Yulia PuchkovaChapter 3
RASCAL'S HOBBY
Rascal was a naughty but funny puppy. When he became a year old, he took up a hobby. He started colletting our slippers. Every evening we left them on the floor next to the beds. Every morning we found them around Rascal, under Rascal and, of course, in Rascal's mouth.
We started closing the doors of our rooms at nights, but it didn't help. Now we could find the slippeers in the morning, but every afternoon when we came home,
Rascal had all of them on his rug.
Then Mum said to us, 'When you leave the house, put your slippeers in the drawer.'
We did it, but it didn't help either. Rascal hunted our slippers.
When one of us took off their slippers to climb a chair or walk on the carpet, Rascal was already there. He stole the slippers and ran to his rug.
It was a real battle for slippers, and we always lost. Mum was in horror. You see, when our slippers came out of Rascal's mouth, they usually had big holes in them. So, poor Mum bought us new slippers, and soon Rascal had a really big collection.
Dad went to a pet shop and bought some toys for dogs. They were rubber bones and rattles that looked like fish. But Rascal didn't want to play with his toys. He loved slippers! He slept with slippers, he ate slippers and he played with slippers.
'You are a rascal!' Mum often said to him. He agreed and made holes in a new slipper.
One evening we decided to think what to do. We sat down around the table in the kitchen, and Mum said, 'It's terrible! I buy four new pairs of slippers every month! And they aren't cheap!'
'Let's find a cat for him,' said
Dad. 'Then, he'll forget about slippeers and hunt the cat.'
'What are you saying, Ben?!?
cried Mum. 'It's your horror films!
You're getting so cruel!'
'Mummy,' said Pat. 'Let's buy
Rascal his own slippers. I think he's angry because we all have got ones, and he hasn't.'
'Great!' cried Mum. 'Don't you think that he has already got too many?' and she pointed to Rascal who was asleep on a heap of slippers.
'What about buying another puppy? I think it's boring to stay alone in the house half a day,' said I.