The Great Chase

Clemy and Trog were tugging at their leash on their daily walk.

“What is going on, you two? Why are you pulling me?” questioned Heidi, their owner.

The dogs stopped pulling when they met their dog friend, Terry, who was owned by Billy.

“Terry, what are you doing here?” Heidi asked the small tan and grey dog. “And where is Billy?”

Heidi and her friend, Billy, often met in the park to let their dogs play together. But today, he was nowhere to be seen. Bending down to pet the cheerful terrier with the tiny wagging tail, her dogs jerked at their leashes—again!

“Whoa, what the heck?” cried Heidi as Trog and Clemy surged forward and started running. 

Terry decided to join in with the scampering dogs and even raced ahead of them!

The dogs were pulling Heidi so hard, that she had no choice but to hold on to the leashes for the ride. And what a ride she had! They ran down the street passing sixteen people, five stores, and three fire hydrants.  The dogs even lunged right past the ice cream shop that served them free treats!

“Where are you going?” shouted a fellow dog-walking friend.

“I don’t know! They must be chasing something!” yelled Heidi.

They ran three entire blocks before Heidi saw something orange and furry scurry in to the park.

The pack of dogs rushed toward the creature--

ZIP! ZOOM! ZIP!

--dashing and darting.

Heidi could just make out a blur of dog friends as she was dragged onward. Squirrels scampered up into the trees and chattered at the group for disturbing their quiet day. A group of sparrows searching for worms fluttered out of the way of the stampeding animals.

“Hello, friends! Sorry squirrels! Excuse us, sparrows!” cried Heidi as she ran.

Just as suddenly as Heidi had been pulled into running, the dogs stopped the chase. The stop was so abrupt that she ran

SMACK!

into Billy.

Pushed in to a tree, Billy cried, “Whoa!”

Heidi still had her hands clutched to the leash. Whatever the orange thing was that the dogs had been chasing must have ran up into the tree. The dogs circled around the tree.

BARK! WOOF! BARK! WOOF!

Their leash circled around Billy and Heidi, tying them to the trunk. They were completely tangled together!

“This is sure a funny way to meet,” said Billy.

“Our dogs seem to have gone crazy,” answered Heidi.

Heidi and Billy carefully unwound the leashes and stepped away from the tree.

“Clemy, Trog, and Terry what were you chasing?” Heidi asked.

“I think they were chasing our newest pet,” offered Billy.

“Woof woof!” Terry agreed.

Heidi peered up into the tree and saw some fluffy orange fur.

“We were trying to come up with a name for him, when he ran out of our house,” said Billy.

“Well, I think he has named him self--Chase,” declared Heidi.

Chase must have agreed. Down the tree climbed an orange striped cat.

“So you are what all of the fuss was about,” said Heidi.

“No more running away,” Billy told Chase.

“Meow,” agreed Chase.

“Let’s go to my house for dog treats, milk for Chase, and cookies for us,” said Billy.

“Sounds good to me,” answered Heidi.

“Woof, bark, woof,” agreed the dogs.

They turned to walk to Billy’s house, with Chase chasing behind them.