“Jerry!” my mom shouted from the living room. “Have you taken Scout on a walk yet?”

“Not yet,” I replied annoyed as I was in the middle of a Call of Duty match.

“Well when you do, take Wilbur too, it looks like he’s been gaining a few pounds himself.” She said with a chuckle that brought a smile to my face as well. After the match was over, I turned my TV off and started getting ready to take Scout and Wilbur on a walk.

As I started putting my socks on Wilbur started to get excited and jumped on my lap. “Mom was right!” I said to Wilbur “You are putting on weight, aren’t you boy?” I pushed him off my lap and started to walk to the front door. Wilbur met me in the front room next to the front door wagging his tail and staring at his leash. I grabbed his leash off the wall and slipped it around his neck. “Scout!” I called, “Wanna go for a walk?” I watched as he lazily stood up from his bed stretching his back and paws as he gave out a big yawn while tromping towards me. I grabbed his leash and slipped his slender neck through it, “I’ll be back in a bit.” I shouted to my mom who was cooking in the kitchen,

“Alright, have fun dear. Oh! And don’t forget to check the mailbox.” she said as I was just about to close the door.

“Will do!” I replied as Wilbur was pulling on his leash ready for the outside world.

I shut the door behind me and started to make my way down our driveway, “Gee, you’re fast.” I said to Wilbur as he started to pull my arm out of the joint.

“Why can’t you be like Scout?” I sighed.

Scout was great at walks, he always walked by my side leash or no leash. I always got frustrated when I had to take Wilbur on walks, he would either constantly pull on his leash or take rests under shady trees by the road to the point where I had to carry him back home, once he lay down, there was no way he is getting back up and walking home. Luckily today Wilbur was in the pulling mood, which I guess is better than me having to break my back carrying him back home. As we approached the street, I checked our mailbox that sat in front of our driveway. I took a look inside to see if there was any mail, there was only a newspaper and a few letters written out to my mother which I assumed were unimportant. I grabbed the mail and shut the mailbox while Wilbur was still pulling as hard as he could on his leash. “Heel!” I shouted at Wilbur, but there was little effect. I pulled Wilbur to my side to the best of my ability and once again shouted, “Heel!” this time he obeyed my command and started walking by my side along with Scout. I put them both on the head, “Good boy.” I praised Wilbur for obeying me, “Why can’t you stay like this for the entire walk?” he turned in my direction and yipped, thinking I was barking at him.

We continued our walk down the street, Wilbur was walking surprisingly well for the first time in a while. He rarely tugged on his leash during the walk, it was like he was an entirely different dog after we had our little “talk”. I turned to Wilbur multiple times while we walked making sure he did not slip out of his leash and run away without me realizing it. We came to the end of the street turned back around and started to head back home. While making our way back home I noticed our neighbor Old Lady Alice driving in our direction. Alice was the nicest woman I have met in my life, she’s always liked me ever since we moved to this neighborhood. She loved to stop by our house every once in a while and give us a batch of her wonderful oatmeal cookies then talk about how she grew up here, always telling us how much she loved the fresh country air and how she would never want to live in a city. She had beautiful platinum hair and wonderful blue eyes. Whenever I was around her, I always felt she was family, I could tell her anything I was so comfortable around her. She waved at me while Wilbur started barking at her loud pickup truck,

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“Calm down buddy, it’s only Alice” Alice slowed down and rolled her window down.

She stopped across from me and said, “Well if it isn’t Jeremy Andolet.”

Wilbur was still barking at her truck pulling on his leash harder than ever.

I sighed and thought to myself “He was doing so well.” I forced a smile on my face and replied, “How are you feeling Alice?”

She smiled back at me and said “I’m doing well, and yourself?”

“I’m alright.” I lied knowing Wilbur was going to start pulling my arm off for the remainder of the walk.

“That’s wonderful to hear dear!” she said with joy, “By the way, I dropped off a present for you at your house, I handed it to your mom.”

“Oh, you did?” I said surprised “Why to thank you, Alice.” I said with a real smile this time.

“It’s my pleasure. Well, I best be going, I have a doctor's appointment in town.”

“Well you don’t want to miss that, do you?” I chuckled.

“Heavens no.” she responded as she started to pull away “It was lovely seeing you my dear, I hope to see you again soon”

“You too,” I responded I doubt she could hear me over her engine as she pulled away, but I said it just to be polite.

Sure enough, when Alice drove off, Wilbur started pulling in the direction of where Alice drove off.

“Heel, boy,” I said firmly to Wilbur. He ignored me and kept barking and pulling me in the opposite direction. I had enough; I picked Wilbur up and started walking home with him in my arms still barking at Alice who was about a quarter mile away from us now. When we got home, Wilbur finally stopped barking. I walked to the front door and set Wilbur on the ground. When I opened the door a wonderful smell hit me like a truck. It was Mom’s apple pie, Wilbur ran inside the house like a cheetah chasing a gazelle. I have never seen him move that fast in my life, he was probably hoping for handouts of food scraps from Mom.

I stumbled inside with an aching back from carrying Wilbur home. My mom spotted me and kindly asked “How was the walk, dear?”

“It was good… for the first half,” I said with annoyance.

“Oh no, did Wilbur decide to take a nap again,” she said jokingly.

“No, not this time, he decided to pull my arm off when Alice decided to dive by.”

“Alice? Did she tell you she dropped off a present for you?”

“She did, where is it?” I asked excitedly.

“I set it on your bed, but you have to eat dinner before you take a look at it.”

“Alright,” I said while rolling my eyes.

At the dinner table, Mom set a plate of mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, and steak in front of me, it made me drool. I quickly grabbed my fork and started to eat, after I finished, she asked, “Room for desserts?”

I nodded my head with my mouth still full of steak. She walked to the kitchen and brought back a slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, she took away my cleaned dinner plate and set the apple pie in its place. I started to eat the pie, enjoying every last bite of it. After I finished, I took my plate to the kitchen, washed it off, and placed it in the dishwasher. My mom was still eating her meal while Wilbur and Scout stared at her begging for a taste of her meal. I walked to the dinner table and wished my mother a goodnight hugging her. I walked to the bathroom and started to brush my teeth and wash my face when it dawned upon me, Alice’s present, I had completely forgotten.