by Ali O’Keefe, age 11yrs

One morning I woke up and started getting dressed, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. So I finished getting dressed and went down stairs. I opened the door and there was a box that said my name on it. I brought it inside and I was about to open it when my mom and sister ran down the stairs screaming NO don’t open it. I was confused and asked why, my mom said it was for my birthday. I said my birthday is tomorrow, can I open it early? No my mom said, so I had breakfast and continued with the day. Then at ten o’clock I went to bed.

The next morning I woke up and was about to go down stairs when my mom walked into my room with pancakes. I sat in bed and had my breakfast, then I went down stairs and I got a big fright. My sister scared me by jumping out of the cupboard to wish me a Happy Birthday. When I walked into the kitchen. The box from yesterday was there and my Mom said I could open it so I then opened it. There was a phone and a piece of paper, on the paper it said birthday scavenger hunt.

The first clue was to go to the place where you wash your clothes. So I ran to the play room and opened the washing machine. There was another piece on paper and it said go to the place where you get a cold drink. So I ran to the cupboard in the kitchen but it was not there. So I thought about it and ran to the fridge and there was another piece of paper. It read go to the place where you wash yourself then I ran to the bathroom and I screamed because there was a puppy in the bathtub.

I started balling crying and ran over and gave my Mom and Dad a big hug. It was a King Charles cavalier (my dream dog). I could not believe I finally got a dog. I named her Zoey and we played together all day.