The 2009 Children's Fiction Writing Award WINNERS

‘The Dog Whisperer’ by Rebecca

Are you okay, Sophie?" my mom asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I’m fine," I replied stirring my cereal around in my bowl with my spoon.

The reason for my doom and gloom was that my dog was missing. Shania had been missing for a week and my parents had expected me to pull through. They didn’t realize my connection with my dog. We sort of talked together. I could hear her thoughts and she could always hear mine. I cannot remember when it started, when I had figured out this great connection that seemed almost magical to me.

Shania was a great dog. She was a golden retriever. She always could comfort me and tell me that everything was going to be okay, even though she really knew that they weren’t. But I believed her. Now that she was gone, my whole world was crumbling to bits inside my head, and I wasn’t trying to build it up again.

My little brother Shane is only a year younger than I am, and he was attached to Shania also. He could hear her thoughts and we sometimes talked about our secret ability in private when we knew our parents weren’t listening. He was a small boy, small for his age, and he had large ears and tons of freckles. He has red hair, as all our family does, and a large grin that stretches from ear to ear, making him look rather like a monkey.

I can say the same for myself. I have long red hair, and just a few more freckles than Shane (we counted them ourselves) and braces to top it off. I rarely smiled, even when I had Shania, to try to hide the fact that my teeth were covered in silver pieces of metal.

Well, back to the point. Shane built his world back from the remaining pieces of rubble — his love of animals and our shared talent of speaking with any animal we chose. He threw Shania away, in my opinion, and embraced a new dog with as much vigour as he had embraced Shania. To top it off he called her Shannon. This name was way too much for me. I broke down whenever the dog entered the room.

"Sophie, are you sure you are okay to go to school?" my mom said with a worried look. I really don’t like that look. Her eyebrows knit together, and her dyed black hair billows about her face making it look heart shaped and as pale as the moon. I loathe that look because it makes her look so pretty, and makes me feel even less so.

"Yeah, I am totally sure. My dog just disappeared, and I am feeling really hunky- dory so just send me to school and let Shane stay at home. Yeah."

My mom glared at me and shot back a retort. "Shane is younger than you, he has taken this blow harder than you have and —"

"No, Mom, I have taken the blow harder than him. Do you see me gallivanting around with another puppy to take the place of Shania, naming the puppy a name so similar that it brings tears to my eyes to even say it and, and, well doing all I can to forget Shania’s existence. No, you don’t." Tears stung my eyes like someone was pushing hot pins into the back of my itchy eyes. Before I could check the tears brimming up in my eyes, they flowed gently down my cheeks. I stood up, sending my chair clattering to the floor, grabbed my bag, and walked out the door.

Once I was outside, I could feel sadness begin to creep over me. My dog is gone. My dog is gone, my feet seemed to bang out relentlessly. I shoved my headphones onto my ears and concentrated on the music instead of the beat of my feet on the warm pavement.

I don’t think I learned anything at all that whole day. I sat thinking about my dog and where she could be. I reached out with my mind, searching for her familiar voice, but all I heard was that stupid dog Shannon rambling on to Shane about a lost bone. I sighed. I doubted that anyone was as smart as my Shania.

"Hey, Sophie!" I heard someone yell. I turned around to see Alice, the coolest girl in Grade 7 running towards me. Her posse was running behind her, all designer labels and fluffy key chains.

"Hey what happened to your dog?" one of the girls running behind Alice jeered. "Yeah I was just about to ask. We have been SO worried about you," said another. This was followed with a fit of giggles. I took a deep breath and tried not to explode.

"Have you guys ever known what it feels like to lose someone? Yeah, it may only be a dog but I have loved that dog and cared for it, and when I found it on the streets I took it in right away. I doubt you girls have ever known what it’s really like to love someone so much you completely give your heart to it." I spun around leaving the most popular girls speechlessly choking in my dust.

The route home went past a dark and dangerous forest. My dad had told me once when I was little that the Black Market was in that forest. I pretended not to believe him, but sometimes I hear screams and howls coming from the forest. As I walked by the last tree today, I heard Shania.

"Sophie…" Maybe it was my imagination, but I heard her voice as clear as day in my head, along with a whole chorus of voices that combined into a high, sharp note begging me to come to them. It was then I made my decision. I knew I would be risking my life, but I had to save Shania. I walked the rest of the way home thinking of how I was going to go about saving Shania from a fate in the Black Market or whatever had taken my dog. I couldn’t tell anyone, because my parents would want to call the police or say that I was letting my imagination carry me away. Anyway, how would I explain having heard the dogs? No one except Shane would believe me. Shane! I would tell Shane and he would come with me!

The door was unlocked so I let myself in, slamming the door behind me. I had not forgotten my quarrel with my mother this morning, and I wanted to make that known. I was not in the no- man’s-land that I had been in before the fight. I was protecting my own lines now.

Shannon walked into the room. She sniffed my foot and looked up at me, and then trotted away. I sniffed as the tears blotted out my view of her and ran, three at a time, up the stairs. When I got to my room I slammed and locked the door. I pulled out a duffel bag and started to stuff my warmest clothes and sleeping bag into it. I sighed as I realized the enormity of the task before me, hunting for my dog through the dark woods.

I turned around when I felt someone’s eyes on my back. Shannon was in my room. I sighed, remembering Shania, my darling dog, my wonderful dog. I knew that I would have to go through with the plan, no matter what. Wait… My door was locked.

"Yes, your door was locked. You probably think me a simple dog, because I have not wanted to reveal my true self to your brother. He will not use me to find Shania, but you will. Shania is my mother. I will go with you and protect you in the forest."

I was speechless. Shania’s daughter! How had Shane — Shane! He was dangerous, apparently. Was he helping the Black Market people or was it just the opinion of this dog, this dog I had thought so stupid and who is really Shania’s daughter.

"Sure, you can come with me. When should we leave?" I asked.

"Now," Shannon said bluntly. I started to try to say that I had wanted to leave under the cover of darkness, but as I stared out the window I saw a pink glint as the setting sun shone once more over the black forest that I was about to enter. I sat on my bed and watched the sun fall out of the sky. I was speechless. Had that time come so fast? That time that I had been dreading? It was now time to save my dog. I felt like time had passed quickly and that I had changed so much since the day I had first heard Shania talking to me. She talked of her love for me and told me that she hoped we would never have to part. She said I had left a paw print on her heart.

The woods crowded in oppressively about my head, and desperate branches reached out for my hair. My feet and Shannon’s paws made deafening noises in the silent night. Each crunch of rocks and each snap of twigs breaking underfoot sent cries of indignant birds flying into the night. The air was fresh and cold and our breath hung for a moment in the air before disappearing. My teeth had started to chatter from a cold drizzle. I looked up and saw a lonely star. "Oh please let me find Shania, I love her so much," I wished fervently.

Soon, the air began to get foggy. "Shannon. What is this fog?" I asked through my mind.

"We are near the camps. Someone is behind us. We must fall to the ground and see who it is." I panicked and dropped immediately and rolled over to where Shannon was lying, licking her blistered paws. The small form of a boy lumbered by and I saw the ears and freckles illuminated suddenly by a flashlight in the oppressive darkness. Shane. Shane. Shane. The word pounded in the blood rushing in my ears. Shane. What was he doing here? Shane. Was he following me or trying to save Shania himself? Shane. He was dangerous. Shannon had told me. Was he helping the bad guys in this twisted story of fate? Shane. Shane. Shane.

Shannon stood when Shane was a good length away, and I followed suit and stood brushing off my sweater. I followed Shannon’s creeping form towards a large pile of dirt from behind which we could see all the people that were in the camp of the Black Market. I strained my eyes for the shape of Shane and words started to float towards me.

"I haven’t been able to capture Shania’s daughter, but aren’t the other dogs good enough?"

"No they aren’t. We need the queen’s children, all of them, or else we will not be able to take over the realm of dogs. We have to get every single pup, and Shannon is the last one," said a large man who was glaring treacherously at my brother. I shook my head as I saw that my brother really was the one who had taken my Shania away. He had never liked her at all. In fact, he had given her away to these people to kill her, harm her, or do anything they wanted to her. Shane had never touched her heart at all. Shania had known. She had known.

I realized the whole thing now. Shane had never loved any of the dogs he had ever met. He had always been planning to hurt the dogs he had "loved" as he had never really loved them. I had loved them and he had forced the connection through his brain to hurt the dogs and give them to these people. I was the only one left now, all the dogs and me.

"Shania? Are you there?" I asked.

"Yes, I am here. Now, do as I say. Turn around and walk straight. The pen where they are keeping us is in the forest. They don’t think we need a guard because the way to the pen is very complex. When you get to the door you have to jump around until you hear a thudding noise. You are? Good. Do you hear that? Now all you have to do is dig up the door." I listened very carefully to what Shania said, but then I heard a yell from the camp. "My sister is here! She is going to try to release the dogs. Run!" I felt my breath coming out faster and faster, my heart pounding, pounding, pounding. "Use love…" whispered another dog. I didn’t see how love could really help at this point, but I could already feel love for Shania and Shannon welling up in me and I worked hard to push it out. A red circle floated around my body. Love. That was love. The love for a dog that Shane had never loved and who belonged to me. All the dogs were pushing their powers towards me, and I felt my body surge with love for the whole world.

By the time the guards got to the pen, it was covered in red. They ran forward and struck the balloon of strength that was covering me and protecting the dogs. Shane stood there, glaring evilly at me. His grin spread from ear to ear and he coughed loudly to make everyone quiet.

"Ah, dear sister, you have come. I have waited for you to figure out where Shania was, and I am surprised you didn’t find out before. Three weeks ago, I came to this place. Do you remember when I disappeared and no one could find me, no one at all. Then one day, a week later, I turned up with all my hair cut off and dried blood all over my shirt? I bet you do."

I had remembered that. We had all wondered what had happened, but Shane couldn’t talk and he didn’t remember anything. We thought that he did and that he was lying, but he said he wasn’t. A week later, Shania disappeared. I hadn’t thought there was a connection but there obviously was.

"Well, I had wandered off into this forest and met these people," my brother continued, pointing around him as he talked. "They had taken me and shaved my head; they planned to use my hair for some kind of ceremony. I begged to be brought to their leader. He was a very nice man who said that he wouldn’t harm me; all he wanted was the dog. I agreed. I never really liked dogs. He told me about the connection and trained me to push my brain out to let other animals and people into my brain. You were the complication. Once I had Shania I had to get Shannon. That was easy, because I only had to call her and tell her about her mother and she came. But you have messed up everything," Shane finished, spitting on the ground in disgust.

I realized I could say nothing, as the power of the dogs was too much for me to speak. But I pushed out my brain and let Shane in. I had never let anyone into my brain, and now I was letting my devil child brother in. I wanted to laugh because of how strange life was.

"Shane, you will never get to these dogs unless you feel any love for them, which you do not. You may have been trained to hear their voices but I have greater power than you. Fight to get to the dogs, Shane, or feel love and compassion and fight on my side."

I saw my brother shake his head. So he had heard my plea to let the dogs go. Well, I hope he took me seriously. "I have your powers, too," he said. Suddenly, I saw a black bubble bumping into mine. I pushed as hard as I could, trying to make my bubble of love stronger, but it collapsed and I fell to the ground with a burst of red.

I woke up in the dark. I had no idea where I was, but I vaguely remembered some sort of dream with Shania missing and my brother being evil and talking to dogs. Then I realized that was my real life. I had continued along this path I chose instead of shaking my head, turning around, and leading a normal teenage life instead of a magical one. In the morning, unless it was already morning, my parents would find both Shane and me missing and call the police. Unless Shane was already back at my house and telling my parents some lie about me running off to find Shania.

A cold nose nudged my aching head and I yelped when I felt it. Wait… I yelped. I tried to cough, but it came out in a sort of bark. I jumped. "Now we are truly together," Shania’s voice rang in my head. So this was the way it was going to be. I was going to be a dog for the rest of my life?

Okay, this time I really woke up and I looked around the small pen. I was right next to a golden retriever who was next to a golden retriever who was next to a golden retriever, and so on. I would say there were about twenty of the dogs in the pen.

"Sophie. We are together but not forever. We need to find a way to get out of the pen with my children, brothers, and sisters. I am sorry; they have shaved your head like they shaved Shane’s, now they will use your hair for a magical potion that could wipe out my whole family. They have not had enough hair to finish it, and now they do! We must hurry if we want to live." I gulped. This was very exciting but what were we going to do? "Don’t worry. I have called for my son and his army. They will come with reinforcements. Did you know I am forty years old? My son is twelve…" I wasn’t listening to Shania. Why should I care if her son was my age or not? He was a dog..

"Here he is," Shania said proudly. I looked around trying to distinguish him from the hundreds of dogs filing in. Suddenly a human boy appeared.

"Mother, I am here to save you."

Uh-oh this is getting way to weird! First off I talk to dogs and have magical powers, second off there is a cute boy that is really a dog and he is supposed to save us. Calm down, Sophie, calm down.

"I have a plan. We can go out the secret exit and attack the bad guys. Then we put them in the love bubble and call the police," I said.

"How are we going to manage that?" said the boy. I was speechless. Calm down!

"Um… I have my cell phone. Just call them now and tell them where we are while I take care of the bad guys." We nodded in agreement and I threw my phone to the boy. He trotted off a good distance and dialled in the number. I snuck off with the dogs to the camp where the sleeping bandits lay. The dogs stealthily trotted over to the people and tied them up with some string that had been in the pen. While they worked I cast a bubble over them. It was only while they were shouting in outrage that I realized Shane wasn’t with them. I started to fret, I had never thought of Shane. Just then the police arrived. The police finished our business up, and I was glad. It was then that I realized I was alone and there were no dogs. "Shania? Where are you? I have saved you, now let’s go home!"

"We never existed. We were all in your head," Shania replied. I turned around and caught a glimpse of the boy. I did not want him to leave, he was the last connection I had to Shania, but I had to.

"Good bye… Shania," I said. The boy smiled and disappeared. I smiled to myself. Boy, what a weird world!