Emily’s Peppy Puppy

“What is it?” Jessie asked her cousin Emily, who held a big box in her hands. “It’s a big package—and it has your name on it!”

Emily stared at the package. “It must be my robot dog!”

“You got a robot?” asked Jeremy, Emily’s older brother, as he came over to see her package.

“Yeah!” Emily replied. “I got birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa, and Mom helped me order it online. I’m sooo excited!” Emily hugged the box happily.

“Well,” said Emily’s mom, “why don’t you open it so we can all share in the excitement?”

“Okay, here goes.” Emily pulled up the tape and flipped open the box flaps. She swooshed her hand around in the foam pieces, feeling for her item.

“Hurry up, Emily!” urged Jessie, tossing foam pieces out of the way.

“Ta-da!” Emily sang proudly as she lifted—another box—out of the first box.

“Wow! You spent all that money on a brand-new box!” Jeremy teased.

“Just a second.” Emily tore open the smaller box and pulled out an adorable puppy robot.

“It’s so cute!” Jessie squealed. “Can I hold it?”

Emily handed the puppy to Jessie and reached into the box again.

“What’s this thingamajig?” she asked as she handed a plastic object with buttons to her brother.

“That’s the remote control,” Jeremy explained. “You control the dog with it. But it needs batteries.”

“Batteries?” asked Emily. “How come?”

“Well, it needs to get its power from somewhere,” Jeremy replied. “I’ll go grab some.”

Jeremy returned quickly and put the batteries into the remote. “Okay, let’s try it out,” he said, pushing the ON button. Jessie was still holding the dog when Jeremy began testing the controls.

Suddenly, the dog came to life in Jessie’s arms. “Woof, woof, woof!” barked the little dog.

Jessie quickly set the dog on the floor. “Whoa, that scared me!”

“Let me try!” Emily reached across Jeremy for the remote, but he pulled it out of her reach.

“Wait,” he said. “You don’t know how this works yet. Let me show you.” Jeremy pressed each button as the girls watched the little dog walk back and forth, sit up, play dead, and spin in circles.

“Hey, she’s trying to catch her tail!” Jessie and Emily laughed at the dog’s antics. But when the dog barked again, Jessie said, “That bark isn’t right; let’s fix it.” Jessie held out her hand for the remote, and Jeremy passed it to her.

“I’m going to go tell Justin about the robot,” he said and ran out the front door.

Emily and Jessie turned back to the dog. “Try that button, Jessie.” Emily pointed to a yellow button on the remote. Jessie pressed it, and the little pup sat up and barked again. “Woof, woof!” Jessie pressed the button again and again searching for the best bark. “Woof-woof! Bowwow! Bark-bark! Yip-yip!”

“There! That one!” Emily exclaimed. “That sounds more like a cute little puppy.” Emily picked up her pup and hugged it. But Jessie pushed another button, and the dog’s little legs started pumping as fast as they could go.

“Put her down, Emily,” Jessie said. “Let’s see what else she can do.” Jessie pushed more buttons, watching the dog start and stop and change directions.

Soon, Jeremy came back with Justin. “Hey! That’s neat,” said Justin. “May I have a turn?”

Jessie handed the remote to Justin, who began pushing the buttons all over again. The kids played with the robot pup all afternoon.

“Wow!” said Mom. “It’s a good thing that dog runs on batteries. If it were a real puppy, it would need a nap by now.”

Finally, it was time for Jessie and Justin to head home. “Thanks for letting us play with your new robot, Emily,” they said as they went out the door.

“You’re welcome.” Emily closed the door behind them and turned back to her robot.

“Whew! Finally, it’s my turn.” Emily picked up the remote and pushed the ON button—but nothing happened. “Huh?” She picked up the dog. “What’s wrong with you?”

Tears puddled in Emily’s eyes. After waiting all day to play with her new toy, now it didn’t even work. “Daaaddy!” she cried.

Dad came quickly into the room, followed by Jeremy. “Emily, what’s wrong?”

Emily’s lip trembled as she explained. “I let everybody play with my puppy and now”—she sniffled—“now it’s ruined.” Emily buried her face into her dad’s shoulder.

Dad hugged Emily and looked at Jeremy. “Where did you get the batteries for the remote?”

“I took them out of my game controller,” Jeremy replied. “I only used them for a couple weeks.”

“I see,” said Dad. Then he told Emily, “I’ve got an idea.”

Dad went to the garage and came back with new batteries in his hand. Emily wiped her eyes and watched as he popped out the old batteries and put in the new ones. “Okay, Emily,” he said encouragingly. “Give it a try.”

Emily pressed a button. Suddenly, the puppy barked, “Yip, yip!” and spun around in circles.

“Yay! Thank you, Daddy.” Emily gave her dad a great big hug.

“You’re very welcome,” Dad replied. “Nothing like a new set of batteries to give your pup some pep!”

Emily grinned. “I like that word, pep. I think I’ll call my new dog Peppy!”

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