Hello! I know I have been sounding like a broken record lately, but that will all change now that I finished this! Here we go with the last part!....................................
Barnabas
"Peedaddle!" said Emma, as she made an error in her bookkeeping.
Barnabas leaped up and bounded to her desk, where he put his paws on the ledger, leaned over and fogged her glasses.
"My God!" she exclaimed.
Why was she always saying My God! in a way that had nothing whatever to do with her God? He caught Barnabas by the collar and dragged him into the corner next to his chair.
"I'm tellin' you the truth," Emma said, squinting as she wiped her glasses, "it's goin' to be either him or me." She grabbed her sandwich bag and put it in her desk, slamming the drawer shut.
"Lie down!" he commanded. Barnabas stood and wagged his tail.
"Stay!" he said, as Barnabas ambled to the door and sniffed it.
"Then, sit!" Barnabas went to his water dish and took a long drink.
"Whatever," he muttered, unable to look at Emma.
He sat down and turned to the Gospel reading for Sunday. As he prepared to practice reading it aloud, which was his custom, he cleared his throat.
Barnabas appeared to take that as a signal to stand by his master's chair and place his front paws on his shoulder, giving a generous lick to the Bible for good measure.
He had just read that ignoring negative behavior and praising the positive could be a fruitful strategy. "Whatever you do," the article had implored, "do not look your dog in the eye if you want to discourage his attentions."
"'And as Jesus passed by,'" intoned the rector, avoiding the doleful stare, "'he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?'"
Barnabas sighed and lay down.
He continued, without glancing into the corner: "'Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that works of his God should be made manifest in him.'"
He read aloud through verse five. Then, he stopped and studied Barnabas with some concentration.
"Well, now," he said at last, "this is extraordinary."
"What's that?" asked Emma.
"This dog appears to be.....," he cleared his throat, ".......ah, controlled by Scripture."
"No way!" she said with disgust. "That dog is not controlled by anything!"
Just then, the door opened and Miss Sadie Baxter helped prove the odd suspicion.
Before she could speak, Barnabas had bounded across the room to extend his finest greeting, whereupon the rector shouted what came immediately to mind, and what Peter had told the multitude:
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you!"
Barnabas sprawled on the floor and sighed with contentment.
"I was baptized, thank you," said Miss Sadie, removing her rain hat.
****************************************
Well, that's the whole first chapter! Wasn't it good?? If you want to read the rest of the story, you'll have to go and buy the book!!
Thanks for looking at my blog!
Emma
No comments:
Post a Comment