Help me, oh Nala, the great muse.
Let me tell the story of one noble and bold.
Once at home, and then far from,
help me spread a story that needs to be told.
Let it be told with sorrow, anger, and glee,
For the story of Cara is an extraordinary tale.
The Trip

Cara is a good and faithful servant.
She waits everyday for her young mistress, Julia,
by the door. She loves her little Julia with all her heart
and the love is returned by Julia equally.
Never will there be a bond between two friends like theirs.
The lengths Cara would go for Julia are far beyond that of others.


Julia's parents also loved Cara greatly,
they took her nearly everywhere. One year,
they took her to a campsite. They traveled a long time.
When they arrived it was late at night. Cara slept outside under a tree.
She liked it there, the smells were almost overwhelming.
In the middle of the night, she heard a noise in one of the bushes.
She got up and went to investigate.
Cara smelled one of the furry brown things that ran
around the yard at home. She didn't hesitate,
breaking the tie that held her, she chased the furry thing around the woods.


Cara eventually gave up, she was too tired.
She fell asleep once more. When she finally woke up,
the sun was shining brightly. She blinked a few times
and tried to figure out where she was. Something felt wrong.
Where were Julia and the car? She quickly found
the path she had taken the night before and retraced her steps.
The only thing that was where the car had been was a
candy wrapper. She sniffed it; it smelled like Julia's mom.
'They left me!' she thought. 'I have to find them!'




Cara could just barely smell the way the car had gone.
She followed it all the way to the big road with lots of cars on it.
She glanced both ways. She began to pace back and forth,
trying to decide which way home was.
She sat down and prayed to Sirius,
the dog who watched over everyone from the sky.
'Help me to go home. I don't want to never see my family again.'
Instantly, she felt pulled to go to the east. She turned and trotted
along the side of the road, towards home.
The Journey Begins

The night crept over the sky like a blanket
being pulled up over the world. The stars shone like
tiny diamonds suspended in the air.
Cara looked up to see Sirius twinkling far above.
She had forgotten to thank him for helping her earlier!
She quickly sent up a quick prayer, hoping he
would forgive her. A quiet trickling reached Cara’s ears
and she realized just how hungry and thirsty she was.
She walked away from the road and towards the sound.
She came upon a little boy drinking from a fountain. Cara
sat down and watched him drink. He didn’t notice her
and continued to drink. She woofed to get his attention.
He looked up and his eyes widened. She wagged her tail
to show him she was friendly, but to no avail.
He screamed and ran away, calling for his mother.

Now Cara was left with no way to get the water from the fountain.
Cara decided to follow the boy and make him
see she was friendly. She followed him to where his family was.
There was a older girl who must be the boy’s sister and an
older women, who, Cara thought, must be the mother. She hid in the bushes,
watching them take a long, skinny piece of meat, attach it to on a stick,
and put the whole thing into the fire. She whined,
wondering why they would throw away a perfectly
good piece of food. All of a sudden, the older girl’s
meat fell off the stick and into the flame.
Cara almost lunged from her cover to get it. But the mother
fished the meat out and threw it right to where Cara was hiding!
She couldn’t believe her good fortune! Looking up,
she saw Sirius winking at her.


A gasp startled her and she looked back at the family.
They were all staring at her, their eyes wide with fear. Slowly the
sister stood up, ‘I think she’s hungry mom.’ she said. Cara
gobbled up the food quickly to show her she was right. The
little boy threw his meat to her it landed closer to the family.
She darted out and grabbed it. They smiled and threw her more food.
The boy got a bowl, set it in front of her and filled it with water.
Then he ran back to hide behind his mother. She quickly drank it all,
it was filled twice more by the girl. Cara wagged her tail at the daughter,
she reminded her of Julia.
The Rope


As she was drinking the last bowl she felt her collar
tighten as a rope was attached to it. She yanked away, but the girl held tight.
They tied her to a tree and patted her head.
‘We are going to find your family girl.’ they said.
Cara whined trying to tell them that she had to get free and go home!
They just crawled into their tent and went to bed.

For a long time, Cara pulled at the leash,
trying to get free. It was much stronger than the last one.
She sat down, defeated. She knew she mustn’t lose hope.
Julia needed her. As she stared at the leash, an idea
popped into her head. Taking the leash between her teeth, she bit down
She sawed at the thick rope with her teeth all night long.
Her mouth soon grew sore and her gums were raw, but
still she persisted. She had to be free to return home.

Soon the rope was frayed enough for her to break it.
Cara sprang forward and the rope snapped.
She almost barked for joy, but then remembered the family
in the tent. They would soon see that she could not be trapped.
Cara trotted once more towards the Big Road.
She was on her way home again.
The Red Truck


Cara felt like she had walked ten thousand miles
with a thousand more left to go. The pads of her feet
were cut and one had a thorn in it. She needed a break;
she needed to sleep. She glanced up at the sky and prayed
to Sirius. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind her asking for his help
once more. She prayed,
“Sirius, I don’t think I can go on. My paws hurt me with each step
I take. Send me some help, please.”
She limped as she walked along the Big Road. She just begun to wonder
if Sirius would send help, when a familiar smell soon
filled the air. It lead to a small town and the place where the people
sometimes would stop in the late afternoon
to rest and fill up their cars. Cara sniffed around for something to eat.
A red truck had just pulled up, the driver
had opened his door and on his seat
was a bag of opened chips. The driver walked around to the
large opening in the back. There he pulled out a bag and
walked to the pump for his car.

Cara darted to the car, faster then any other dog.
She jumped up to the seat and snatched the bag. She returned
to the edge of the pavement and hid behind a log
that was laying there. The man had gone back to
the open door, he closed it. He didn’t notice the missing chips
and started to head for the small building. Cara dug into the bag,
but soon found she had a problem: she couldn’t get her nose into the pack.
It kept moving away from her. She sat there puzzled before realizing she could snag
the container with her paw to hold it still.


After finishing her small meal, she looked around
for a way to get off her aching feet. She looked at the truck
once more. It had helped her before, maybe it was the answer again.
The bed! She could sneak into the back and let the man take her
closer to home. She prayed to Sirius to the man was going to go
the right direction.


Cara kept an eye on the building as she crept towards the red truck.
The trunk was about 2 and one half feet taller then Cara was. She took
a running start and leaped into the back. She whimpered with joy at her good luck,
the truck had many tarps and lumps to hide beneath and behind.
She settled herself so that she was almost buried and waited for the man to find
her.


It wasn’t long before the driver returned, and,
without checking the back, got into the cab and drove off.
He was going the right way! She could feel it. And as the blanket
of night crept across the sky, Cara fell asleep.
The Other Side of Town

Cara awoke with a jolt. The truck had stopped and
she could no longer hear or smell the driver.
The things she did smell were awful.
She could smell sadness, anger, rot, and despair.
Some odors she knew, but quite a few were novel.
Cara started to get scared, she didn’t like it there.
She stood up and looked about her.
She was in the right city, this she knew, but it didn’t look right.
Cara jumped out of the car and right into a puddle wetting her fur.


A few men stood around a barrel from which firelight
came. They were scary men and reeked of anger. Cara skirted
around them and came to a grubby white
building. Children played in front of the house, but they never
strayed very far from the yard. Night
was coming. The kids looked mean. Cara didn’t think they would
help her. They might throw something at her just out of spite.


Cara continued trotting through that part of town.
Every time someone saw her, would try to shoo her away.
One lady started to chase her with a broom. She received a frown
from everyone. Cara began to doubt that she would ever leave.
She stopped under a brown
bridge and prayed to Sirius to lead her away from the place.
The Return


A man saw Cara, he was dressed in blue,
he didn’t look happy to see her and he chased her out from
under the bridge. She ran away from him and then realized she knew
this section of town. It was a park she sometimes went to with Julia’s
family. She ran through it looking for them, maybe they were here to.
She heard her name being called and she ran towards the sound,
ignoring her sore feet.


As she got closer she realized the person calling her name
wasn’t her family and she slowed. Then she realized it was Carol!
Carol was her family’s friend and neighbor. She would help Cara home.
She sped up once more and when she reached Carol she jumped up
and down, trying to give her licks on the cheeks. Carol laughed and
said to her, “You must be so tired! You have come a long way. I’ll
take you home now, Julia’s worried sick.”


As Cara lay on the seat of Carol’s car, she prayed once more
to Sirius. ‘Sirius, thank you so much for reuniting me with my family,
it means so much to me to see them all again.’
Once more, as darkness blanketed the earth, Cara was reunited with her family.