~December 11, 2003

Describe a puppy. Use as many of the senses as you can. See if you can let your reader know what kind of dog it is without actually naming the breed. Put the puppy in context as well—where is it? Why? Who else is there? What is the tone of the scene?
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"We were in Australia when we found her," Olivia said. "We stayed with a colleague of my father's and his wife raised them. Dad and Mom, Jake and Sandy were all scheduled to go to a business dinner, and so I stayed at Jake and Sandy's where they could phone me to check up from time to time through the night and where I would have more to do.

"Sandy and Jake took all of us out to the kennel to see their newest puppies just before they were ready to leave for dinner. There was a litter of four, just nine weeks old, and all of them already sold except Honey. Only I didn't know that, of course. All four of them were twitching and bouncing, and they were doing more yipping than moving, except for her. Honey was quiet, but that wasn't from a lack of enthusiasm. She talked to me on another plane and it went straight to my heart. I picked her up, and true to her breed she was soft as silk to hold. Her eyes were huge black pools with sparkles of electricity. And her little ears flopped over, laying a triangle of blue-black over the tan of the rest of her ears. She was such a picture. It was love at first sight.

"I never even asked for her. Later Daddy said that her coat was the same color as my hair, and the bits of brown on her legs, muzzle and ears were the same color as the shirt I was wearing. We were a matched set from the start. Which is why I give her a ribbon the same color as my shirt every day. It ties us together. And it reminds me of Daddy."