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Kippie and the Metate Hard as a rock but smooth as a frog’s moist skin. The strange object that sat in front of me was smooth and as brown as the sandy cliffs in the distance. However, just because it was smooth doesn’t mean it was soft. It just doesn’t make sense. “Kippie!” exclaimed my owner, Makia. “Dinner time!” I wondered what I was going to eat. I truly hoped I was going to have buffalo meat. That was my favorite food, though I didn’t seem to want to move. “Woof!” I barked. Leppia, Makia’s mom, finally brought me the buffalo meat. I ate it all in what seemed one bite. Leppia noticed me looking at the strange rock. “That is called a metate,” she told me. I whined a little as if to say, “What is the point of it?” “You grind corn with it!” Makia shouted from the other room. I barked to her as if to say “That is all I need to know about this rock.” I guess she thought I said, “Tell me more!” She blurted out, “The small stone is called a mano!” The next morning, the sound of an enemy awoke me. Naomii. That cat was always up to no good! She had messy bob-cat fur and her big, green eyes were hypnotizing. “What do you want?” I asked while snarling at the same time. “It depends. What do you want me to want?” she replied. “Nothing, you big, brown fluff-ball they call a cat!” I hollered. “Okay! Well…. at least I’m not part wolf with a scraggly, dirty gray pelt!” Naomii said with anger. I took that as an insult for I was part-wolf, part-dog. It wasn’t my fault that my dad was the leader of a wolf pack and my mom was a pure-bred Englishman dog. All of a sudden, an arrow from a bow-and-arrow flew right by my head! “What was that?” Naomii asked in a panicking voice. “A bow-and-arrow,” I replied. Some stupid person just probably missed a buffalo. That evening, I tried to grind corn, but since we dogs don’t have opposable thumbs I couldn’t even grind the biggest bug I found! I found a nice, big piece of corn and I ground it! I was as happy as a child that just shot his first buffalo! “Why are you so happy?” Naomii asked sarcastically. “Because I just ground a piece of corn! Something you un-intelligent cats can’t do,” I replied happily. I saw an Indian from a rival tribe out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw that he was carrying a bow in his hand. He came running up until he was about two yards from Naomii and me. I turned my head to Naomii and she was traumatized by the sight of the Indian with the bow. I turned my head back to the Indian. He seemed to have grayish-black hair and a bunch of white and tan feathers on his head. He had buffalo skin draped on his back and his eyes were narrow. I had seen this rival Indian before. He went by the name of ‘Gray’. I realized he was aiming the arrow at me! He fired the arrow and I was positive he missed until I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder. I turned my head and there it was. Blood. The arrow was stuck right in my shoulder. “Ar….Are you okay?” Naomii asked with a shaky voice. I responded by falling to the ground and closing my eyes. “NOOO!!” I last heard Naomii yell. I woke up and thought I was in Doggy Heaven. That was odd. I was in a place I had never seen before. Makia and Leppia were beside me. Naomii was sitting right by the metate. “Gray was killed, so he shouldn’t shoot anyone again,” Leppia said calmly. “We will miss you, Kippie!” Makia whined. I barked my last bark and then closed my eyes. I woke by the sound of Indian drums playing in the other room. I was alive! I ran to the sound of the music and saw Makia and Leppia sitting there with Naomii by their side. Makia looked up and yelled “Kippie, you’re alive!” I ran up and licked them all in the face. I even licked Naomii, which didn’t taste as I expected, and the metate, which of course tasted like a rock. I knew that I would live a happy dog for the rest of my life. |
