Katherine:

One sunny morning, a 6-year-old named Katherine woke up in Minnesota at 7:00 and remembered at 3:50 in Vancouver there was a race for dogs and owners. She had a dog named Tammy and she felt like she had to go there too. But for now she wanted to read.

Tammy:

On the same sunny morning, a puppy named Tammy sat up, sniffed and licked Katherine’s face. Katherine looked nose to nose with her.

The parents:

Katherine’s parents were still snoring asleep. Katherine sprang up into their room, pounced on her mom Neve, and along with it Tammy slobber licked her dad Max. And the two gloomy parents, half asleep, woke up. Max asked in his big deep voice, “What is it honey?” Katherine said, “Dad, today there was a contest.”

Vancouver:

Katherine and her parents took an airplane to Vancouver. First she started by watching her friend Holly finish the last part of the race. After that it was her turn. Her dad said good luck. There were hoops and dog limbo spins, jumps and a tunnel to the sea to jump over.

Too soon to jump! Boom! Crash! There were shouts everywhere. Every second. Those shouts filled the stadium.

But Tammy jumped so soon, she landed right on Katherine! Katherine slid right into the tunnel, barely made the hoop and…everything went back…

Crash! Pow! There was a streak of light, there were a tiny island smack in the middle of the ocean. That’s all. Nothing else around the small tiny island.

The parents:

Katherine’s parents were waiting and waiting for Katherine in the race. But they never saw her. They thought she might have ended up in the tunnel in the sea. They were very worried. They waited and waited for Katherine to come but Katherine never came. At the end of the race, they went to the judge because they were expecting Katherine to come before everyone, but instead she didn’t come at all.

“Where are we?” Katherine said. Katherine glanced around and saw they were on an island of sand. Tammy yelped. Katherine looked all around them. They were surrounded by water. Tammy thought: Are there sharks in here? Katherine thought: How are we going to get home? They were terrified and curious. The fur on Tammy’s back stood up. Tammy sniffed the ground. There was a strong scent of salt water. Katherine was thinking and thinking about the times Tammy and she won races, and she was wondering how she could have failed and ended on this island.

Katherine and Tammy both looked out at the sea and saw that the tunnel was gone. They thought and thought until they thought of a plan. We’ve got to get home.Tammy and Katherine finally knew.  They saw land on all fours sides of them so they would swim home. But what about  ? Katherine said we’ll build a raft. But there were no trees. So they decided to swim home. Swim. Katherine had 20 bottles of water for the race because it would be hot, and it was far because the they had to squint to see the land. There were little islands that they would rest on. So, Katherine jumped in the water facing her fear of sharks, squid and octopus. She swam and every island she came to she took a rest because Tammy was on her back. Tammy weighed 12 pounds.

Home at last! At last Katherine made the five-mile trip home. Tammy sat on Katherine’s back. Phone too.

And Katherine called her parents and said, “Right now, we are on sandy island beach.”

So, their parents drove there and asked, “Where have you been?”

Katherine said, “I swam 5 miles all the way home.”

“But weren’t you tired?” asked mom.

“Yes, but now Tammy isn’t afraid of water, right, Tammy?” Katherine asked.

Tammy barked.

THE END