The Torn Paper

    Hello everyone... Sorry for the late posting from Jake and Midge..  We were traveling and didn't get the story posted before we left for the trip...   

   Now,  Here is the story     "The Torn Paper"

Midge entered the living room and jumped into the chair next to Snappy's tank.

"Good morning, Snappy," said Midge as she poked her nose to the glass looking for Snappy in the tank. "Where are you? I think you are hiding again."

"Hi Midge," smiled Snappy as he crawled onto the log. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go to Jake's house with Booker-T," said Midge.

"Are you going to the zoo building again?" asked Snappy.

"I don't know yet," said Midge. "You should have seen the giant turtle we saw when we were there the last time. Wow, Snappy, he was a really big turtle."

"I never saw a giant turtle," said Snappy. "I like being tiny."

"I am glad you are tiny too," laughed Midge. "If you were big like the giant turtle, you wouldn't fit in that little tank."

"Where does he live?" asked Snappy.

"He said he lived near a lake in the back yard of a human," said Midge. "He was going to go live at the big zoo now."

"Why?" asked Snappy.

"I think he was too big for the humans," said Midge.

"That's sad," said Snappy.

"Hey Midge!" called Booker-T as he walked into the living room. "Are you ready to go to Jake's house?"

"Hi Booker-T," greeted Midge. "I'm ready. I was just talking to Snappy about the giant turtle we saw at the zoo building last week."

"He was really big, Snappy," said Booker-T. "I never saw a giant turtle like that before."

"Maybe some day, I will see one," said Snappy. "I'm happy to be tiny so I can stay here."

"We are too," smiled Booker-T. "Lets go to Jake's now. He will be waiting for us."

"Bye Snappy," said Midge. "See you later."

Midge and Booker-T hurried out the doggie door and ran around to the front yard and out the gate. They strolled along the sidewalk on their way to Jake's house.

"What are we going to do today?" asked Booker-T.

"I don't know yet," said Midge. "Maybe we can go see if the petting zoo is outside now. It is warmer outside right now."

"That will be fun," said Booker-T.

They hurried through the gate into Jake's yard and they didn't see Jake on the front porch. They went into the back yard and crawled through the doggie door into the kitchen. Jake wasn't in the kitchen so they hurried to the living room as Jake walked up behind them.

"Hey there!" said Jake.

"Oooh!" said Midge as she jumped and turned around quickly. "You scared me."

"I was in the laundry room eating my breakfast," laughed Jake. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Why does your owner have all this torn up paper all over the table?" asked Booker-T. "Did you tear up the paper?"

"Oh wow," said Midge looking at all the pieces of paper all over the table. "Is she angry at you for tearing the paper?"

"No one tore up the paper," said Jake. "My owner calls it a puzzle. She got it at the store like that."

"Why does someone want to buy a torn up paper?" asked Booker-T. "We could do it free for them."

"I'm good at tearing up paper," laughed Midge. "My owner don't have torn up paper."

"Mine don't either," said Booker-T.

"What is a puzzle?" asked Midge.

"I don't know," said Jake. "I don't think she was happy that it was torn. She is trying to put it back together."

"Wouldn't it be easier to buy the paper in one piece?" asked Midge.

"Humans are funny," said Jake.

"So does that mean a lot of torn paper is a puzzle?" asked Booker-T.

"Maybe," said Jake. "She called it a puzzle when she opened the box and dumped all those torn up pieces on the table."

"Did she get angry?" asked Midge.

"No," said Jake. "She started turning all the pieces over so she could see them. She got some of it together. See there. But she has a lot to do before she can see what it is."

"Is it a picture?" asked Midge staring at the torn pieces of paper.

"I don't know," said Jake. "Maybe it is."

"Why would she want a picture that is torn up?" asked Booker-T. "Did she tear it up?"

"No, Booker-T," said Jake. "She opened the box and it was all torn up in the box."

"Wow," said Booker-T. "Did someone send her the picture and ask her to put the pieces back together?"

"There wasn't a note in the box," said Jake.

"Maybe the human at the store asked her to help put the picture together," suggested Midge.

"Maybe," said Jake. "That might be it."

"I solved the mystery," said Midge.

"What mystery?" asked Booker-T.

"I think the human at the store asked Jake's owner to help put the torn picture back together," smiled Midge. "I am smart."

"I think that is going to be hard to put together," said Jake. "There sure are a lot of pieces."

"Is she going to glue it back together?" asked Booker-T.

"I don't know," said Jake. "I don't see any glue on the table."

"It won't stay together if she don't use glue," said Midge. "I'm just a dog and I know she needs the glue."

"Maybe she will put the glue on later," said Booker-T.

"I think it is going to take a long time to put the torn paper back together," said Midge.

"She works hard," said Jake. "I think she can do it."

"You like to do what the humans do," said Jake. "Do you think you can fix it?"

"I don't think so," said Midge. "I think this is one thing that the humans can do and I can't."

"I want to see what it looks like if your owner can fix the picture," said Booker-T.

"Me too," said Midge. "What are we going to do today?"

"Do you want to go see if the petting zoo is outside now?" asked Jake.

"Okay," said Midge. "Lets go."