In my neighborhood there are lots of pine trees and they drop lots of pine cones. Some of the pine cones are short, brown and crunchy and others are long, green and chewy. My little sister, Izzy, and I like to eat them. She likes the crunchy ones and I like the chewy ones. For some reason Mommy doesn't want us to eat them. Every time we are outside walking, this is what I hear: "Ethel Frances, what do you have? What is it? Let me see it!" I just stand there looking at the ground, pretending I don't hear her. She tries again to get me to show her what I have, but I won't do it because as soon as she sees it's a pine cone, she will make me drop it.
"Ethel Frances! Get over here! Come on!" I still ignore her and she will finally walk over to me, stick her fingers between my teeth, and pry my jaws apart. "Aha!" she exclaims. "Just what I thought. A pine cone! How many times do I have to tell you not to eat pine cones? Why do you even want to eat them?" She was talking and asking questions so fast that I wouldn't have been able to answer her even if I could talk! Once she pried my jaws open, I couldn't hold the pine cone anymore. It fell to the ground, but Mommy thought I dropped it. "Ethel Frances, you are a good girl! Thank you for dropping the pine cone." I turned my head away so Mommy wouldn't see the big smile on my face.
After we got home, it was Izzy's turn to go outside. "C'mon, Isabel. Want to go outside?" Izzy ran to Mommy and out the door they went. When they came back a little later, Mommy had a scowl on her face and Izzy was hanging her head. Before I had the chance to talk to Izzy about her walk, I noticed pieces of brown crunchy pine cones around her mouth and there was my answer. Mommy's scowl was from Izzy eating pine cones. Mommy went in the kitchen and I went over to talk to Izzy.
"Izzy, did you eat a pine cone, too?" I asked? "Well, I tried to," she replied. "I do not understand why our mommy gets so upset about pine cones. They are nice and cruchy and they taste good and I bet they clean my teeth while I am chewing them. So what if they make me throw up sometimes. If I don't care, why should she!"
"I like them when they are green and chewy," I said, "because the pine taste and smell are strong. They give me diarrhea sometimes but I like to eat them anyway. I wish Mommy didn't get so upset. This morning on the way home from our walk, I found a big, green chewy pine cone and I was going to eat it when we got home. We were almost home and Mommy hadn't noticed that I had it. When we got to Bill and Mary's house I stopped walking." "Ethel frances," Mommy said. "Why did you stop? Let's go home." I stood there, hanging my head so Mommy couldn't see the pine cone. "Come on, honey. It is time to go home. Izzy has to have her walk."
"Mommy kept tugging on my leash and telling me to move, but I just stood there. And then it happened. I starred drooling like I always do when I am near something I want to eat. The drool was pouring out around the pine cone and on to the side walk. I still had my head down and wouldn't look at Mommy." Izzy was listening while I talked and she kept nodding her head. She knew how I felt because she has the same problem. It feels good to talk about my problems, especially to someone who understands.
"Izzy, you know what happened next? Mommy looked down and saw a big puddle of drool." She exclaimed, "Ethel Frances! What is in your mouth? What do you have that is making you drool?" She bent down and pried my mouth open and took out that beautuful pine cone and threw it into the bushes. "How many times have I told you not to eat pine cones! They give you a tummy ache and diarrhea and they smell awful. I really don't understand you sometimes. However, I have to give you credit for being so smart. You knew if you kept your head down I couldn't see that pine cone. Too bad your drool gave your secret away. Now, let's go home."
All of a sudden, LuLu, my other sister, said, "I have been listening to the two of you talking about pine cones and Mommy and I can't believe that neither of you knows why she doesn't want you to eat them. Izzy," LuLu continued, "you throw up and Ethel Frances, you get diarrhea. Do you two think that Mommy enjoys cleaning up all that mess!! Maybe if you did those gross things outside, she wouldn't care what you ate."
Izzy and I stared at each other and then all three of us started to laugh. LuLu is a very smart dog!
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