The Library Dog #3

Part #3 - the last part of the story!

It was the day that the owners of Honey were coming to pick him up - and make sure he was the right dog.

Elizabeth walked by the girls' bedroom in the cabin and she noticed Payton sitting alone with Honey. She wasn't speaking, she was just staring on sadly. Elizabeth stepped into the room and moved towards Payton. Payton didn't even look at her.

"Payton?" Elizabeth asked quietly. There was no response. Payton just continued to look away. "I heard that you're sort of fighting with Grace right now. I know you don't want Honey to leave."

Payton nodded. "Did you notice that I didn't want Honey to leave? Do you think everyone noticed?"

"It was kind of hard not to notice, Payton," Elizabeth said gently.

"I was so selfish," Payton cried softly as a tear rolled down her cheek. "All I could think about was keeping Honey for myself. I couldn't think of anything else. I wanted Honey to be found by his owners at first, but then I changed my mind."

"I don't think you were so selfish, you know," Elizabeth told Payton as she leaned in to pet Honey who sat contently on Payton's lap. "We all wanted Honey to stay; I think that it was a rather natural reaction."

"Maybe," Payton sniffled. "I still really don't want him to leave."

"Well the owners aren't here yet - why don't you go take him for a walk?" Elizabeth tried to brighten Payton's mood.

Payton wiped her tears away, "I think that could be a great idea." She got up with Honey and they left for the chilly outdoors.  

When she walked in, Grace was just standing up from the desk. Payton groaned inside; Grace was the last person she wanted to see. "Hi," Payton mumbled. Then she realized that it would do no good to avoid Grace; she'd need to apologize.

Grace was about to leave, but Payton spoke, "Grace," Grace spun around and came over to Payton, "I'm sorry I shouted at you yesterday - you were right, I was being selfish."

"I'm sorry too; I shouldn't have accused you like that," Grace looked Payton in the eye, "But returning Honey has a lot of meaning to me - out of all of us, it is probably most important to me."

"What do you mean?" Payton looked puzzled. Why was returning Honey that much more important to Grace?

Grace looked down and grew quiet before collecting herself, "I lost a dog once too - back in Paris." Grace's eyes began to tear up. "I was devastated and I searched everywhere for BonBon, but I couldn't find her. That was a year ago and she was never found. I didn't want to come here to America because I didn't want to leave behind the possibility - the chance - of finding her. If someone had found my BonBon, I wouldn't have wanted them to keep her from me, and I like to believe that there is someone out there who feels the same way about Honey."

Payton was surprised - she couldn't remember Grace talking that much during her entire stay in America. "I'm - I don't know what to say, Grace. I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Payton," Grace smiled weakly before leaving the room.  

An hour later, Jasmine walked into the room along with a lady and a little girl that Payton supposed must be the owners of Honey.

"Hello," Payton rose from her seat.

"Hello, I'm Suzanne Bright - I'm here to take a look at Honey and see if he is our missing dog! It is nice to meet you."

"I'm Payton - nice to meet you too, ma'am," Payton used her best manners. She couldn't help but notice that Suzanne and the young girl with her were both wearing very old and tattered clothing and both looked very tired.

"I'll go get Honey," Jasmine left the room and went for Honey who was playing in another cabin.

"It would mean so much to my daughter, Mabel, if this is Honey," Suzanne told Payton as her voice got a sad edge to it. "I lost my husband about a year ago and there was a fire at our house about two weeks ago - that night is the night Honey went missing, it was so hard to keep track of him in all of the commotion."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Payton told her. "I really hope this is the right Honey too." Payton had heard enough sad stories for one day!

Jasmine handed Honey to Payton, who bent down to hold him to the girl; Mabel who had been shyly standing next to her mother the whole time. Mabel timidly stepped towards Honey, reaching her hand out.

Then she broke into a big smile. "It's him! Oh Honey it's you!" Mabel smiled up at Payton as Honey reached towards Mabel to lick her face.  

Mabel sat on the chair with Honey as Suzanne smiled and went outside to call Dr. Paisley to confirm that Honey was their dog. Mabel just sat there, smiling happily and Honey sat on her lap, wagging his tail harder than he had during his entire stay at the farm.

"I'm so happy you found your dog!" Jasmine smiled at Mabel. Even Payton was all smiles as they talked to Mabel. She was so sweet and Jasmine and Payton both felt bad that Mabel might not have a good place to go for Thanksgiving.

"Mabel, do you think you'd want to come for Thanksgiving to this place again?" Payton asked her.  

"You mean to eat all that delicious food? Could I bring Honey too?" Mabel began to get excited.

Neither girl had talked it over with the adults just yet, but they knew it would be okay. "Sure you can! We'd love to have you and Honey and your mom again!"

"This has been the best day ever," Mabel smiled as she jumped off the chair and into Jasmine and Payton's arms. "Thank you for finding Honey," she whispered.   

"Mabel, are you ready to go?" Suzanne came back in from talking with Dr. Paisley.

"Okay!" Mabel smiled. "Mommy, they invited us to Thanksgiving, here! I can even bring Honey too!"

Suzanne smiled at the girls, "Thank you girls - thank you so much. I had no idea what we were going to do for Thanksgiving. This is really special. Thank you!"

The girls just nodded. "We hope to see you soon!" They called as Mabel and her mother walked off, with Mabel carrying Honey.  

After they left, Jasmine went to get ready for basketball practice and Grace and Payton were left alone once more.

"Well that felt really good," Payton smiled at Grace. "You know, Grace, maybe that will happen to you one day with BonBon - you never know."

Grace shrugged. "Maybe. I like to hope so, and even if it doesn't happen, at least we were able to make it happen for someone else."

 

That is the ending of the Library Dog story! I am already taking photos for my next story (which will involve ballet and The Nutcracker). I'm pretty busy, so I have no idea when/if it will ever get up here on this blog, so I'm not going to make any promises.

 

What did you think of the story? I'd love to hear!

 

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 

The Library Dog: Part #1

This is just a short photo story (probably 2 parts or 3 parts) and it is kind of similar to Because of Winn Dixie (the book/movie) at the beginning.

Anyway, I have my Costume Idea #3 almost ready, and it will be up tonight. Thank you for the positive responses to the other 2 costume ideas! I am so glad that you like them! I am having lots of fun creating them!

One Thursday afternoon, Payton & Grace were walking to the library after ballet. The ballet center was connected by a long haul to the library, and the girls were walking down it.

"I really hope that I get a good part in the Nutcracker this year - last year I was just a party guest and then I got sick before the performance!" Payton shook her head and sighed.

"I would be grateful to just get a part!" Grace shrugged. "I've never had a part in the Nutcracker before - my ballet group was so intense that I never passed the auditions."

"But you're the best in the class!" Payton gasped. "You mean you weren't the best in the class back in Paris?"

Grace shook her head just as they entered the library and were told by a stern librarian to "please quiet down".

The girls took a desk in the corner and sat down. "I have a LOT of science homework - it's really hard. Will you help me?" Payton begged.  Both girls had their backpacks with them.

"I don't know," Grace shrugged. Payton hadn't been very nice to her on her first day of school and Grace really wasn't ready to do her such a big favor as to help with her homework.

"Oh," Payton studied her phone for a minute. "My mom just texted me - she can't pick us up. She wants us to walk home by ourselves."

"Okay," Grace slowly rose from the table.

As the girls left their seat in the corner, Payton nearly tripped over a strange creature tearing through the library.

"Oh my goodness!" Grace gasped and then put her hand over her mouth - she wasn't allowed to be so loud in the library!

"What is that? A book on legs? Maybe things really can get up and walk away by themselves!"   

The dog tore through the library; not knowing where to go - the books were covering his vision!

The dog spun around, his tail flapping so much that he was like a tornado!

"Is that a dog?" Payton asked just as two librarians came running up. The whole library was looking over at them; the girls and the dog had clearly caused an unwanted distraction.

Payton tried to grab the book off of the wiggling dog.

"Get that creature out of here!" The woman librarian squealed; making even more of a distraction and making a spectacle of herself.

"I'm going to try!" The man librarian stepped in front of Payton and tried to grab the dog, but it was no use. Grace stood off to the side, trying to take everything in.

Then, suddenly, the science book flew off of the dog and just as the librarian tried to make a grab for him, the dog leapt out of reach.

The golden blur leapt onto the beautiful table.

He nearly missed the tabletop, but he did make it. It all happened so fast that all everyone could do was stand and watch.

Then the dog proceeded to dive into the dance bag on the tabletop and then he began to devour an almonds and honey granola bar.

Thank goodness I didn't buy the chocolate granola bars! Grace thought to herself. That would have been a bad scene. Chocolate was one of the main foods that was terrible for dogs.

"Let's get that dog to the pound - quick!" The librarian said. "It's a good thing you had a snack in your bag - I don't know how we would've capture him otherwise!"

"I'll call up the local shelter," the second librarian said. "Do you two have anything to do with this?" She looked at Grace and Payton sternly.

Neither girl had a chance to respond, because the librarian was already scurrying off to call the shelter.

 

"I'll keep the dog in the back books room until someone can get here to pick the thing up," the librarian did not sound very happy at all.

Grace didn't like how he had called the dog "the thing" - he clearly didn't care what happened to the dog.

"Ummm, he actually looks like my friend's dog - she was missing him earlier today, she was just in dance class." Payton reached over and winked at Grace. Grace understood and played along.

"Oh yes, I do think he is Amy's dog. Let's call her and tell her we've found him. Better yet - let's take him to her house."

Payton glanced at the tags that the dog wore. A single word was on it - Honey.

"His name's Honey," Payton told the librarian. Honey wagged his tail harder when Payton said his name.

"Leave the library now," the librarian told them sternly, he was going to let them take the dog!

Both girls hurried out of the library, trying to carry the dog together.  It was going to be a long walk home.

At home, they snuck the dog into the girls room and put him on the bottom bunk. He sat there, just looking around. He seemed content and happy enough. "I wonder who he belongs to?" Jasmine asked, coming in the room - excited for a new adventure to start.

"Whoever it is - must've been missing him for a while, because there aren't really any homes near the library - that's in the heart of the city!" Payton shook her head, puzzled.

"If whoever it is is missing him at all..." Jasmine sighed, referring to the possibility that he was just dumped on the street.

"Nah - they miss him," Payton told her certainly. "They wouldn't bother with such nice tags if they didn't care."

Jasmine nodded in agreement. "I guess so. It just seems kind of suspicious."

Kirsten quickly began to type up "Found" posters.

"It could take forever for the owner to see the poster," Payton sighed. "I wish we could just find them right away - before I get attached to him!"

"Suppose they have moved before they see the poster?" Grace worried, as she sat on the top bunk of the bed. Honey was now up there resting with her.

"I don't think they would move so quickly if they truly missed him."

"Maybe we can go to Dr. Paisley and see if Honey is microchipped!" Jasmine suggested.

"Finally!" Payton cried out excitedly. "Someone has a good, reasonable idea."

"I don't want the parents to know about this - they wouldn't like it," Payton shook her head, leaning into the room more, and nearing the girls as if she was telling a secret.  

"I'll skip school tomorrow and take him to the vet. I elect Jasmine to come with me," Payton told the group of girls.
"That's ridiculous!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"Then Grace can come with me then," Payton gave her the evil eye. "I want to be at the vet's office and I have ballet after school tomorrow - I can't miss it and we need to get Honey into the vet right away. I'll just have to do it - we'll figure it out later tonight."

"We'll have to figure something out. I just don't know what," Jasmine sighed.

Honey didn't care what happened next - he was just enjoying the comfortable blankets!!!

 

Part #2 coming up (in a day or week or so?)... 

Kirsten and Julie Give a (crazy) Doll Room Tour

One of my favorite things to do when looking at doll blogs is to look for posts about their dolls' rooms. I love putting together doll rooms and making sure that every detail is as realistic as possible. I change my doll room nearly every week, just because I love changing it up! XD
Some people even have American Girl Doll Rooms from that amazing company that I have always loved! Unfortunately, I do not have one, but I hope that that changes in the near future, or at least someday.
Anyway, I've had my doll room like this for a while now, and I thought you'd be interested in seeing what it looked like.
Kirsten and Julie will be guiding this tour. :P

"Hey! It's Julie and Kirsten and we are super excited to give you a tour of this room! Since the room only has enough room for 2 people, we take turns sleeping in it - the others who aren't sleeping in it go sleep in their cabins with their families on the farm. This week, Kirsten and I are the ones living in the room and we're proud to show it off!" (Julie)

"Don't worry, we aren't show-offs." (K) 

"Actually, Kirsten, we kind of are. But anyway, enjoy the view and we hope you get some inspiration to go make a room for your dolls if you haven't already." (J)

"That's right, Julie has said enough and we are ready to show you the room"  (K) 

"The first space is the desk/homework area. Well, actually we have to call it the homework area for the parents' sake, but when they're out of the room, we flip on the multi-colored lights and bring out the popcorn and ice cream." (Julie) 

"Julie, we do not. Don't worry, anyone reading this, we don't do anything you shouldn't try at home." (K)

"Kirsten, I'm actually trying to make this room tour a little bit interesting. Don't give away all the secrets!" (J) 

"Here is our guitar - it mainly belongs to Lanie, because she is the only one who can manage to get a decent tune out of it. No one else really plays it because we ran out of money to keep buying packs and packs of earplugs long ago." (Julie)

"Lanie is actually hoping to start up some sort of instrumental music band and she has said she is going to be playing the guitar in the band, but I'll let her release the rest of the info later, if she decides to go through with it." (K)

"Then we have the top of the desk. Oh, and the AG Farms owner Ellie says to apologize for the some of the pictures being dark and shadowy - she didn't realize they were like that until they were already off of the camera." (J)

"This is a birthday card that Molly received in May and we liked the cover, so we kept it. Next to it is a binder that we use to keep track of our school work. Unfortunately, school started for us last week, (not for Elizabeth - she starts her arts school next week), so this binder is already in use." (Kirsten) 

"This is Felicity's crown and fake flowers from her performance in the spring ballet (Alice in Wonderland). I would go into details about how the lights went out on stage and how I nearly fell out of my chair, but Kirsten just whispered to me that I need to stop being crazy." (Julie)

"A box of tissues for whatever they're needed for." XD (Kirsten)

"On the desk is a beautiful, antique typewriter that is still in use. As you can see here, Kit has been working hard on composing a short story for a local magazine." (Kirsten)

"Next to the typewriter are some various books or sketchpads that are just hanging out." (Julie)

"On the shelves are erasers (including a penguin eraser - cute!), pencils, and Lanie's favorite book - a pocket picture dictionary of birds." (Julie)

"On the floor are a pair of shoes that someone - Julie - left there." (Kirsten)

"Hey! You leave shoes around all the time! I had to leave them there - they're new and I need to watch over them!" (Julie)

"I don't know why you're so crazy today - sorry blog readers, Julie is usually pretty calm." (Kirsten)

"Could 3 chocolate bars and powdered sugar donuts have something to do with it?" (Julie)

"What?!" (Kirsten)

"Next to the desk is a small reading bench with a magazine and two books." (Kirsten)

"It's also a great bench for eating candy in secret." (Julie)

"Not that you would know anything about that..." (Kirsten 

"Then, there is a little vanity or nightstand, complete with a mirror, drawer, and little towel hanger on the side. We keep our lavender and rose waters here as well as Lanie's ladybugs from her science camp project." (Kirsten)

"Even though we don't have a sink at the vanity, we keep our toothbrushes, toothpaste, and any other dental care items right there." (Kirsten)

"I guess I'm going to need those after eating all that chocolate." (Julie)

"Then, we have the beds! It is 1 bunk bed set - so someone can sleep on the top bunk and someone else can sleep on the bottom. Julie sleeps on the top this week." (Kirsten)

"I like to hang my head down into Kirsten's bunk to scare her. Sometimes it works. Do you like the crazy face I'm making here? Sorry the picture is kind of dark, but Kirsten's bed hardly gets any natural light." (Julie)

"Well, I guess I can join in on the action too. After all, it is really fun to hang upside down and make faces!" (Kirsten)

"That concludes the room tour! See y'all next time!" (Julie)

 

I hope you enjoyed the room tour - I enjoyed making it! Do you have a doll room or any design tips to make my doll room look more realistic?

 

P.S. - I am dedicating a half-hour to my blog each day - I worked it into my homeschool schedule, so I hope to post more, but I am pretty busy, so I still may not post a whole lot. Thanks for checking back on my blog! : )