We went to the animal shelter So many kinds of dogs were there brown black white gray large and small curly and straight We looked at each dog in its cage and each dog looked back The sad way those dogs looked at us made me want to cry Mom asked Which one All of them I said Twenty-four dogs Dad said Okay Let’s take the saddest one But which one was the saddest It was really hard to tell This one That one I know how to choose I said
Which dog has been here the longest I asked the shelter woman She pointed to a brown-and-white dog Where the other dogs had tails this one had a stump He was a stray the woman said Someone found him and brought him in No one knows his real name Norman is what we call him Norman’s the one I want I said
Norman wagged when we opened the cage He wagged when we left the shelter First his stump twitched then his whole rump swung from side to side His wag was a hula dance of happiness
