“The Headless Dog”

Here is a story by my Grade Three students at an American School in the Middle East. Students volunteered titles, and we kept voting until we got it down to the most popular one. Then we went around the room, with each student adding a sentence, until the story was done. I think the students all had Halloween on their minds!

image from: http://blog.xonio.com/media/woofer1.jpg

The Headless Dog 

One day, there was a headless dog. One afternoon, he found a boy named Mark who was seven years old. Mark felt shocked to see a headless dog. So he thought carefully before speaking, and said, “That’s the best Halloween costume I’ve ever seen!”

Then Mark picked up the dog, and said to himself, “Wait a second! This real fur! It’s a REAL dog!” Mark put the dog down quickly and ran away.

When Mark got home, he cried to his dad, “I saw a headless dog!” Of course his dad didn’t believe him, so he told his mom.

Mark’s mom believed him, and told Mark, “Don’t touch him, or go out with him.”

Mark went back outside and found the headless dog was waiting for him in his garden (yard). Mark asked the dog, “Why are you here?” In response, the dog ran up to Mark and scratched him! The headless dog wanted this boy to be headless, too! The dog wanted the boy to be headless so that they could be best friends. So the dog took Mark with him to the place where Mark could become headless.

There was a man at the headless place who demanded of Mark, “How dare you show up here without having your head off yet, to be like a dog?”

Mark said, “That’s what I came for.” And, when Mark got his head chopped off, he began to turn into a headless dog, too.

Mark went back to his house, and his sister shouted, “Get out of this house, you headless dog!”

When Mark went back out, he asked the other headless dog, “Why did you take me to that place? I didn’t want to be a headless dog!”

Mark didn’t obey his sister, and jumped back into his own room through the window. He went to sleep in his own bed. Mark’s father came in and found him as a headless dog, in Mark’s bed. Mark’s father kicked the headless dog–his own son–and threw him out, in the trash bin.

Mark got out of the bin and went looking for the other headless dogs. He asked if they could return his head. They told him, “No,” because they wanted him to be their friend. They all used to be boys, too. After fighting with the other headless dogs for a while, Mark was able to get his head back. When he put his head on, he turned back into a boy again.

Then Mark went back to home and told his parents the whole story. His mom believed him, but his dad still didn’t.

The End

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