The Walk

 “I think they’re thirsty,” called my best friend from behind.

It was a burning hot day in Mason and the sun was searing down on us as we walked my two dogs, Max and Morgan. Both of their tongues were hanging out and dripping with slobber. “We should go and get them water.”

            “Okay! Do you want to go to your house or mine?” I replied.

            “Well, I think we should just go to UDF. It’s closer than our houses,” Leyton suggested.

            We continued on the sidewalk, to the very front of the neighborhood. I looked out, onto the street full of loud and busy cars and thought that maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t the best idea ever. But, I blew that thought away, as I got distracted by our odd little 5-year-old conversations. A large, silver minivan vroomed past us with a labradoodle’s head hanging out of the window. We were trying to figure out what it would be like to be a dog sticking their head out the window, with ears and tongues flapping in the wind.

            By the time we had gotten to UDF at the end of Mason Montgomery, our conversation had converted to whether or not they would give us free water for the dogs and ice cream for us. It may seem like something stupid to hope for, but we didn’t know better. And, we were dripping with sweat it was so hot, so they had to, right?

            Wrong. The four of us marched across the parking lot to the front doors (after looking both left and right for cars, of course). As my little fingers gripped the door handle and pulled the door open, I could feel a sweep of cool air attack us. It felt amazing. Our tiny herd strutted inside and passed by a few “awwwhh”-ing strangers up to the counter. The man that greeted us there was very tall and had a grumpy look plastered onto his face. While others had pet the dogs and called us adorable, he looked at us like we were stealing candy off of the shelves. “No dogs allowed in this store,” the scary man said with a monotone voice. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave immediately.”

            Leyton and I looked at each other with sad and defeated expressions. But then, I got the idea that she could wait outside the gas station store with the two dogs, and I would stay inside and ask for some water and ice cream. This plan, was flawless. It had to work. I handed her the leash that I had been holding and she walked outside to wait for me. The line in front of me grew shorter and shorter, and eventually, I was at the very front. I had to stand all the way up on my tippy toes to see over the counter and with my cutest and most delightful voice I could do, I said, “Hi! My friend Leyton and I were wondering if we could have some free water and ice cream for the dogs and us, please?”

            The man looked at me sternly and sighed, “I’m really sorry kid, but I am not allowed to just give you this stuff for free. Maybe next time, you should bring a parent, or at least some money to buy it.”

            I began to tread outside, to break the bad news about our failed plan to Leyton. After a few minutes of sulking on the walk down the busy road home, Leyton remembered that her mom had bought some ice cream the other day and it was in their freezer! We ran home as fast as our little legs would carry us to get a cold, delicious treat and tell her mom all about the adventure that we took Max and Morgan on. Mrs. Gina was not as happy or impressed with our trip as we were, and she lectured us on why five-year-olds should not walk to the gas station to get some free water and ice cream. The ice cream we got after was totally worth the lecture though.

         I think that in this writing, I used a lot of really good diction to describe what I was trying to say. I added detail by putting in a lot of examples of what I saw, tasted, smelt, touched, and heard that day. Most of the details that I had used in my ill-advised moment writing, were supported and further described with some of the more complex and describing words that I had used.