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Pick Me
by Julie Lye

The messy bundle rolled over onto his back, legs in the air playing dead.

He peeked at the couple on the other side of the glass, they hadn’t even noticed him. He began to jump up and down as if on a pogo stick, as he jumped his raggedy ears flopped about like a pair of pig tails. Soon laughter filled the air, he had looked totally ridiculous. As he’d been ‘pogoing’ not only had his ears flopped and flailed but his tongue had almost completely fell out of the side of his mouth as with each bounce his head lolled to one side then the other and throughout his messy coat undulated in mini waves. He took up a begging stance, eyes all doleful and paw outstretched, the laughter subsided and an exclamation of ‘Awh, how cute’ was uttered.

It was the funniest picture you could imagine.

Suddenly a huge hand appeared hovering over them, it lowered not unlike the grab hand of one of those arcade machines, it grasped, withdrew and delivered a golden coloured pup to the young couple. He hadn’t been chosen, slowly his funny little head lowered and he sloped off to the corner with his back to his companions and the outside world.

Since that day, every morning when the shop opened he would sit in the corner, head hanging low with his back to the window. It wasn’t long before he was alone again, all the other pups had new homes and still nobody had picked him.

Today turned out to be a little different, he could hear a tap, tap, tapping noise, which he ignored, It then became a thud, thud, thudding noise and as each thud occurred the window pane shook a little, he turned his head and peeked, a small girl had been trying to attract his attention and he was about to turn back round when he caught sight of her face. Framed by a mass of mousy brown curly hair which frizzed at the end she looked quite funny but for the look of sadness and loneliness her face expressed.

Moving away from his corner he began to chase his tail, the little girl stared blankly at him. Rolling over onto his back he performed his dead dog routine, still nothing. Finally he began his ‘pogo’ act and a broad grin erupted across her face as she began to ‘pogo’ too. Then, she was gone.

He began to retreat back to his corner when a huge hand came down and clasped him around his belly. He was flying! Flying across to where the little fuzzy haired girl stood with her Granny.

She had picked him, he had been chosen, now he would be loved.

The shopkeeper had asked if the little girl had a name for him and she’d replied, why, Pogo of course!