There once was a little girl who loved animals.  She had a gold fish, two tiny turtles in a bowl, a rabbit and three dogs. Two of the dogs were small Terriers and the other was a big black Chow dog.

The little girl had neither brother nor sister with whom she could play, therefore she spent a lot of time with her pets, especially the dogs. She fed and brushed them, ran and played with them, sometimes dressing her two little dogs in dolls' clothing. Many hours were spent with her animals in games the little girl made up, just for them.  

One day, Grandma came to stay with Little Girl while the mother and father worked. The little girl so tired of playing with the dogs and her doll. She turned to her grandmother and asked " Grandma what can I play? I'm really, really bored."   Grandma sat deep in thought for a moment before replying, "Why don't you have a tea party? You always enjoy entertaining your dogs." Little Girl clapped her hands in delight." Oh! yes!" she cried. She loved tea parties!

Grandma helped Little Girl set up the table and arrange her tea set.   She filled the teapot with water, and Little Girl made several "finger sandwiches" from saltine crackers and peanut butter. Grandma provided a plate of home made ginger snaps. A small sprig of honeysuckle was placed in a small jar in the center of the table.

After much chasing and yelling, Little Girl captured the dogs. She put dresses on the two Terriers, and tried to make them sit on chairs. She would seat them, and admonish them to stay, but they would jump down. Then it was another chase and another capture to bring them back to the table   After about a zillion tries, and several bites of crackers, the dogs became weary and finally sat on the chairs, tongues hanging out, tails wagging,  anticipating the treats.

The little girl carefully poured water into four little cups and lifted the plate of "sandwiches" to serve to the dogs when bad luck befell the happy gathering.   Without even a meow, the neighbors big black cat sashayed thru the hedge. Oops!

In unison, the two little Terriers jumped off the chairs, running after the cat, barking and yipping, dresses flapping in the breeze.   Mr Cat ran back into the hedges and jumped up on the fence, licking his paw, out of reach of the nattily dressed dogs.

Fortunately, Chow Dog was looking at the food on the table when the cat made its appearance. He did not see the cat immediately, but when the other dogs barked, he turned to see what was happening. Quick as a wink, Little Girl threw her arms around the neck of the chow dog, gabbing his collar.   She twisted her fingers into the thick fur, trying to keep the big dog from the cat chase.

Alas, Chow Dog outweighed her by several pounds. The best Little Girl could do was hang on to Chow Dogs collar. The two terriers, satisfied that they were unable to get to the cat, turned their attention to the new commotion and chased after Chow Dog.

Around the yard ran the dogs, Chow dog in front with the two terriers in hot pursuit. All three yelping as loudly as possible. The little girl, astride the big dog, was holding on with both hands.

Grandma,  sitting on the porch shelling peas, jumped up, knocked over the pan of peas, which flew every where. Grandma ran down the steps, brandishing the broom while

calling "STOP, STOP, STOP" at the dogs.    

The dogs didn't slow their pace and were barking louder than ever. Chow Dog

circled the yard once more before she stopped suddenly at the edge of the duck pond. Little Girl untangled her fingers, slid from the chow dog's back and rolled down the hill.

She tumbled into   the duck pond with a big splash. Two large geese were swimming and began honking,   the four resident ducks flew, quacking, from the pond .  Just then, the two Terriers arrived, still full of excitement from chasing the poor cat and Chow Dog. 

They began  running back and forth, yelping at the sight of Little Girl in the pond. Grandma was still calling out for the dogs to stop, and was totally ignored. After getting the little girl off his back, the chow dog had gone to the Tea Party Area, knocked over the table, scattered the tea set, then began scarffing down the peanut butter crackers and cookies, leaving nary a crumb behind.   

Grandma arrived to lift the little girl, soaking wet and muddy, from the shallow pond. Little Girl was not injured nor frightened in the least. She put her arms around Grandma's neck.

"Grandma, I'm glad you thought of having a tea party. You have the very bestest ideas" she said.   "This was sooo much fun! I wasn't a bit bored.

Can we do it again tomorrow, please?"

Grandma 's eyes swept over the yard, she sighed, "Maybe some other day. Right now, it looks like we've gone to the dogs."

?© 2005 Clara Wersterfer