The dog of a friendship

Once upon a time there was a very old house in the woods. It was inhabited by a small family who wanted to get away from the city noises. These young people were the Wellings. It was mostly quiet except for the occasional woof of the Welling’s dachshund when it came upon a badger or two. One day, there was a different noise coming from the house in the woods. It was a strange noise that none of the wood’s animals had ever heard before, it was a baby crying.

The Welling’s new born daughter grew very fast over the years, and before the young couple knew it, Samantha Welling was turning 9 years-old. Mr. and Mrs. Welling were at a loss as to what to get their daughter for her birthday. They were very poor, and it was hard for them to live on what they had, but still they wanted to make her birthday special. The two parents talked about it over and over. Sam’s birthday was a month away when Mr. Welling remembered that their old dachshund, Sadie, was due to have her puppies in a month.

A month later, Sam woke up on the day of her birthday and ran downstairs. The small kitchen was decorated with home made special event things such as a hand sewn table cloth. Her parents were already awake and were holding a giant box.
“Oh Mother and Father! What is it?” Sam asked. She was so excited that it seemed she might punch a hole through the wall if it would make her be able to open the present sooner.
“Open it and find out!” her parents said.
Sam ripped the wrapping off the present and tore through the box. Inside was a small newborn dachshund puppy. It was black with a tiny tan muzzle, tiny tan paws, and a tail that was black with white at the tip. Sam leaned over the box and picked up the small puppy in a caring manner. The expression on her face was more than enough to show Mr. and Mrs. Welling how grateful she was.
“What an adorable puppy!” Sam was close to tears of happiness. ”I can’t tell you how grateful I am!”
The small puppy perked up as soon as Sam had picked her up. Out of instinct the puppy licked her face. Sam knew right away that it was the start of a wonderful friendship.