Buster and the Shiny Penny

Belinda and I were out for a walk the other day when we ran into Mr. Maxwell.  He has lived on this street for over 60 years and always has a lot of interesting things to say.  Belinda always asks if he needed anything from the store and usually, he doesn't.  Today though, he did need a few things so Belinda said she would run to the store to pick them up for him.  She told Mr. Maxwell that he could take me back to his house if he wanted some company and she would be back in a little while.  Mr. Maxwell thought that was a great idea and said he’d like the company, so off we went, back to his little house at the end of the street.

I really liked Mr. Maxwell.  I’ve never been to his house before so I was pretty excited!  My ears were perky, my tail was wagging, and I had an extra bounce in my step.  Mr. Maxwell kept telling me to slow down because he couldn’t keep up with me!  When we got to his front yard, he opened a beautiful iron gate that had little stars in it and told me to go on through.  His yard was very pretty.  There were blankets of thick green grass everywhere.  In the back corner, where the sun was the brightest, there was a little garden with beans and squash growing.  There were pink and yellow flowers planted all around the front of the house.  He had a little pond with a waterfall in the back and a couple of ducks were visiting for the season.  What a wonderful place to play!

Mr. Maxwell took off my leash so I could run and play in the yard.  The first thing I did was chase the ducks!  They were sitting next to the pond when I ran upon them and they both let out loud quacks and jumped into the water.  I guess they didn’t think I’d follow them and today, they were right.  I had far too much to do besides get all wet and get into trouble!  I ran over to the flowers and sniffed them.   They made me sneeze, a lot.  I sneezed so much that I fell over and Mr. Maxwell wiped my nose with his hankie.  We sat down over by the big willow tree and he pulled a shiny penny out of his pocket.

“Buster, this is my lucky penny” said Mr. Maxwell.  “I have had this penny for a really long time.  I found it one day when I was out looking for my lost dog; his name was Buster, too! He wasn't a 

Chihuahua, though”  Wow, another Buster?  “Just when I thought I was never going to find him, I looked down and saw this penny.  Right after I picked it up, I heard Buster barking from underneath a bush!  I ran over to see what was wrong and his collar had gotten stuck on a branch.  I was so lucky to find him that I kept this lucky penny ever since!”  What a great story!  Mr. Maxwell always had really fun stories about when he was younger.  That’s the first time I ever heard about the other Buster, though!  He was really lucky to be found, especially with a branch poking him in the neck!

Just as he finished the story, Belinda came walking through the yard with Mr. Maxwell’s groceries.  “Thank you so much, Belinda,” said Mr. Maxwell.  “I had a fun time with Buster and I hope you bring him back sometime!  I want him to have this.” Mr. Maxwell handed Belinda the lucky penny.  “He knows what it’s for,” and he winked at me and patted my head.

Belinda thanked Mr. Maxwell for watching me and we walked back home.  When we got there, Belinda pulled out a box with a bunch of trinkets inside.  There, she had a clear, flat little box with a clip on one side.  The box opened up and she put the lucky penny inside.  Then, she picked out one of my favorite Chihuahua collars and clipped the charm with the lucky penny onto it.  “There you go Buster, now you will have all of the luck in the world!”  From that day on, I always wear my lucky penny charm!