Ten Floors and One Lost Puppy
“Now, there you are. I finally found you,” a soft, caring voice spoke to him from the nearest cloud. “I have been searching for you for far too long!”
Ryerson looked up and saw a big, wet black nose. He could have sworn he felt a strong, loving lick on his cheek. This had happened to him before, a long time ago, when he was just a little pup living in Toronto, Canada.
“Mom?” Ryerson gasped.
“Yes, my dear,” a gentle female black Lab said, smiling warmly at him. “Let’s go and get ready for our journey back to Earth, so we can be born again as puppies.”
“Can I be your son again in my next life?” Ryerson asked eagerly.
He really wanted to stay with his mom. He had lost her way too soon in his last life. It had all happened so fast.
Ryerson closed his eyes and remembered that exact day.
He had six brothers and sisters, and he was the most mischievous one by far. He got that wild streak from his dad—or at least, that is what his mom would later tell him. Ryerson was not the biggest pup in the litter, yet he had so much fire, endurance, and bravery that even his big brother Thor was afraid of him.
His dog family had gone outside to play a game. His mom was the seeker, and he and his five Lab-mix brothers and sisters were trying to hide from her. Ryerson remembered that moment very clearly.“Hey,” Ryerson told his brothers and sisters, “I know a place where Mom will never find us!”
“Of course, I have no doubt that you know it,” Thor asked, wagging his tail eagerly. “Where is it?”
“It’s near those thick bushes by the brick wall!” Ryerson pointed with his nose.
“But Mom told us not to go to that part of the yard,” said Lola, his youngest sister, her ears drooping down. “It is right near the garbage cans where the raccoons always are… and I am scared of them.”
“Oh, stop it, Lola. We need to make sure we learn how to play this game properly. Ryerson is right,” Max, one of his brothers, replied to her.
Lola whimpered softly and looked around the open grass. “I don’t care. I am not going near the garbage cans. I’m going to hide right behind that big flower pot on the patio. It’s safe there.”
“Good idea, Lola,” Thor said, suddenly changing his mind as he glanced nervously toward the dark shadows of the bushes. “Actually, Max, I think Mom might get really mad if we cross the grass. I’m going to hide under the wooden park bench instead.”
Max froze, his ears twitching as he thought about getting into trouble. “Well… maybe you’re right. A good player knows how to stay safe. I’ll hide behind the big oak tree right in the middle of the yard.”
Within seconds, the other two puppies nodded in agreement and scrambled off to hide behind the patio chairs and the human’s garden hose. Every single one of them chose an obvious, safe spot out in the open where their mom could easily spot them.
Ryerson rolled his big brown eyes and let out a tiny huff. “You guys are terrible at hide-and-seek,” he whispered to himself. “Mom is going to find all of you in two seconds flat.”
Determined to be the ultimate champion of the game, Ryerson turned his back on the safe spots. Ignoring his mom’s strict warning, he trotted straight across the grass and slipped deep into the off-limits bushes right beside the garbage cans.
As he crouched quietly under the leafy branches, he heard a soft rustling sound right next to his ear. He turned his head and saw a tiny masked face peeking out from behind a fern. It was a baby raccoon, holding a half-eaten berry in its little paws.
“Hey, you’re not a bush,” the baby raccoon whispered, tilting its head. “What are you doing in my snack spot?”
“Shh! Be quiet!” puppy Ryerson whispered back, wiggling his tail carefully so the leaves wouldn’t shake. “I’m playing hide-and-seek with my family. My mom is looking for us.”
“Oh, I know that game,” the baby raccoon said, taking a bite of his berry. “My mom told me not to wander near the giant brick wall because big barking monsters live over here. Are you a barking monster?”
“No, I’m just a puppy,” Ryerson replied proudly. “Though I do have a pretty good bark if I practice.”
Suddenly, a loud, familiar bark echoed across the yard. At the exact same moment, a sharp chattering sound came from the trees just above them.
“Uh oh, that’s my mom!” the baby raccoon squeaked, dropping his berry. “If she catches me out of the tree, I’m grounded for a week!”
“And that’s my mom calling!” Ryerson gasped, his ears perking up. “I have to get back to the group!”
They split up the very second they realized their moms were searching for them. The baby raccoon scrambled out of the bushes first, running straight into his mother, who had just climbed down from the oak tree. Seeing Ryerson right behind her baby, the mother raccoon puffed up her fur, bared her sharp teeth, and let out a terrifying, loud hiss.
Puppy Ryerson panicked. Scared out of his wits by the angry hissing, he turned and bolted in the opposite direction. His tiny legs pumped as fast as they could, carrying him all the way around the far corner of the property—way too far away for his mom to hear him or find his scent.
At that very moment, the human who owned Ryerson’s mom gathered her and the other five puppies together and took them all back inside the apartment building.
That was how Ryerson got lost.
When he finally stopped running and crept back toward the building, the yard was completely empty. Whimpering softly, he slipped through the open glass lobby doors to try and find his way home. He trotted up to the shiny metal elevator, staring up at the glowing buttons. The building had ten tall stories, and poor little Ryerson had no idea which floor he lived on.
