A LUCKY DOG
          
     When Mark was seven, he liked to help his older
brother, Dave, deliver newspapers. On Dave's paper
route one day, he told Mark to put a newspaper on
the porch of an old grey house. Mark did so and then 
looked at Dave who was yelling at him.
      "Run, Mark!" Shouted Dave, as Mark went down the
stairs and past the side gate. There, he saw a chained
brown and white dog and he ran past him as the dog
growled behind him, chasing Mark out of the yard.
      "Are you okay, Mark?" His brother asked him. 
      "Yes, I think so," replied Mark.
      "Come on, we'll get some ice cream when we finish," 
said Dave. They completed the paper route and Dave bought 
them each an ice cream bar at the store. Mark felt much 
better as he usually did when sharing time with his brother.
      When they got home, their mother asked him what was 
wrong and Mark told her he'd been chased by a dog. She
said everything's okay and patted him on the head. Mark 
went to bed later and dreamed about the dog. He liked 
dogs and thought when he woke up that maybe the dog was 
sad about being chained in a back yard.
     The next day Mark was nervous as he and Dave 
approached the grey house.
      "Do you want to do this house?" Asked Dave. "The
gate is closed so it should be okay." Mark nodded and
took the paper up to the porch. Suddenly, he heard the 
dog barking by the gate at the side of the house. Mark
began to run and looked over his shoulder at the dog
who was jumping the fence.
      Then, Mark looked back to see the dog hanging from
the fence and yelping and scared. The dog was choking!
Dave yelled at Mark to run but Mark wanted to save the
dog. He grabbed the frightened dog's collar and released
him from the chain. The dog crawled away with a scared 
face.
      Dave told him he was very brave as they walked to 
the next house. Suddenly, a large dog, named Spike, that
had never been loose came towards them. Mark was afraid 
and held on to his brother's arm. But, before this dog 
could get to them, the dog that Mark had saved, came 
running by and began to fight Spike. He fought so bravely 
and savagely that the bigger dog turned and ran with his 
tail between his legs.
     The boys hung on to each other after the close call.
Then the owner of the dog approached them walking with 
a cane.
     "I saw what happened. You boys are lucky my dog
saved you. I just moved here from the country and I'm too 
old now to walk him. I was wondering if you two kids would 
like to have him as a pet. He's really a good dog and 
doesn't like being chained up." Mark and Dave said they 
would ask their parents if they could have him. The dog 
licked Mark's hands as the man wrote down their phone number.
     The man brought the dog to their house later, after
the boys' parents heard the story and said they could keep 
him. Mark named the dog "Lucky" and his family spent many
happy years with Lucky.