Todd's Stories #6

Growing up, Todd was a boy who loved animals. In the Easton household there were always plenty of pets to play with, ranging from rats and bunnies to dogs and cats. In particular, Todd always loved dogs. As a little baby-Todd, Todd's family had a golden retriever named Kyle which baby-Todd loved. As a young child-Todd, Todd's family had a black lab named Noir which child-Todd loved. And during the same time as Noir, Todd's family had a chocolate lab named Pal-O-Mine. All of these dogs Todd loved, but although they were all in the family, Todd was not able to call any of them his own.

During his childhood, Todd was quite a little reader. He read various books, many of which had to do with dogs. Todd's favorite series of books was Henry and Mudge.

(Todd nor Mudge looked anything like this)

The bond between child and dog in those books was what Todd yearned oh-so-badly for and made Todd want a dog of his own even more. Every Christmas and every birthday Todd would ask for a dog, which was always acompanied by the answer of no. However, one Christmas, Todd's wish finally came true and he was able to go pick out a yellow lab to call his own.

All of the Easton's wanted a say in the naming of Todd's dog, but deep down in his heart Todd knew that no name would do but Mudge. After listening to their suggestions (although he knew none of them would be accepted) Todd finally decided on the name of Mudge and let everyone know. A week later they went to pick out the dog to be named Mudge and it was love at first site. Todd knew imediately which dog he wanted and that was that. The legend of Mudge grew from there.

The funny part of the story came several years later while in 4th or 5th grade. During these years of school everyone had to write their own books. Todd had written several others, including such classics as East Vs. West, The Stone House, and the book of jokes, however none were quite as good as his Todd and Mudge books. That's because he stole the stories entirely from Henry and Mudge. Todd replaced the name Henry with his own and called it a day. He made slight changes of course, but most of it had already been written by the real author.

Personally, I like Todd and Mudge better, but I'm a little biased.

R.I.P. The Late Great Mudge. Gone but never forgotten.