The Day Santa Stole My Dog

I will never forget. It was a cold Tuesday in early November. I was on my way home from a long day of first grade and I was dreading the Phonics and Addition homework that stood between me and my cartoons. My arrival home was almost a routine since my early childhood, before I could even remember. Every day, I would gather my belongings from the car while my brother sprinted to the house to claim the t.v.. He was always ten steps ahead of me. Every day without fail, my black lab, Mindy, came running out of the house to greet me. She acted as if I had been gone a year each time. Every day, she would run up to me and give me the biggest welcome home hug, give me her favorite toy, and give me the sloppiest of licks. Every day, until that cold November day. 
That day, I gathered my book bag and my lunch box and I stood in the driveway anticipating that routine welcome home greeting. The greeting that never came. I stood confused for a minute, wondering what Mindy could possibly be doing that could be coming between our routine. It wasn't until that minute that I realized how much I looked forward to that routine. The excitement and unconditional love she had showed toward me every day; where was it? Worried, I dropped my bags and ran to the house calling her name. If she wasn't running toward me, I would run to her. She was no where to be found. 
My mother called my brother and I to the kitchen table where she was sitting. She looked as if she had been crying. 
"Where's Mindy?" I asked. 
"Mindy is up in a better place, making a lot of little boys and girls happy. I'm sure she's up there now playing fetch and running through big piles of snow, and eating ."
Mindy did love playing in the snow, but why couldn't she just wait until December to play with me in the snow?
My young mind thought about what my mother said. Up in a better place, snow, other little kids...
"Why did Santa steal my dog?!?!" I yelled.
My mother sat startled for a second.
"Well, Santa needed extra help this year because his sleigh is getting too heavy, and he thought Mindy would be the perfect help that he needed. He did promise to give you extra special toys this year for allowing him to Mindy's help."
They better be some good toys, I thought, because nothing could replace my dog..

Frozen Accident

It was a hot, July day. Kelsey was rushing to gather her supplies to run out the door for work. She slept passed her alarm for the third time this week. As soon as Kelsey opened the lobby door of her apartment complex to get to her car, the hot summer air paralyzed her. The humidity made it more difficult for her to breathe. The sweat began to pour, and her straightened hair began to curl and frizz. Kelsey sprinted to her car, threw her supplies in the back seat and jumped in the driver's seat of her 1995 Pontiac. She turned the Air conditioning on full blast, thinking it would cool off sooner rather than later, and she took off for work. She only worked about 4 miles away, but city traffic turned what should be a short commute into a 20 minute drive. She watched the light at Light Street turn from green, to yellow to red to green to yellow to red again. Finally, traffic started to inch along and she made it through the light just to approach another yellow light. Kelsey started to sweat even more, not only from the exhausting heat, but also from the stress of making it to work without her boss noticing her being late yet again. As the light turned red, she came to a full stop when the car behind her came crashing into her rear bumper. Kelsey's head jolted forward and then back against the head rest. When she came to it, she looked out her windshield and gasped. "What the hell?!" she said. The road was a sheet of ice. The light posts were ice. The flowers were frozen. Kelsey quickly opened her car door, thinking it was the end of the world. She swung her legs out of the car and as soon as her flip flops landed on the road, she had to hold on to her car door to keep herself from slipping and falling. Her boss would never believe she slipped on ice in the middle of July. Kelsey inched herself towards the car that had hit her when Elsa opened her car door and started apologizing. "I'm so sorry, this actually happens quite frequently!" Kelsey was in shock at what was going on around her. She came to realization that she was no longer sweating, but actually shivering. Elsa kept apologizing and promised she would pay for all of the damages. Before Kelsey had the chance to say everything was alright, Elsa covered her face with her hands to hide her sobbing. Elsa turned around and quickly ran away, leaving a path of ice and snow trailing behind her. Luckily, Kelsey's car was not damaged enough to keep her from driving. Kelsey finally made it to work twenty minutes late with her boss waiting for her at the front desk. When asked why she was so late, Kelsey apologized and explained, leaving out minor details, that she had been in an accident. Her boss' stern face quickly became apologetic and asked if she was alright. Kelsey responded by just saying "I'm fine, just let it go."​