Grade 3
Lincoln School

My First Prairie Dog

By: Richard W

Chapter 1 – Prairie

One day my family and I went on vacation to the prairie. We had a lot of fun. On the second day my pesky sister and I had an adventure, and I’ll tell you all about it. It started when my pesky sister Danielle was throwing her teddy into the tall grass and she insisted that I go with her to find him. Well I didn’t want to get her mad so I said, “Ok, I’ll go with you.” We wandered in that tall grass for hours. Then Danielle saw two brown ears. She said, ‘Hey Alex, there’s Ned!” (Ned is the name of her teddy.) When she said that, she was half right. We walked closer and closer. We were almost next to it. It looked kind ‘a like a ground hog. Luckily I had brought along my nature book. So I looked up Prairies. I found a picture of the strange creature. Under the picture it said “Prairie dog.” “Hey Danielle,” I said. “This is a prairie dog.” Just then I noticed something. The prairie dog was eating Ned. “Ah!” said Danielle. “That thing is eating Nedy Wedy!” And she took off running. “Hey come back here!” I yelled. It was no use. I think she thought that once it was done with Ned it would start on her. Then I turned back to the prairie dog. “I’m going to name you Mischief,” I said. And that was the beginning of our friendship.

Chapter 2 – Mischief

Then I put Mischief in my pack and started to our cottage. When my mom saw Mischief she fainted. Mischief scampered over to her and stared into her face. Then she opened her eyes. Mischief jumped back and squeaked in surprise. Mom got up. Mischief scampered back over and started scolding mom. We all laughed at that. Just then Danielle came into the room. She tugged on mom’s pants and said, “That squeaky thing ate Ned.” Then I spoke up. “I brought Ned with me because I thought you could fix him. Danielle ran over and hugged me. “I wuv you Alex,” she said. I blushed. When dinner was ready we all came hungrily to the table. Mischief sat in the chair next to me. All you could see was his ears. When dinner was over Danielle watched mom sew Ned back together. “That’s good,” I thought. Then I went to play with Mischief. “Hi little guy,” I said. Mischief tilted his head and stared at me. “Boy you are cute,” I said. Mischief blinked. “Oh I give up,” I said. “I’m going to help mom with the dishes.” As I expected Mischief followed me. When he saw the sink he jumped in and looked longingly at us. “I think he wants us to turn on the water and give him a bath,” mom said. But when we turned on the water, Mischief screeched and jumped out and scampered out of the room. At night Mischief slept in my room. He got up several times in the night, scampered over to my bed and pulled on my sheets. I got up, plugged up the drain to the sink, and filled it up with water and went back to bed. The next day I tried to play with Mischief again. Obviously Mischief remembered last night. So when I asked, “Are you a good boy?” He screeched. Then I went to have breakfast.

Chapter 3 – Gone

When I came back into the room Mischief wasn’t there. I called his name out. Then Dad said, “He probably went back to the prairie to be with his family.” “You’re right,” I said. “He probably missed them.” That is the ending of Mischief’s story. I hope I’ll see him again someday.