Gabrielle S.'s Memoir

The New Addition

Ugh, I thought. Why this weekend? Can’t we go visit some relatives next week? In April? Devin’s having her party on Saturday and I don’t want to miss it.
As I continued to complain in my head, I remembered what happened a few minutes before. My mom and dad told me that I couldn’t go to my friend Devin’s party because we made plans to visit my dad’s cousins in Pennsylvania. I completely exploded. Crying and yelling, I stormed off into my bedroom, where not even my favorite stuffed animals and a calming CD could help me. I tried to sing along to the song that played on my Strawberry Shortcake CD player, and my voice cracked. I couldn’t imagine how the day could get any worse. time.”
I heard a faint knock on my door, and my mom came into the room looking stressed out and told me that I lost all TV privileges until the weekend. Great. The day did get worse. I cried until my eyes looked red and puffy, and all my tears dried out
One night, eating dinner, my dad slipped up. “Maybe we could take the dog to Central Park some
Last time I checked, my family owned no dog. I doubted that he really said dog. He must have meant a stuffed animal.
Confirming my theory, my mother quickly corrected him. “You know, those little stuffed animals that came with the suitcases.” She sounded nervous, as if she thought that my sister, Carly and I wouldn’t believe her. I’m gullible, so I easily thought it was true, but I knew Carly didn’t buy it. I’m pretty sure that her disbelieving look made my parents say the truth. They looked at each other for a minute, and then turned to us.
“Guys,” my mom started, “When your dad said dog, he meant it. We aren’t going to visit relatives this weekend. The truth is… we’re getting a puppy!”
Now I know she meant it. A PUPPY! It seemed too good to be true. When I spoke, the words came out in a blur. “No way, a puppy? Boy or girl? Is it cute? What kind? When was it born? This better not be a joke. If it is, then that is so mean and-” My mom interrupted me, laughing.
“Calm down Gabby! Yes we are getting a puppy, it’s a she. She is so adorable. She is a Golden Doodle. She’s half Golden Retriever and half Poodle. When your father and I are done eating, we’ll show you pictures.
Carly and I rushed to finish our dinners, and waited for what felt like eternity for our parents to finish eating. Finally, they finished, cleared their places, and my mom walked over to the computer. Carly squealed. The computer loaded up, and in my mom’s inbox an email called Puppy Pictures was first on the list. After double clicking the email, a golden puppy curled up on a blue blanket popped up on the screen. It was the most adorable thing in the world. The first time I saw the picture, I blinked a few times, positive it was a toy. Her ears had so many waves on it, and her eyes were big and black, full of questions. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Are-are you sure this is our dog?” I asked, uncertain.
My mom nodded, and I beamed.
The days seemed to creep by until Saturday morning finally came. My parents packed the family’s bags, and we all piled into the car (we planned to stay at a hotel overnight). Soon we were on the road, on a three hour journey to Pennsylvania.
That night, in the hotel, I barely slept; all I could think about was the puppy I would own in twelve short hours.
The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and started on the road to the dog breeder’s house. She lived about an hour and a half away.
After a while, the stores got less and less, and so did the cars. The only things in sight were some horses and people dressed in funny clothes.
Right when I opened my mouth to ask if we took a wrong turn, my father announced, “Welcome to the Amish country.”
“What’s that?” Carly asked
“It’s where the people here live like they did about 200 years ago. They hunt for food, don’t use electricity, and don’t have TV, computer, or iPods.”
I couldn’t believe it. A world without iPods? It seemed too hard to imagine.
“Wow.” I mouthed.
Finally, we pulled into the house that the lady who had our soon-to-be dog lived. Stepping out into the open land, the first thing I noticed was all of the dogs cooped up in the backyard. Then the smell hit me. I never smelled anything so horrible and wrinkled my nose in disgust. There were too many cows also. A friendly looking lady with messy brown hair and a blue T-shirt came out the door to greet us. “Hello!” she welcomed “Are you the Sheridans? Come right in!”
We obediently followed her into her house, where the smallest living room in the world awaited us. In that one room, there were two little kids on the floor, an old lady wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, another old lady holding a small baby in a rocking chair, a man in a faded red armchair, my family, and the dog breeder. Never in my life had I been claustrophobic, but I suddenly felt that way.
I wasn’t paying attention to my parents, and when I looked at them, my dad held the perfect puppy in his arms. Wow, I thought. Is this the same dog? She’s bigger than the picture, and way, way cuter. Is that even possible? Wow.
Thanking the lady, we walked out the door.
We pulled out of the driveway, and the lady ran out of the house and gave us a blanket. “Here,” she breathed. “This was her mother’s. It will make her more comfortable.” We thanked her again, and drove away.
After awhile everyone started thinking about names to call the puppy. I suggested Autumn, and for some reason my dad burst out into song about the dog’s smell. It was unanimous that she would get a bath that night. We switched to TV character names, and I suggested Squidword, from Spongebob Squarepants. Then, Carly came up with the best name ever-Sandy. The dog’s fur color was sandy, and that made it perfect. Sandy was our dog’s name.
Before we knew it, we were home and I was sad to leave the puppy and sleep. Then I remembered that we would have every day to be together and I became happy again.


A week later…
Sandy turned out to be a bit of a troublemaker, eating half a stick of butter, taking my stuffed animals, and ripping up tissues. The funniest was when she ran around the house with the end of a toilet paper roll, making a trail of it everywhere. I felt bad for my mom when she had to clean that up.
Devin’s party didn’t turn out so great either, one of the girls ate too much candy and got sick, so I was pretty happy I didn’t go. Getting Sandy was a much better experience, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.