Jasper looked down at a river far below and watched the boots now casually walking across the deck of a great paddle steamer. The sternwheeler churned the water magnificently with its grand paddle wheel. Jasper continued to watch as the ship moved further away from where he stood.
‘I’ve got to get on that ship!’ he said with fresh determination. He had to make his move quickly or it would soon be too late for him. Jasper backed himself up a few steps before launching himself forward. His little legs pushed his speckled body up in the air. ‘I’m flying!’ he woofed before he began to fall.
The paddle steamer seemed to be pulling away at a greater speed as Jasper fell towards it, ‘I’m not going to make it!’ he barked. ‘It’s moving too quickly!’
There was a THUMP! Jasper lay with both eyes closed.
As he opened them he was delighted to see that he was not swallowing river water, but he was on the deck of the ship – he had landed!
He looked around and he could see lots of people talking, eating, drinking and walking around on the deck. They looked like they did this sort of thing all the time. Jasper jumped back onto his paws and began to wander.
The people did not seem to take much notice of the little dog, which he did not mind at all. Jasper still had his focus, he had to find out where the old black boots were going.
He searched the deck, he ran down a number of corridors, he even poked his nose into the Captain's private quarters. But there was still no sign of the boots.
‘Maybe I just imagined them,’ Jasper thought to himself as he started to lose hope.
Suddenly, he heard the voice of a young boy. It seemed to be coming from a cleaning cupboard at the end of the corridor. He walked slowly towards it. As he got closer he could hear the boy speaking, ‘We’re nearly at Great Hootsville now.’ This was followed by the sound of stamping boots.
Jasper poked his snout through the gap of the door, which was slightly ajar.
‘Who’s there?’ shouted the boy as he pulled the door open.
Jasper jumped back in surprise as he looked at a young brown-haired boy wearing a bright green outfit. Behind the boy stood the pair of old black boots.
‘Well what are you doing down here?’ asked the boy in a softer tone of voice as he crouched down to speak to the dog.
‘I.. I was looking for that pair of boots,’ stammered Jasper in reply.
‘What? This pair of boots here?’ asked the boy.
Jasper was now very confused, ‘Did you just understand what I said?’
‘Of course I did,’ he replied. ‘Although you did stammer a bit!’
Even though Jasper thought he spoke perfect English, whenever he had tried communicating with humans in the past they could only hear him saying things like, ‘Woof!’ and ‘Grrr!’
Jasper replied to the boy, ‘I’m surprised because people don’t normally understand me.’
‘I’m sure they don’t!’ said the boy. ‘But I’m not like most people.’
The ship made an abrupt stop. The captain spoke over the loudspeaker, ‘Alight here for Great Hootsville!’
The boy began to run down the corridor with the boots following, ‘Quick, we have to go!’
‘Where are you going?’ barked Jasper as he chased after them.
‘Just follow me and you will find out!’
He went to an old shed and his name could be Lewis
ReplyDeleteWonderful! :)
ReplyDelete