The snow blew through the
trees, shaking the branches and rattling the windows of the house.
Mary curled up in a ball under her blankets. "I'm so glad I don't
have to go outside today. Brrr. It's freezing out there." She
closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.
"If I just ignore my mom and
pretend like I don't hear her, maybe she'll leave me alone." Mary
pulled the covers over the top of her head.
"Mary! It's time to wake up.
You've got to take Sniffles for a walk."
"I don't want to take
Sniffles for a walk in the snow. I'm going to ignore my mom again.
Maybe she'll just do it." Mary kept her eyes shut.
Her bedroom door opened
wide. "Mary! You have to get up now. Breakfast is ready and
Sniffles is anxious to go outside. He's your dog." Mary's mom
pulled the covers off of Mary. "Get up!"
Mary whined. "I don't want
to."
"You might not want to, but
you have to take Sniffles. He's standing by the back door waiting
for you. You can eat breakfast first."
Mary's mom stood at the
bottom of the bed tapping her foot. "If you don't want to take
care of Sniffles any more then I will have to take Sniffles and
give him to someone else; someone who will take care of him." She
closed the door and went into the kitchen.
Mary lay in her bed. "I
don't want to get up. It's too cold. What if Mom gives Sniffles
away?" Mary pouted and climbed out of bed. She put on her clothes
and boots. "All right, Mom. I'll take Sniffles for a walk." She
sat on the kitchen chair and ate her scrambled eggs and toast.
When she finished, she put on her scarf and coat and put the leash
around Sniffles' neck. She opened the door and a cold blast of air
blew on her. "Brrr."
Sniffles barked and ran
around in the snow, trying to catch snowflakes. They walked
through the forest and over the hills. At first Mary didn't look
at Sniffles. She didn't laugh at him or try to be happy, but when
Sniffles dug a hole in the snow and went inside and barked, she
couldn't help but laugh. "Oh Sniffles, I love you. I'm sorry I
wouldn't take you for a walk." She stroked her dog and then
finished the walk.
When she arrived back at
home, Sniffles ran and lay in front of the fire. Mary was chilled
to the bone and was looking forward to a cup of hot cocoa.
"Mary, you need to go and
clean your room."
Mary's chin dropped. She
didn't want to clean her room. She wanted a cup of hot cocoa. "I
don't want to, Mom."
"You may not want to, but
you have to. Your room is a mess. I can't even get in the door to
put your clean clothes in your drawers. After you've finished
cleaning your room you can have a cup of hot cocoa."
"I don't want to clean my
room. I want my cocoa now!"
Mary pouted and went to her
room. She sat on her bed and didn't pick up on thing. "I'm not
going to clean my room. I'm going to play with my toys." She
looked on the floor and couldn't see any toys. All she saw was
dirty wash and papers. "Maybe Mom is right. My room is messy." She
sat on the floor and picked up all the wash and put it in the
basket. She put the papers into the trash can and then she saw her
toys. Some of them were broken because she'd stepped on them. With
a sigh she cleaned the toys. Soon her room was clean.
After her mom had come in
and seen how clean it was she fixed Mary a cup of hot cocoa.
"Mary, I want you to..."
"No! I don't want to," Mary
said, before her Mom could finish the sentence.
"I was going to ask you to
help me make some chocolate chip cookies, but if you don't want
to."
"Oh. I do want to, Mom.
Let's make some," Mary said. "I'm sorry, Mom."
They spent the rest of the
day baking and Mary got to lick the spoon.
