Ellie's Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

tail with enthusiasm. A walk was almost as good as more potato chips.
    There was another playground at this park, the human kind, and some paths that wound around. I barked at one squirrel that was enough of a show-off to run past a foot away, but mostly I just walked at Jakob’s side. We ended up by a wide, deep pool. Water was shooting up out of the middle of it in white spray and bubbles. I stuck my nose in and lapped up a little, just to see what it tasted like. Yuck! Something sour and chemical had spoiled this water completely. I shook my head hard.
    Jakob chuckled. “The fountain doesn’t taste like your water bowl at home, huh? Okay, Ellie.” He’d picked up a stick. “Get it!”
    Fetch! I loved Fetch! Jakob held the stick up over his shoulder and threw it hard. It landed right in the water.
    Right in the water!
    I bent my nose down and sniffed at the strange-smelling water. Then I dipped a paw in it. Cold! I jerked the paw back.
    I wasn’t a little puppy scared of my own water dish anymore. But still, I didn’t really like this. That was a lot of water. I knew what Jakob wanted, though. He wanted me to get the stick for him. He never liked to lose his sticks for long.
    I put two paws in, expecting to support myself with my forelegs, but to my utter shock I didn’t touch bottom. I fell in the pool! Water flooded into my eyes and nose. Sputtering, choking, I scrabbled and clawed my way out of the pool in an utter panic, shaking myself off violently.
    â€œFetch! Get the stick, Ellie!”
    Forget the stick. I wasn’t going back in there, ever. Plunging under the surface of the water reminded me too much of my dream about the boy. What was his name? Ethan. In the water, sinking down and down. The fear from that dream haunted me now, strong as any real-life memory.
    The fountain was cold. And worse, the water was constantly moving up and down, sloshing back and forth. It was dangerous. I didn’t want to do this.
    â€œThe stick!” Jakob insisted.
    You want a stick? I scampered across the lawn, jumping with both feet on a nice big stick. I picked it up and shook it to show Jakob how fun it was.
    â€œEllie, come!” he commanded sternly.
    Oh-oh . I went to him with my tail lowered, dropping the new stick at his feet.
    â€œYou don’t like water, huh?” Jakob had crouched down and was eyeing me. “That could be a problem, you know. C’mon, Ellie, get the stick. You can do it. Go Swim”
    Swim? I couldn’t do it, if Swim meant going in the water.
    Jakob picked up the new stick and threw it, too, in the water. Oh no! “Go on, Ellie. It’s not that bad. Fetch!”
    Why didn’t he just throw the stick the other way? I ran a few feet, to show him where I wanted him to throw it. Come on, Jakob. This way! Throw the stick on the ground! The ground is so much nicer than the pool!
    But he didn’t. He threw another stick into the fountain, and another. I whined a little, letting him know this was not a good idea. Water was not safe. People should not go into it. Dogs should not, either.
    â€œOkay,” Jakob said thoughtfully, staring at me. “Okay.…”
    And he jumped in.
    One minute he was standing next to me; the next he was gone. He flopped forward in the water, made a few motions with his arms, and sank.
    He sank! Just like that boy, Ethan!
    I barked so Jakob would know to come up. I paced back and forth by the edge of the fountain. Jakob! Jakob had gone into the water!
    He hadn’t given me a command, but I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to Fetch him, the way I was supposed to Fetch the sticks. I was supposed to go into the water.
    I didn’t want to. But Jakob was down there. I had to get him back!
    The next thing I knew, I was in the water, too.
    My paws seemed to know what to do—I paddled as best I could, and I was moving toward Jakob. But the water was every bit as awful as the first