There are many children struggling, some I know personally because my daughter and all her friends are now scattered across the country. Gifft Hill School on St. John suffered storm damages, so the island kids had to start the school year somewhere new, and many of these children had to do it without their family. Some business owners and medical professionals had to stay on the island. The veterinarian could not abandon all the animals left behind, she had to send her children to a friends’ house to start school in New England. It was not just the cold that was shocking to them. In my story, the runt was lucky because he struggled with each new challenge and that is the lesson I hope children learn from this book.
The toolset a child needs is within their own mind. Every brain is set up to answer any question you ask it. The mind may not have the right answer, but it was designed to come up with something. The trick is to ask the right questions. Positive questions could be, “What do I want more or less of? What is going well right now?” Victimizing questions are the ones to avoid. When you ask yourself, “Why me?” you will end up with some sort of answer. The brain may respond with, because you are stupid, or too old, or too young, or life is unfair. If the fall of 2017 has been a season of change for you, get the inner critic on your side and take advantage of the many opportunities during changing times.
Chapter Two: The Growing Runt
The next couple of days were just a blur of waking up every hour to feed, walk and cuddle. My Mom was busy, but my brother had his license and was a big help. My mind was so full of happy thoughts, that I noticed I was not hearing negative ones anymore. I was asking positive questions because I was feeling pretty lucky, and getting positive responses.
I named the puppy Casper, just because I always liked that name. The breed of this tiny puppy is Cane Corso Mastiff. Hard to believe how big he was going to get when he was not even three pounds yet. I think at least two of those pounds were in his head. His body was so light that when he tried to stand up, the weight of his head would tip him over.
My friends came over and fell in love. I could see some were jealous, and my thoughts said, “who wouldn’t be?” I was so lucky to get to spend my days and nights with Casper. More friends showed up, “Everybody is going to want to hold him, tell them to go home.” My small room was crowded with kids, all waiting their turn and I silenced my mind by seeing that it made Casper feel good to have all these people loving him. For the first time in his short life, this one lucky runt was tenderly cared for and surrounded by love.
I wondered if dogs have an inner critic that bark negative thoughts inside them. If Casper had one, it did not show. He loved and licked each person. He did not look like he missed his dog family at all.
When Mom came home from work she cut in line and lifted him up to her nose and inhaled deeply. Casper smelled of pure puppy, sweet and delicious.
Mom asked, “Did you walk all the dogs? Ginger and Pfeffer may be feeling neglected.”
“Not yet,” I answered and I had a gulity thought. “My dogs will think I only love the new puppy.” I hate feeling guilty, but those feelings made me take the dogs on an extra long walk. As I walked I thought we had Ginger for as far back as I could remember. She follows us surfing and sits on the front of the paddleboard. I hope Casper likes the water as much as she does.
That night I slept hard. It was the first time in a week that the pup was not up every hour to eat. Sleeping longer must mean that he is starting to feel full and comfortable. I rolled over in my bed and felt something squish on my cheek. Before I got the light turned on I smelled what it was. Everything about Casper was adorable. Even his poop was cute, it looked like a swirl of soft serve chocolate ice cream. I can tell you for a fact, that when it is in your face it does not smell like ice cream.
Poop in the face is not a good way to start a day, but it turned into one of those perfect days that I would just like to live over and over again. My friends came over in a dinghy. We all cooked up a storm in my kitchen and packed a picnic of chicken nuggets and cheese sticks. I made a dipping sauce of mango salsa because mangoes grow all over the island we put them in everything. It is a good thing that I really like them and star fruit too.
We all piled in the dinghy with the food and dogs and went out to sea. I held Casper tightly, because he did not have a dog life jacket like Ginger and Peffer have. It was not too rough today and we glided over the smooth ocean surface. We headed west to the back side of a neighboring island, called Congo.
There were large rocks to climb and jump off of. It is a fun place and even has a rope swing in a cave. It is a little scary to snorkel in the cave, but it’s the good kind of scary that I like. I bet the pirates that lived here hundreds of years ago loved this place. We have all tried to work up the courage to go in this square-shaped hole in the rocks under the water, but none of us tried today. It was just relaxing and full of so much happiness. My friends and dogs, splashing around in the warm water, made me feel like I was floating in love.
We giggled all day and laughed hard a lot. I was lying on a rock, playing with a sea star, it’s such a cool creature the way it curls up. I started thinking about my marine biology class last year. I was not missing school, but when I have to go one of the things I like about my school is that the teachers don’t just teach what is in the books. The most interesting things I learned in school came when a student asked a question and the teacher and the class explored the answer.
I was remembering when Kal was passing out a quiz and dropped all the papers on the floor. Kal liked to make people laugh, and he was very funny picking up the papers and had everyone in the room cracking up. The teacher said that he bet no one was nervous about the test anymore. He was right, I was not worried anymore. Mr. D explained that when you laugh, or are very happy, your body releases endorphins. He said that anxious feelings can’t exist in a body with endorphins zipping around. It was the day I realized that there are incredible things going on inside of my body.
Casper snapped me out of my thoughts barking at a crab. I can’t even describe how cute his bark was, his whole little body would bounce back after getting the sound out. Everything inside of me, and surrounding me on the outside, felt so incredible that I wished every day could be this happy.
I look forward to the input and will self-publish next month on CreateSpace, but the book will always be available on Steemit. My goal is to get this book in as many young hands as I can, so if you like it please request it from your library this spring and follow me 
