Darky's+City+Adventure

Cindy Jiang 1/2 A Darky’s City Adventure

“Darky!” Emily screamed. “Watch out!” Darky let out a reassuring bark. He couldn’t understand why Emily was afraid. There doesn’t seem to be anything scary here. Suddenly, Darky felt his foot slipping and he lost control of his body. He realized that he went too close to the river and was about to fall in. He is a smart dog, and knew that he couldn’t swim against the river current. But it was too late. In a split second, he fell into the river. Darky felt his body hit the cold water. He thrashed around, trying to swim back to where Emily was, but it proved to be futile attempt. All he could do was to keep his head above the water. After a while, the river stream became less turbulent. Darky wearily pulled himself onto the shore and collapsed in a heap, gasping. He felt a little better after some rest. He lifted his head and looked around. It was dark already. Darky realized that he had collapsed right in front of a small, dim alley. There was a strong odor in the air. Ugh, what’s that smell? Darky thought, I should get myself out of here. Driven by strong curiosity, Darky stood up and started walking down the alley. The smell didn’t improve as he kept on walking. If anything, Darky thought the smell was getting worse. At the end of the alley, Darky walked out into a street. The high-rise buildings were one next to another, and neon lights were flashing along the street. It was the liveliest place he had ever seen. Cars and trucks were all over the street. The odor was so strong that it almost made breathing unbearable. Darky finally realized the source of the odor: It was the pollution from the automobile exhaust. Darky has been with a suburb family for his entire life and never came to the heart of a big city, therefore is very sensitive to the odor of polluted air. A pile of trash bags on the sidewalk attracted Darky’s attention. He saw something moving in the pile. What in the world is somebody doing there, he thought as he went to investigate. He peered in the opening of a bag. The first thing he saw was a pair of unblinking eyes staring back at him. “Eek!” both Darky and the creature in the bag yelped. Then out of curiosity, Darky crept closer and took a better look. The creature was actually a mouse. The little mouse wasn’t bashful and was very friendly to Darky. He introduced himself as Rick. Rick was a very kind mouse. When he heard that Darky was starving, he offered to get his new guest something to eat. “It might not be the best, but it’s the only thing that we can find,” Rick squeaked, as he started digging through the trash pile again. He came out with a piece of half eaten chicken bone. “Here,” he shoved the chicken bone to Darky, then dove back into the trash. This time, he came out with an apple core. “I think I saw a half eaten pie in there,” Rick said, “but it’s too big for me to carry. Do you think you can give it a try?” “Sure,” Darky replied, and went into the trash. He was able to dig out the pie and they started eating. Darky told Rick his story, how he fell into the water, almost died in the river, lucky enough to survive but lost his family. He really wanted to go home. Rick thought for a moment, and then said. “I may be able to help you find your family.” Darky perked up. “Really?” he asked. “Well, I’ll try my best, but am not sure whether it’d be enough.” Rick replied. “The more the merrier,” Darky said, then yawned. “Well, I think I need to rest for a bit. It’s getting late, and I’m really tired.” Darky laid down with another big yawn. Rick scampered to his side and they both went to sleep. The next morning, Darky and Rick set off. After walking a few blocks, they met another stray dog. His name was Jeff. After hearing Darky’s story, Jeff said. “Everyone knows that river runs to the north, so I suggest you go south, which is that way.” He pointed the way that Darky and Rick came from. Darky and Rick looked at each other and sighed, they knew it wasn’t going to be an easy job. Half a day passed, and they still didn’t make any progress. That’s when they came upon a group of mice. “Hey,” Darky said, “maybe we can ask them.” Rick shrugged, and then agreed. He went up to them and told them the story. One mouse came close and looked at Darky. He then called out to the others. “Hey, this dog is the one on the poster.” “Huh?” Darky asked, confused. “What poster?” “The one over there, looking for the missing dog” the mouse replied. He pointed across the street. Darky was thrilled to hear this. He quickly thanked the mouse, and dashed across the street. He saw the poster on the bulletin board, and his cute picture was right in the middle of the poster. He was so excited. “How do I let people know that I am the dog on the poster?” Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He started barking really loudly at people passing by. “What are you doing?” Rick was puzzled. “Well, I’m sure if someone sees that it’s me on the missing poster then they’ll do something,” Darky explained. Darky was right. A passing child pointed out to her mom that Darky was the missing dog on the poster. They decided to take Darky back to Emily. Darky was put into the car, with Rick hiding secretly on the floor. It took a long time until they got to Emily’s house. He heard voices outside, and then, finally, the door opened. The first thing Darky saw was Emily. He gleefully jumped out of the car and into Emily’s arm, licking her face joyfully. Emily was so happy to see Darky back and started crying. Then, Darky remembered Rick. Darky jumped out of Emily’s arms, then went to the car. He stuck his nose to where Rick was hiding and said. “You can sit on my head if you want.” Rick laughed and climbed on top of Darky’s head. When Darky pulled his head out of the car, everyone saw that there was a little mouse on his head and laughed. “That’s so cute,” Emily said in between laughter, and then pleaded. “Can we keep him? Please?” “Well, since it seems that Darky also wants him to stay, then sure,” Emily’s mother replied, also laughing. From then on, Darky and Rick led a happy life living at Emily’s house and none of them ever fell into the river again.