" The Early Years of Your Best Friend" by David K

I was born in an alley. I remember that I could barely hear, see, or smell, but I also remember my mother as she cuddled me and my four siblings close to her. We were all hungry, so I squirmed my way through my siblings, to make sure I got a chance to eat too. It was so good! Soon, I could see the big, red and gray walls all around me, as tall as the sky. I could hear strange sounds, and smell wonderful smells. One time, I tried to find them, but stopped at the entrance when I saw these tall things walking around. Suddenly my mother pulled me back, and told us to never leave the alley. Those “people”, as she called them, were dangerous, and we must stay in the alley. So we instead played with each other, tumbling over each other and running around the alley. It was so much fun! And when we were hungry, we would run to our mother, and we would drink our milk. Though, as we got older, and the milk was no longer satisfying, our mother began to leave us. She again instructed us not to leave the safety of the alley, as the world was full of dangerous things. Sometimes she brought back delicious new foods. Other times she brought back shiny things that tasted like food, but weren’t food. We went hungry a lot. Then one day, mom didn’t come back.

We waited a long time, crying out loudly for her over and over, hoping she would hear us and come back, but she never came. Instead, a giant, shiny box rolled in front of the alley. Scared, me and my siblings ran to hide behind the shiny bins and black lumps.  I saw two people get out of the box, and walk toward us. One by one, they took my brothers and sisters into the box, each of them crying for mom to save them. Finally, they took me as well. They put us all in tiny little boxes in the big box, and we started moving. We were so scared. We stopped moving, finally, and the people put each of us into bigger boxes. They each had walls like the alley, but instead of a blue sky, there was another wall. I cried out to my siblings, and they cried out to me. That night, I was so lonely. I cried out for mom, but she didn’t come. The next day, something strange happened. Two people, who were accompanied by a much smaller person, went into one of the boxes, and took one of my brothers. I called for him, but he was gone. The same thing happened over the next couple of weeks, until I was the only one left. I cried out for anyone to be with me. I was so sad. Then one day, a small person ran up to my box, and pointed at me. That person became my best friend.