The Star Dog

There once was a boy, called Tom, who really wanted a pet dog.
He wanted a pet dog more than anything in the whole world and at night he would lie in bed and dream of having a dog as he hugged his stuffed toy dog.
The only problem was, Tom lived in a little flat with his mother in a tall block of flats and the landlord who his mother paid to rent the flat had a no pet clause which meant they couldn't own a pet of any kind, not even a goldfish.
And so Tom had to make do with his stuffed dog and his dreams.
One night, however, as Tom was lying in his bed looking up at the starry sky through his window saying to himself, "Oh I wish I had a dog. If I had a dog I would love it and care for it and make it the happiest dog in the whole world", suddenly, a star in the heavens that is called Sirius or The Dog Star shone more brightly than it had ever shone before; like what astronomers call a super nova.
And the next moment, to Toms astonishment, his stuffed dog started to wag its tail and bark just like a real dog.
"You're alive", he said to his stuffed dog as it jumped up onto him, licking his face.
Unfortunately the dogs barking woke up the  man who lived next door and he started hammering on the wall and that woke up Toms mother and so Tom had to pinch his stuffed dogs mouth shut to stop it from barking.
But then the next morning, when Tom was petting his stuffed dog he noticed that it was wearing a new collar, with a medallion and a picture of a star on it and there was a word on the front of the medallion too, "Sirius".
"Sirius?", asked Tom, "Is that your name?".
The dog seemed to understand because, at the sound of the word, it looked up at Tom.
And there was something else, for the medallion appeared to open up just like a locket and, inside there was a piece of paper with more words on it.
"List of commands", it said, "Sit, Stay, Come, Fetch, Down, Fly".
"Fly?", said Tom, "Thats a funny command to teach a dog".
But then Sirius started to bark again and so the boy though he better try one of the commands.
"Sit, Sirius, sit", he said.
And the moment that he said this, the collar around Sirius's neck shone brightly and the dog sat up quietly.
"Wow", thought Tom, "It really works".
Then, for being such a good dog, Tom petted Sirius and hugged it and when he did this a special glow came from the star symbol upon the dogs collar that was a bright pinky red like the colour of a love heart.
But then, later that day Tom decided that he would take Sirius for a walk to the park.
Fortunately, Tom had a toy lead to go with the toy dogs collar and, clipping it onto the collar and telling Sirius to 'sit' and 'stay' so that it wouldn't move, he picked up the dog and, showing it to his mother, said
"I'm just going to take my toy dog for a walk in the park".
Toms mother looked at the toy dog which, because it wasn't moving, appeared just like an ordinary toy and, smiling, said to him,
"Okay. Have fun".
Then Tom took the dog to the park that was near his house and he played games with it, like throwing a stick and saying 'Fetch'.
And to Toms astonishment, the moment he shouted fetch, the dog shot off as fast as a rocket and returned, just as fast, with the stick in his mouth.
"Good boy, Sirius", said Tom rubbing the dog between its ears and seeing that pinky red glow come from the star upon the collar.
But then, unfortunately, a couple of men who were sitting on a park bench nearby saw what the toy dog could do and the men just happened to be a couple of evil crooks called Snatch and Grabbit.
"Do you see that?", said Snatch to his partner, "That boys got some kind of fancy, battery operated toy dog that fetches things for him".
"Yes", said Grabbit with an envious voice, looking at Sirius, "He's lucky. All my father ever gave me was an old boot to play with".
"I'm not bothered about that", said Snatch, "I don't want to play with it. I'm just thinking about all the handbags we could snatch and the things we could steal if we had a mechanical dog like that to steal them for us. We would be rich".
"Oh yes", said Grabbit, starting to understand his partner but then, frowning, saying, "Its just a pity we don't have a dog like that".
Snatch thumped his partner Grabbit upon the head.
"You imbecile", he said, "Don't you understand what I'm saying? I'm talking about stealing that boys dog".
Grabbit rubbed his sore head.
"Oh right, yeah", he said.
Then, getting up from their bench, the two crooks went over to Tom.
"Thats a nice dog", said Snatch, smiling a big, fake smile at the boy.
"Sirius?", asked Tom, proudly, "Yes. He's the greatest dog in the world".
"And the way you're able to make him do all those things for you", said Snatch, "Like fatch things and stay. Very impressive. That must have taken a long time".
"Oh no", said Tom, "I didn't have to teach him at all he's just...um...he's just really intelligent and learns very quickly".
"Oh", asked Snatch, rubbing his chin in thought, "Well do you think he would obey me if I gave him a command?".
Tom thought for a moment.
"Well", he said, "I don't see why not. Just as long as your nice to him".
"Oh don't worry about that", said Snatch with another fake smile, "I and my partner, Mr Grabbit are always nice to dogs. We just love animals, you see".
And so Tom told the man some of the Dogs commands, like 'Fetch' and 'Sit' and 'Stay' and when he said the words, the two men saw the dog happily obey him.
Unfortunately for Snatch, when he tried giving Sirius the same commands, the dog didn't do anything, in fact it just seemed to ignore him and go on chewing upon its stick.
Seeing this, Snatch took Grabbit to one side.
"Its no good", he whispered to his partner, "The dog won't obey me. It only seems to obey that boy".
"Oh well", said Grabbit, shrugging his shoulders, "Thats that then. I guess that means we just forget about stealing the dog".
Snatch gave his partner another thump upon the head.
"No, you imbecile", he said, "It doesn't mean that. It means we just have to take the boy aswell, then we force him to command the dog to steal for us".
"Oh?", said Grabbit, rubbing his head again and wishing that Snatch wouldn't keep thumping it.
But then Grabbit started to get nervous.
"You mean kidnap the boy", he said, looking round about him to see if anyone was watching, "But this is a public park. What if someone sees us? What if he shouts for help and someone hears".
"Don't worry about that", said Snatch, reaching into one of the many pockets of his coat and pulling out a small bottle with a label on it that said, 'Snatches secret sleeping serum', "Fortunately, I brought some of my special sleeping formula along. 2 parts chloroform; 1 part ether and a hundred percent effective at making little boys go to sleep. Just one sniff of it and he will pass right out".
And, saying that, Snatch picked a daffodil that was growing nearby and poured some of his sleeping formula upon it, then handing it to Tom he said,
"By the way. Have you smelled this flower. Its got a very pecular smell".
Tom sniffed at the daffodil.
"It doesn't smell odd to me?", he said, "It just smells like...".
But Tom wasn't able to finish his sentence because, in the next instant, he fell fast asleep and when he awoke, to his dismay, Tom looked around and saw that he wasn't in the park anymore but at the bottom of a deep pit and, peering into the pit, looking down at him and grinning were the two men he had met in the park.
"Where am I?", he asked.
"You're at the bottom of an inescapable pit in the hideout of a gang of desperate and dangerous criminals", said Snatch, "And if you don't make your dog steal for us thats where you'll stay forever".
"Steal for you?", said Tom, looking over at Sirius who he was relieved to see was still sitting by his side.
Tom got up from where he was lying amd looked up at the two criminals.
"No", he said, "I'll never make him do that. He's a good dog".
Snatch laughed wickedly.
"Ha!", he said, "You'll change your mind when you've been down in that pit long enough. Just wait and see".
Then he saw Snatch and Grabbit walk away from the edge of the pit and he started to feel afraid and began to cry, hugging his dog tightly.
"Oh Sirius", he said to the dog, "What am I going to do now? What if we never get out of here?. I want to go home".
Sirius licked his face and wagged its tail, barking; the star within the pendant on its collar glowing that pinky, red glow it always did when Tom hugged it.
"Oh its no good", said Tom, "As magical as you are. You don't know what I'm saying. If only you could do something besides fetching and sitting still".
Just then, however, Tom remembered what had been written on the piece of paper inside the medallion on the dogs collar.
"List of commands", it had said, "Sit, Stay, Come, Fetch, Down and Fly".
"Fly?", he said to the dog, starting to smile again as he became more hopeful,"Thats it. That was one of your commands. Thats how we'll get out of here".
And, then, taking hold of the dogs lead tightly with both hands he commanded it,
"Fly, Sirius. Fly us out of this pit".
And, no sooner had he said that when the star in the dogs medallion began glowing bright white; as bright as a real star and, suddenly, leaping with all four of his paws, the dog took off, rising up into the air and, because Tom was holding onto its lead, he was pulled into the air as well as it flew out of the pit.
"I don't believe it", said Snatch, seeing the dog and the boy land softly again outside the pit.
But then Snatch picked up a stick was lying nearby and raised it above his head.
"Get back in that pit this instant", he shouted at them angrilly, "Or I'll hit you with this".
Tom looked at the stick in the crooks hand fearfully but then, suddenly, he had another idea.
"You do", he said, "And I'll order my dog to 'kill' and he'll...he'll tear you both to pieces".
"You can do that?", asked Snatch, surprised and becoming quite afraid.
"Yes", said Tom, confidently, smiling because he could tell that the crooks believed him, "Would you like to see?".
"No", said Snatch, "You win".
And turning the two crooks ran away, deserting their hideout, terrified that Tom would send his dog after them.
After that, thanks mostly to his Dogs amazing sense of smell, Tom found his way back home and, when he got back, he was so excited that he even told his mother about his adventure.
"Wow", she said, looking at Sirius, who was sitting still, and just seeing an ordinary stuffed toy dog, "What an imagination you have. Your dog did all that? He sounds amazing".
"Yeah", said Tom hugging his dog, the star in its medallion glowing a pinky red glow, the colour of the love in its heart, "He is. He's the greatest dog in the world".