13/9/2003
I had practiced saying it a hundred times, but when the moment came, I just
couldn‟t open my mouth! He was there, standing not far away from „him‟. I
quickly walked away before they saw me. „He’ turned around when „he’ saw a
pack of birds and chased them. How adorable he was!.
“ Leon! Here’s your treats!” his master, Julian, called out to him.
He trotted to Julian with his tail wagging high up in the air. He pounced on
the dog biscuits. After a while, he and Julian left the park. Only then, I dared to
walk out of the tree where I was hiding and went home, disappointed with myself.
I looked so dejected that my sister said that I looked like a puppy that had lost its
master. Hearing the word “puppy”, I perked up a little. After taking my dinner, I
finished doing my homework and went to bed.
The next day, I went to school and saw Julian talking to a group of the girls
during the one-hour recess. I was walking to the library to do some research when
someone called me.
I turned around and saw Julian and the girls looking at me. Julian
approached me.
“Do you want to see Leon, my dog? Come to my house after school.”
Thinking of seeing the dog that I‟ve been eyeing, my heart missed a beat.
This was what I had practiced saying so hard. I was dying to be with the dog.
Naturally, I agreed immediately.
After school, I met Julian and had our lunch before we went to his house.
There was no one in his house. Poor Leon was alone lying down on the floor at the
porch, nothing to do. Once he saw Julian, he jumped up and pounced on him.
After Julian patted him, he went to me. Julian let me into his house and led Leon
into the house. He gave Leon some food and asked me if I wanted to feed him. I
was scared to feed Leon as I was afraid of being bitten by a dog. Julian directed
my hand to his mouth. I felt excited and was curious to see how Leon ate. After
feeding him, Julian took out his favorite video, Lassie, and we watched it together.
We discussed about Leon after the show.
“Great! Both of you seem to click well. Could you help me look after him?
My family and I have to visit my uncle in America this weekend. We will only be
back in about a week’s time,” asked Julian.
“I’ve been wanting to have a pet but my parents don’t allow me to keep
one. Their reason is that there won’t be anyone to look after it when we need to go
back to Malaysia during the holidays. I guess it’s all right to have a pet for a few
days. I was thinking of asking you to ‘lend’ me the dog for a day or two but I was
not sure how you would feel.”
Julian‟s face beamed with a broad smile as he stretched out his hand to
shake mine, “How wonderful! That‟s a deal!”
Eventually, my dream came true, a dream pet staying by my side, for a
week at least.