The Story of Ning, Dog, & Boss Book 1
by Brenda Colbath
A child’s imagination is a wonderful thing and must be encouraged. They vividly imagine being the Captain of their Pirate ship, the hero of their adventure, handsome, beautiful, brilliant, and strong. They conquer the world and do anything and everything. The lucky ones keep that childhood wonder; it is so sad many adults lose it on the long bumpy road to adulthood. This is the beginning of the story of a young girl that will never lose that childhood wonder.
Today we will read Chapter 3, which will become a podcast soon. So come along, and let’s go play and talk to the Animals!
Chapter 3 Bedtime for Dawnzella aka “Little Dawnie”
Little Dawnzella, or Dawnie to her parents and Dog, finished her play time in a warm bubble bath with several of her many toys. Mother carefully lifted her out of the tub, wrapped in a large, thirsty towel, carried Dawnie to her to bed. She gently dried her and applied sweet smelling lotion to her tender skin. When she was snuggled in her adorable footed pajamas with teddy bears frolicking in trees, hugging her huge soft dog, she crawled between the covers of her sweet smelling bed.
Mother always sprinkled her sheets with “magic powder” to hasten sleep. She loved listening to Mother or Father read stories until the magic powder lulled her to sleep dreaming of fun adventures with her friend, Dog.
Dawnie being an only child was indulged and encouraged to have fantasy adventures with her friend Dog. Of course, they couldn’t see him, but they knew Dawnie needed imaginary playmates to keep her company. Mother and Father were pleased that she was a happy little girl with an active imagination.
As she drifted off to sleep, she mumbled something about visiting the Zoo and playing with many animals which made Mother smile. Dawnie longed to play with the animals not separated by bars. No sooner had her eyes closed in a deep sleep, she immediately opened them lying next to Dog, leaving herself and her toy dog home in her bed.
She looked around Dog’s digs and was pleased to see a beautiful Siamese cat and a large gray bird with a beautiful red tail, sleeping across from Dog. She remembered Father reading to her about birds and recognized this one as an African Gray Parrot. Rubbing her eyes, she poked Dog saying, “Hey Dog, you have company tonight. Do you think your friends will want to go to the Zoo?
“Dawnie, I don’t know, perhaps we should ask
them. Let me introduce you to Ning and Boss.” Dog said as his guests sat up leaving their sleeping selves behind. They were a little surprised to see a young girl leaning against Dog.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ning and Boss.” She said smiling. Then she clapped her hands saying, “Now that everyone is awake, tonight, would you like to visit the Zoo?”
“Young Lady, the Zoo is closed at night so the animals can rest.” Said Boss.
“Nonsense, the animals are waiting for us to come visit.” She turned to Dog saying, “Aren’t they, Dog?”
Ning and Boss looked at each other and waited for Dog to explain how this little girl in pajamas could be here in his digs in the middle of the night and how they were going to get into a locked Zoo.
Dog chuckled as he stood, “Sure Dawnie, we can do anything we want, anytime we are asleep, and if you want to go to the Zoo and visit the animals, that’s what we will do!”
“We are NOT asleep!” Retorted Ning, stamping her foot, which didn’t make a sound.
“Really? Look over in the corner. Can you see that beautiful cat and the bird snoring?” Dog said.
“First of all, I do not snore, and we can’t be in two places at the same time.” She snorted, refusing to believe her eyes, even though she could plainly see herself and Boss still sleeping in their beds. However, she was pleased he thought she was beautiful.
“Remember, I told you that you only have to want to have fun; you can do anything. If you want to come along, to see and play with the Zoo animals, you can, or you can stay here and sleep.”
Dawnie was standing next to Dog, gently tapping her foot on the leaf floor, waiting for them to make up their minds. Boss nudged Ning a little, “Come on Ning, it might be fun.”
Ning thought for a few minutes and threw up her paws, as far as a cat can and said, “Okay, I’m in, let’s get this show on the road.” Suddenly a look of confusion passed over her face as she said, “How will we get there? The Zoo is miles from here. We can’t exactly call Uber.” She said with a smirk on her face.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got that covered, haven’t we Dog?” Dawnie replied clapping her hands and hopping up and down.
“Absolutely!” he said, with a big smile on his face.
Boss felt that Dog was looking right at him. He started backing up, his feathers beginning to fluff out around his neck and body, saying, “Guys, In case you haven’t noticed, I am not a Gryffindor nor a Phoenix, so get the idea of me flying all three of you on my back right out of your minds!”
Dog and Dawnie burst out laughing, while Ning stood smirking, picturing the scenes in Harry Potter; Boss not so much.
“Dog, you had better tell them about our adventures, Boss looks like he is about ready to back out.”
“Guys, it is really quite simple, all we have to do is “think” about where we want to go and “Poof” we will be there. Coming back to our bodies works the same way. We just “think” about home again and we will be back here. My only caution is: Be careful what you think about because everything you think of in your “Dreamer State,” actually happens.”
“You mean if we believe that a Lion is eating us, it could actually happen?” Ning said with a stricken look on her face. Boss started backing up again.
“Not exactly!” If that happened, the second its jaws clamped on you, you’d wake up back in my digs, uninjured. Silently he thought, “I think! Nothing like that has ever happened before, so we don’t know for certain.” He continued out loud, “When we decide it is time to go home, we just think “home” and next thing we know we are in our beds, safe and sound.”
“Oh, yes,” said Dawnie, “It is all good fun. Come on let’s get going, I want to see the bears, elephants, and tigers!”
“Okay, everyone, close your eyes and think “Zoo” and in the blink of an eye we will be there.”