had a terrible thought. What if she could just keep Honey forever? What if she could put things in the way of Honey getting back to his owners? Payton knew it was terribly wrong, but she couldn't help it.

When the phone rang an hour later, each girl reached for it; two of them hoping the dog's owners had been found and one of the girls hoping she would become the dog's owner.

"Dr. Paisley?" Kanani reached for the phone.

"Honey isn't microchipped, however the collar she is wearing is only available through a certain homemade collar company so we're going to see if the lady who sold the collar remembers who bought it. She may have information. In the meantime, I'll drop Honey back off with you girls."

"Okay," Kanani replied as Dr. Paisley hung up.

"Oh I sure hope the lady who sold the collar knows something about Honey's owners! I just can't believe Honey doesn't have a microchip! Nearly all shelters do that nowadays!" Lanie shook her head. Kanani nodded in wholehearted agreement.

Payton nodded in halfhearted agreement.

An hour later, Dr. Paisley showed up at the door and set Honey down in the house. She could see that Payton didn't look very happy. "Don't worry my dear," Dr. Paisley leaned in close to her. The girls often invited her over, so they were pretty close. "Honey is going to be found. Don't look too sad about it. Honey will be back home in good time."

"Uh huh," Payton looked away. Dr. Paisley had gotten it so wrong.

Later in the afternoon, the other girls got home from school. They all crowded around as Payton and Lanie told the story of the day's events. Well, Lanie tried to tell the story but Payton took over.

 

 

"...And Honey's owners might not even be found! We might have to keep him!" Payton exclaimed, sounding just a little too excited for the circumstances.

"You sound a little excited about that," Elizabeth frowned. "Don't you want Honey to go to his real home again?"

"Of course I do!" Payton smiled, straight up lying.

Grace snorted and started to leave the room. "Could've fooled me."

"What?" Payton asked, but Grace was already gone.

The next week, around the same time, all of the girls had just gotten home from school and were doing schoolwork. Well, Payton was playing with Honey... The girls had been hiding Honey in the secret hideout they shared while they went to school.

Molly ran into the room and exclaimed excitedly, "Dr. Paisley just called! They were finally able to track down two different families who are both missing dogs similar to Honey and both bought collars from the specialty collar store."

Lanie jerked her head up from her book in surprise. "You've got to be kidding!"

"Nope - I'm serious! Dr. Paisley is going to come over tomorrow night with one of the families. I'm still figuring out how they can come without the parents noticing."

"We'll think of something," Lanie assured her. "Anyway, we'd better get ready!" The girls hurried off, but Grace and Payton stayed. Grace was just finishing an important assignment and Payton was playing with Honey (though she should've been working on the same assignment as Grace).

"Aren't you even a little disappointed that Honey is going to be leaving?" Payton asked Grace after the girls left the room.

"No," Grace shook her head without looking up as she read her book.

"You mean you aren't disappointed? Not even a teeny, tiny little bit?"

"Nope," Grace shook her head again, though she looked up this time. "If you ask me, Payton, I think you are being very selfish."

"Well no one did ask you, but what do you mean?" Payton was upset with Grace's remark, but she was also curious as to how Grace had figured out how selfish she was being.

"I know - and so do the others - that you don't want that dog to find his home. You just want to think about how you'll feel. You want him here because he makes you happy, but he'd be happy with his real owners and you can't look past yourself to see that!"

Payton didn't think she'd ever seen Grace say so much at once.

"That isn't so!" Payton replied, though she knew that each word Grace said was a realistic observation.

"It is too!" Grace replied before closing her binder and leaving the room.

"You're right, Grace," Payton whispered guiltily as Grace disappeared behind the room's door.

 

Oh, and thank you so much to everyone who has voted on the poll so far. Currently, about 9 people have voted. Please vote now if you haven't! I really, really want to know what my readers actually want to read! So far, it seems that everyone wants more photo shoots and stories about the everyday lives of the AG Farms girls. That's really cool - I am already thinking of a few ideas in my mind! Remember, you only have about a week or so left to vote, so please, please, please vote NOW if you haven't XD 

Hope you enjoyed the photostory!

Part #3 should be up in a week or more or less or who even knows. I'm so bad at keeping with a schedule that I'm not going to give a time limit for Part #3. :P  XD