My Short Short for the Day

The roly poly pug waddled along on his chubby, little legs.  His tongue was hanging out of his mouth as he snorted along with each breath.  His eyes gleamed with mischief as he surveyed his territory.  His grin always fooled people into dropping their guard around him. 

“Ah, this’ll do.”  He woofed as he plopped his bum onto the ground.  He shook himself and the top hat fell off his head, landing perfectly upside down.  He nudged it with his paw, then stretched out his hind feet with his front paws in between.  For some reason, the humans loved it when he sat like them, so he made use of that.

A few moments later, a man walked towards him talking on his cell phone.  “Woof!”  The man looked down, startled to see a fat pug grinning up at him. 

“Oh, where did you come from?”  The man stared at him and the pug panted and put his paw on the rim of the top hat.

“What a funny, little dog.”  The man grinned.  He dug around in his pocket and pulled out some change.  He tossed it into the hat and was rewarded with a wave of the chubby pug paw.

The man laughed then went back to his phone call.  “You’ll never believe what I just saw.”

A lady was bustling by with a little kid in tow.  “Wait Mom!  A doggie!”  The kid dug his heels in and wouldn’t budge.

“What is it Timmy?”  The lady looked tired.  “Oh, what a funny, little dog.”

The pug grinned and put a paw on the rim of the hat. 

“He wants money.”  The boy shouted with glee.  “Give him some.”

“What, why would he need money.”  The lady shook her head.

“Come on Mom.”  The boy looked at her with big, round eyes.  “Please.”

“Oh, alright.”  The lady pulled out some coins and dropped them into the hat. Then turned away, tugging the boy.

The pug waved a chubby paw and the boy laughed and waved back.

As the sun started to set, the pug stood, stretched his chubby legs, then picked up the hat with his snaggly teeth and walked to the nearby bakery.  Al opened the door for him.  The pug waddled inside and set the hat down by the counter.  Al dumped the hat out and put the hat back on the floor.  He also set down a cup of water and a bowl of food.  The pug ate heartily and drank, slopping water all over the floor.  When he was done, Al patted the pug, put its hat back on and tucked a note in the band of the hat. 

“Tell Mrs. Johnson that Sal with be by with her dinner in about an hour.”  Al opened the door and the pug woofed before waddling out.