It
was a cold starlit night and the small Pyr. puppy shook the light dusting
of snow from his soft coat as he hurried along the road. He had never been
out so late before, certainly not alone.
He missed his mother and siblings, the security and warmth of home and he was
very hungry. He now regretted running off through the gap in the fence,
ignoring the call of his mother and the voice of his owner.
Sure, he had fun checking out the neighbourhood, chasing a cat, playing with
a child in a park and chasing the first snowflakes, but which way was home ?
One or two people called him as he scurried along, but he did not dare stop
and talk to strangers now, he was becoming increasingly distressed.
The unfamiliar landscape was slowly turning white and finally, tired, very cold
and unhappy, he sheltered under a hedge.
He curled up and slept briefly, unaware of the approaching sleighbells.
A warm reindeer nose nuzzled him, blowing the snow from his coat. A large
tubby man in a red coat scooped him up, speaking softly to him as he set the
puppy down beside him on the seat of the sleigh.
“Lost are you ? We can take care of that” he said. “ I saw pups just like you
three houses back along the road. Four little presents had been ordered,
but there were only three pups. Now I understand the problem !”
Expertly reversing the sleigh, they were soon back at the puppies house.
Santa ( yes of course, who else could the tubby red coated man be?) gently
tossed the puppy into the air and chuckled as it floated down through the
snowflakes, landing softly right outside the kennel door. His anxious,
waiting mother called him in, tucked the cold puppy between her front paws
and began giving him a thorough licking to clean him and warm him up. The
pup responded with a big sloppy puppy kiss, grateful to be home and warm,
but unable to tell her how he had found his way home.
His equally anxious owner returned at this moment from searching the streets
for the puppy, stopping by the kennel to count heads, in the hope that
somehow the wanderer had returned unaided. There was Mum and one, two,
three, four ! FOUR ! He could not believe his eyes, so called his wife, who
came running out to double check.
They hugged the puppy, then all the puppies and their Mum, -- then hugged
them all again.
Finally, having fed the wanderer and settled them all down for the night,
they closed the kennel door and headed back to the house.Was it just
imagination or did they hear the swish of a sleigh and the jingle of bells
echoing across the night sky?
Safe and warm in the kennel, the puppy heard the bells and smiled as he
drifted off to sleep.
