Freebie Adoption Forward by Megan... I don't know what got into me but Thursday night I wrote a little petz story. Its cute, so I'm sharing. :) Please don't judge it too harshly. It's not like I'm trying to sell it to Barnes and Nobles. lol A freezing wind swept into the adoption center. "Brrr… its cold," the little puppy whispered as he glanced around the webpage. "Someone from a frozen part of the world must be accessing another part of the site." A grown up lab answered knowingly. Her eyes glanced kindly at the puppy. "It will pass." "I know." He said more softly than before. This time he didn't mean for the lab to hear. But she seemed to know his mood. "What's wrong?" she asked. He was quiet for a while longer. His heart pounding, as he wanted to answer and didn't want to at the same time. Finally, he blurted, "I don't think I'll ever get adopted!" He looked around sadly. "All the other puppies I was with are gone and now these new puppies are going just as fast. And… and I don't think anybody wants me." "Of course someone wants you." The lab said soothingly. Her statement generated snickers from around the page, mostly from a litter of gorgeously hexed cream and white Dalmatians. The lab gave them all a stern look, before turning back to the little puppy. "What's your name?" "Errr… the name beneath me says poodle01." He answered in confusion. He looked at the lab's nameplate. It said Rose. "That's not what I meant," Rose said calmly. "What is the name that you were originally given?" "That's the only name that I've ever known." The puppy sat down dejectedly. Suddenly he didn't want anybody to be kind to him. Somehow, it only made him feel worse. "Look, I now you're just trying to be nice and everything. And I really appreciated that. But can we just not talk about it?" He turned away. Too many petz had tried to befriend him before. He had lost them all. Rose smiled. "I think I shall call you, Robin." "What?" He flipped around. "Wha… what kind of a name is that?" No one had ever tried to name him before. "It seems to suit you. You're a brave little puppy you know." "Poodle. I'm a poodle. I'm a boring 1st generation black poodle." He snapped. "And I don't want you to name me anything." This sent some of the hexed puppies into fits of hysterical laughter. "Yep," one of them called back. "An oogly old poodle. Can't even show like we can." Another bred litter of mixed puppies joined in. "My mother told me that poodles were snobby, can't pose and have oogly kids," said one. "Yea," a little girl pup piped up. "And we should never ever have puppies with a poodle 'cause our puppies would be icky just like them." She glared at Robin and shivered. "That's enough!" barked Rose. "If little puppies don't have anything nice to say, they shouldn't say anything at all." All of the puppies drew back from the giant lab. Some looked a little ashamed. "I'm sorry." One of the little girl puppies said, her eyes on Robin. "I've never seen a poodle anyway. I guess they're not so bad." Robin glanced at her and saw that her name was Sniffles. "Yea maybe." A boy pup added. "No worries now, you're adorkable" he added with an evil grin. That one was called Snippit. "Thanks," Robin answered sarcastically. Well, he supposed he would let himself be called Robin. At least it was better than Snippet. Suddenly it grew very bright and all of the petz were startled back into their best poses. They were being displayed on somebody's monitor! Someone had come to adopt! There was a general commotion of voices as all of the puppies began calling out at once. "Adopt me! Adopt me!" Even though they couldn't move and no one could hear them, they hoped so much that they couldn't help but try. The face that peered at them was one of a brown-eyed human girl. She blinked at them as if truly overwhelmed. "Oh, how sweet," she breathed. "She's beautiful," Robin thought sadly to himself. He would never find an owner like her. She would choose one of the hexed puppies for sure. With one mouse click, she was gone again. For a moment all of the puppies held their breath. Then, came the excited chatter. "Do you think she went to go fill out an adoption form?" Sniffles asked. Then added, "She looked at me… she really looked at me! I thought I was going to die inside!" The little puppy squirmed elatedly. Robin looked at her in surprise. He hadn't thought about it but it was true. The girl had looked at Sniffles. He found himself hoping for her. "Aww... ten to one she didn't even read the rules first," Snippet teased. "Of course she did," Sniffles drew herself up to face Snippet. "She read them. I know she did." Snippet grinned. "Dear site owner… I want to adopt the funny looking mixed up puppy you call Sniffles. I will immediately change her name because it's stupid. Computer petz can't catch colds. And if you think that I'm going to put your site initials in front of her show name, you have another thing coming. Besides, she can't pose worth a darn. And even though you asked me to put 'froggie' in the subject line, I won't because I don't even know how to spell it." All of the puppies howled in laughter as Sniffles tackled her tormentor and wrestled him onto his back. "I didn't mean it!" He gasped, holding back laughter. "I didn't mean it! Ow! Ok… ok. I get it now, don't tease the mighty Sniffles." Sniffles leaped away. She was too hyped up to be really angry. "That's right, I'm the best. And besides, I can too pose." And she straightened out her back, planted her feet squarely and with stunning elegance raised her head high, slowly curling her tail over her back. All of the puppies gasped. Her pose was perfect. Each puppy knew in their hearts they could never produce a pose like that. Each felt just the smallest hint of envy. Of course Sniffles was to be adopted by the pretty girl. There was no doubt now. "Very nice." Praised Rose. Robin looked at Sniffles longingly. A poodle could never pose like that. Sniffles was dazzling. Spots! She had spots. He had never noticed that before. The puppies gathered round Sniffles to congratulate her and wish her luck but she was too excited to hold still. Instead she ran circles around the page in excitement, tripping over the links and crashing into the site logo. The puppies followed her around and around too thrilled by the action to pay attention to what was going on around them. A few of the hexed puppies snapped at Robin when he tried to join in. He sighed and sat back to watch the excitement. It figured. "Hey.. hey... hey! Be careful!" A sharp voice echoed throughout the adoption center as a black and tan calico strolled onto the page. All of the puppies turned to stare, then began wagging their tails in greeting. It was the site mascot, Max. He was the most popular petz on the whole site. Every petz dreamed of such an honor and most knew that they would never get it. Max wandered over to the logo and dusted off the loose pixels the puppies had scattered all over it. "You dogz sure know how to make a mess of things." All of sudden he was covered in puppies. They knocked him down licking his face and nipping his tail. With a sigh, he leaped up onto one of the navigation bars and let the puppies begin to settle down. "Dogz," he mumbled. "Why they made a dogz program I'll never know. Who wants a computerized wet nose?" "Someone came! Someone came to see us!" The puppies cried in unison. "And she's going to adopt Sniffles!" Max looked confused. "Of course someone came to adopt one of you. That's why I'm here. But…" and he looked at Sniffles. "I'm sorry Sniffles, but she asked for someone else." "Oh," Sniffles said staring at the ground. "I understand… well I guess… I guess I'm happy that someone else is going to be adopted. Since you were all so happy for me." But poor Sniffles didn't look happy and the puppies glanced at each other guiltily. They had all been a little jealous. Rose nuzzled her comfortingly. "So who is the lucky devil?" Snippet called to the catz. "The girl's name is Emily and she lives in Montana," Max said forcefully. "She is a very nice girl and I expect her to be treated with the greatest respect." They all groaned. Everyone hates a lecturer. Who did Max think he was? The principal? Max chuckled. "That means no tail biting and definitely no face licking." "Aw c'mon, Max, just tell us who got the part," Snippet barked. Max purred, "She wants the poodle." Robin started. "Not me," he thought. "It can't be me." The crowd of puppies roared. All of them yapped at once. "No way! In Montana? They don't have poodles in Montana!" Snippet grinned and sidled up to Robin "Congratulations. I mean that." Sniffles smiled at Robin through her tears and licked him on the nose, "I really am happy for you, especially you because you've been here the longest. You deserve it." "I... I... thank you Sniffles," stammered Robin. He was so thankful he had black fur as he was blushing from head to toe. He still couldn't believe he could be going anywhere. Was he dreaming? Snippet turned back to Max, "So ummm… what are the odds that the application will be excepted?" Max stretched until he was standing on his toes. "One hundred percent. He's a freebie." THE END If you would like to see more of this story, just email me and I'll see what I can do. There will be more Thursday nights you know. :)