Buddy's Diary - January 12 (Part 1) - Simple Stories in English

Learn English with Heartwarming Stories from a Rescue Puppy's Diary

January 12 – I must survive

That terrible Sunday

It started off as a nice, normal day with my beloved family. I lay on top of Momma Dog, snoozing. My eyes were half open. The warm sunlight dappled the green leaves above. Her comforting, rhythmic rise and fall of her big, strong, hairy chest was the most calming pillow ever beneath my head.

Mippy was flopped over me, deep asleep, snoring gently. Moffus was curled up against Momma, his back to mine. And Yip was slumbering peacefully between her legs. Yap was waddling excitedly nearby, curiously staring up at the little bees that buzzed by and making little excited yips while trying to jump up and touch them.

It was a warm, normal day with my family.

And then… he came. The big man who owns this place. The one who feeds Momma those strange, smelly little brown things. Momma isn’t sure she likes him. She wags her tail but always keeps it low, on alert. I don’t remember much of this world. It is so… new somehow. I remember warm, cozy days and nights cuddled on top of Momma and under, over, and between my siblings. I remember her warm, sweet milk we used to drink every day... until recently. Then she started nosing us off her and towards that bowl of dry, hard, unpleasant brown stuff.

I also remember the first times I tried walking. Momma barked encouragingly and pushed me with her nose. I flopped headfirst, nose into the dirt. I whined. She’d chuckle. “Try again,” she said. “Carry me, Momma!” I wailed, sitting down. But she shook her beautiful, big, furry head and said, “You’ve got to walk, little one. All dogs do. Come on, stand up and try again.” I whined but got up and managed to take a few more wobbly steps before—PLUMP! My legs all parted the wrong way, and I flopped down on my belly this time.

I also remember the first day I proudly ran across from the cardboard box where we slept, across the small grassy yard to where Momma was waiting eagerly, tail smacking the ground, under a tree. “Four more steps... three, two... You did it! Bravo!” she yapped, giving me a big wet lick all over my proud, little beaming face.

That day we learned to walk, we were all very proud. We waddled around with our little tails high and chased after Momma with unsure, flipsy-flopsy steps, tripping over our own feet. She walked slowly around the yard with us in tow, checking on us, encouraging us with little barks and happy yaps, and sometimes took little runs or jumps just to tease us and make us run faster after her.

We were a happy family. Even though Dad was never around, we had each other. My siblings and I romped, rolled, bit, cuddled, and chased each other around and around the little yard. It was all we had. But it was enough.

Life was good. Until… it wasn’t.

I recall that morning. It started off beautiful. Who knew such a lovely start to a day could turn into the worst, most terrifying, unforgettable day of my life? Who would ever have imagined that the deep, blissful joy I felt lying atop of my momma, all surrounded by my dear brothers and sisters… would suddenly end?

Yip’s cute little brown paws kicked in his sleep, bumping my back. I listened to the calming rustle of the tree’s leaves above. A bird chirped. And then… that sound. The strange, unnatural roaring growl. The sound that always comes before he arrives.

Then the man came. Momma Dog’s nose began working hard in her sleep. She smelled him. Then one eye opened. She slowly yawned and stretched, then snuggled down again with us.

I saw the gate open. He approached. But this time, there was something different in his eyes. They were hard. Cold. And menacing. His gaze was fixed on us. I felt uneasy and burrowed down deeper into Momma’s fur. His dark blue boots thudded across the lawn. He was carrying a big yellow basket.

I couldn’t stop looking at him. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong. But I couldn’t put my nose on what it was exactly. Just something about his look… frightened me. It wasn’t friendly or good. It was… deadly.

And then he came for us.

With startled yelps, one by one, he yanked my sleeping siblings off Momma and tossed them roughly into the basket. I recoiled in fright, tried to dart, but he snatched me by my hind leg. I howled, and he tossed me in the basket on top of them. Beneath me, like a warm furry moving floor, my siblings all squirmed and wriggled trying to get out. The basket’s sides were high. We couldn’t climb out.

Momma leaped up and barked in great alarm. She ran to the basket, but he raised his hand menacingly, and she backed off, tail down, whining. He then snatched up Yap by the scruff of his neck (he’d been exploring nearby and came out of the bush in curiosity and alarm at all our yelping) and tossed him in with us.

Before I could process what was going on, we were being carried out of the yard. The old white gate slammed shut behind us. Then the basket was tied to the back of a strange black motorbike thing. He jumped on, and it made a horrible, loud, loud RRRRRRRRRRRRRR noise!

We began screaming in terror all together. “MOMMA! SAVE US! HELP! MOMMA!” I saw her leap up against the gate, barking her head off. “MY KIDS! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING THEM? BRING THEM BACK!” she howled. She thrashed against the gate; she tried to bite through the wood, she tried to break it down with kicks and frantic scratching. But it was no use. She couldn’t get out.

Moments later, the world we had known—that lovely little peaceful corner of it that seemed like paradise at the time and was all we had ever experienced—vanished behind us. Never to be seen again. Dirty streets, little houses, barking dogs, children, adult humans, all rushed by us in a fast, dizzying blur. It was all so fast, so new, so scary. Smells, sights, sounds.

At home, every moment since I’d opened my eyes had been an adventure. Every sight and sound had filled my heart with joy and excitement. I had always been the first to run out to explore a new thing that appeared in our world, whether it was that old white ball that flew over the fence once, or the hard pink slippers the Woman left outside the door once. Even the smallest flower excited my nose and eyes. Being alive was such an adventure! And I wanted to experience every part of this new, lovely world.

But now, this was different. This wasn’t exciting. This was terrifying! Because most scarily of all, was that we were without Momma. We weren’t at home anymore. And somehow… I felt where he was taking us wasn’t a good place.

Beneath me, Yip kept howling in terror. Moffus bit at the plastic bars, whimpering, “I want Momma!” while Yap cowered down but peered with big, curious eyes at the world zooming by us. “Maybe... an adventure,” he dared in a small, scared voice, as an attempt to be positive.

But my heart pounded with fear and apprehension. “Stay close!” I told them all, holding onto the bars as we bumped wildly up and down and nearly tumbled out as the driver swerved wildly around corners.

Then it happened.

In a lonely alley between quiet houses, the crazy growling thing we were on suddenly stopped so hard we all tumbled upside down and over each other in the basket.

When I surfaced, I saw the big hands coming for us. The man’s face was grim. I cowered and whimpered. His hands closed around Yip.

“Momma!” he shrieked.

The man walked across the street, then unceremoniously dumped the trembling, terrified Yip by a stranger’s gate.

“YIP!” I cried in horror. Yip shook so hard, he could barely stand. “Momma!” he sobbed.

“Yip! Come back quick!” I yelled. But it was too late. The man dashed back across the street with a speed that no way any of us could match. He leapt back on the roaring black thing, and before Yip could move more than a foot, the thing roooooared and shot off down the road. My siblings and I dashed to the back of the yellow crate and clung to the bars, staring in horror as behind us, Yip got smaller and smaller in the distance. He tried to chase us. He did. But very soon, we were way too far. The last I ever saw of him was him stopping, standing in the middle of the road, trembling like a leaf in a storm, and howling his head off.

And then he was out of sight.

The remaining four of us exchanged horrified, terrified glances.

What was happening? Why had Big Man abandoned Yip? And… my heart stopped in terror…. Was he going to do the same to all of us next? I could hardly breathe. My beloved chubby brother Yip. Would… we ever see him again?

“Surely Big Man will go back and fetch him!” Mippy whimpered in a tiny, shaky voice.

In reply, the roaring thing came to a screeching halt. Mippy shrieked as she was picked up by the scruff of her neck.

THUMP THUMP THUMP! The big man’s heavy footsteps thudded across the street.

“HEEEEELP!” Mippy howled as she was thrown atop a pile of wet cardboard boxes, surrounded by garbage cans.

“Oh no,” I gasped. Then, leaping up as high as I could on the side of the yellow crate, I once more howled, “MIPPY! RUN! FAST! COME BACK TO US!” but she couldn’t even get off the tall pile of crates.

She wobbled, they wobbled. She howled, “SAVE ME!!” but no one came.

RRRRRRRRRRRR. We were off again.

I looked around desperately. “This isn’t good. We’ve got to get away from this cage. Get back to Momma!” I whispered urgently to my two remaining brothers.

But how? We were going too fast. Leaping out would be suicide; that we all knew somehow.

“Surely…. He’ll go back and collect Yip and Mippy,” Moffus whispered, cowering down as low as he could, ears flat, body shaking with fear.

“He’s not coming back for any of us. We’re being abandoned,” I said grimly.

Then, looking at the other two, I swallowed and added softly, “And you’re next.”

Moffus burst out crying. Yap just hung his head and sat quietly without making another sound. “We must get away! Get back home! We must all get back home somehow, no matter where we end up!” I urged them fiercely.

But they weren’t listening. They were both too scared.

“There’s no point,” Yap whispered.

I nipped him. “Stop it! We’re all getting home! We must!” I said.

But he was right.

Further and further we went. So far. I couldn’t remember where in this huge, enormous, terribly, tremendously colossal world “home” even was.

“How do we get back home?” Yap sniveled. “Do you know the way? And it’s so, so far. We’ll never make it back on foot.”

GRRRR. The bike screeched to a halt.

My heart pounded with terror. A deep, agonizing pain weighed on it. Yap’s big, sad eyes met mine. They were filled with the heaviest, deepest pools of misery I had ever seen in my little short life.

“Goodbye, Hop,” he said quietly.

My eyes teared. I trembled. “Brother…” my voice came out as the tiniest, heartbroken squeak only.

WHOOOSH! The big hands grabbed him around the neck and waist. Away he bobbed slowly through the air, his gaze never breaking with mine.

“Goodbye,” he whispered again. I felt as if a massive rock was crushing my heart into mush. I pressed my nose against the yellow bars. I let out a strangled, whining yelp from my throat.

“Yap…” I choked on his name.

My favorite brother. My playmate of endless hours on those long, happy days that felt they’d never end. And then, he was gone. Now there were just two of us left.

The roads whipped by us ever faster.

Moffus said nothing. Each time I looked at him, he just closed his eyes. I crawled over the bumpy crate and silently lay down beside him. I gently licked his closed eyes, his nose, his cheeks. I lovingly gazed at his quiet, brown face. I want to remember you forever, I thought. All of you. And Momma. I will never ever forget you. The love we shared. The special bond. I kept licking him gently, trying to burn his sweet little face into my memory. To hold onto it forever.

He is quiet. Too quiet. Resigned. Resigned to whatever dark fate awaits him.

I don’t try to talk to him. I can’t find the words. What to say? I don’t even try to encourage him anymore.

I just lie down beside him, tight, tight. I press my warm body close, to try to warm him, to calm his fast-beating heart. I put my foot on his shaky one. And for one last sweet moment, we lie nose to nose, smelling each other and feeling each other’s hearts beat in sync.

And then… he too is tossed away. He doesn’t try to chase the bike. He just darts in terror into a nearby bush and hides, vanishing from sight. I can’t bear to watch him.

The engine growls again and the bike rushes off. It is early and quiet. In this part, no one is awake yet. The homes are closed, the shops are boarded up.

I look around the basket. All empty. I am the last one left.

Where is he taking me? The road slopes down. It is peaceful, too peaceful. There are no more homes there. Just trees. Pretty ones, tall ones, sure. But it is… too lonely. There are no people here either.

I look around in fear. My heart pounds. I know I’ll be next. And this time, I have no hope of returning home. It feels like we’ve crossed six continents by now. I can’t breathe anymore. I can’t feel my feet. My throat is all closed up. Constricted. My heart pounds so hard my chest aches.

I’m just a baby. Barely one month old. I just learned to walk. What will I do all alone in this big world? I can’t even defend myself against a cat. Where will I sleep? What will I eat? Who will care for me now that Momma Dog isn’t there?

I dig my claws into the floor of the cage. Maybe if I hold on tight, he won’t be able to take me. But I know in my heart he’s far stronger than me. Yip had run after the man until he couldn’t run anymore. But I won’t. Because I know, he’s not taking me back with him. This is the end.

And in that moment, something else hurts. A deep sting in my chest.

I am not wanted, I realize.

SCREECH! I’m nearly hurled out of the basket to my death as he takes a sharp U-turn. All around are quiet trees and peaceful morning birds tweeting delicately in their nests. He looks around. Perfect—no one to see him and condemn him. I don’t fight back. He grabs me by my neck and one of my front arms and quickly rushes to the nearby trees. There’s a sidewalk. He dumps me off it into the grass and bushes. Quick as a wink, anxious, guilt-ridden, he starts his bike and takes off.

I scramble out of the bush and onto the sidewalk. I watch him go, but I don’t give chase. I don’t cry or scream for him to come back—because I know he won’t.

I was thrown out. Like trash.

Was there something wrong with us? No, there couldn’t be. Not with sweet Mippy, clumsy, shy Moffus, brave little explorer Yap, and funny clown Yip. They were all sweet, lovable, and clever. Mommy adored them. She doted on all of us. She cooed and licked us and barked joyously whenever we learned a new trick. “How clever! How clever my little ones are!” she’d yap proudly. Mommy loved us. So why… why did Big Man take us away from her?

The motorbike roars up the hill. It is almost out of sight. I stand there, not knowing where to go or what to do. I am stunned. Lost. Alone.

Wait…. Are those footsteps?