Where's Nugget? Ages 9-12

Picture Prompt #2 

Where is Nugget?

  In the dark of night, two glowing eyes crept closer and closer. Then a horrible noise wakes Nugget.  Grrrrrrrr.

 Nugget thinks, Oh no! Is it a cougar or a bear?

Grrrrrrrr.

Suddenly, piercing pain went through Nugget “Arooooooooooo”, howled Nugget.

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Meanwhile in the house the yelp of Nugget had awakened Pa, Ma, Jem, and Ellie. They all gathered in the kitchen.

“What was that noise? It sounded like Nugget,” Jem said,” What if Nugget is in trouble?”

 “Yeah, it did sound like him,” said Ellie.

“Well, I better get out to see if the animals are okay,” said Pa.

“But what about Nugget?” Jem and Ellie asked together.”

“I’ll check for him while I’m out there,” Pa said.

The sound of Nugget came again, “Arooo, arooo, aroooooo!”

Jem thought, I hope Nugget’s okay. He said out loud, “I’m worried about Nugget.”

Then this horrible, horrible noise came. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 “AHHHH!” screamed Ellie.

 Then the noise was silent. Then they heard big, fast, running steps. Ruff, ruff, ruff! Grrrrr. Then everything was silent, except Pa talking to himself outside walking on their porch.

The door blew open in the wind, with Pa coming in panting, “Nugget! He’s gone! The leash is broken!” Jem, Ellie, and Ma gasped.

“We’ll, go out in the morning to find him,” said Ma. 

The next morning, after breakfast, Jem said, “Well, now that we’ve eaten breakfast, let’s go out to look for Nugget.” 

“Okay,” Pa said, “let’s also go to town to tell our miner friends to keep an eye out for him.”

“Be sure to pack your pack with lots of water and snacks,” Ma said, “and let’s get going.” So everyone went to see the leash that had been broken and a gasp came from all of them. There was splattered blood everywhere.

“Well, we have to hurry because if…” started Pa. 

Then Jem and Ellie began crying as hard as they could. “What if Nugget dies?” said Jem.

“Yeah,” said Ellie. 

“Well, let’s hurry up to town to tell the miners,” Pa said. 

Once they got to town, they started telling all the miners. After that, they started going out in the woods to look for Nugget. They kept looking and looking for Nugget until dinnertime.

“Well,” said Pa, “We’ll have to keep looking tomorrow.”

“Aww, but what about Nugget?”

“No,” Pa said firmly. “We don’t have time now. We need to go home and have dinner and then go to bed.” 

When they were in bed, Jem thought, What if I snuck out in the night and found Nugget? 

In the middle of the night, he woke up and said to himself, Now is the time to go out. So he put on his clothes and started tiptoeing out of the house.

With the full moon as his light, Jem went out into the dark. He found some footprints, some of them big and others small. “Those little ones look like Nugget’s, and the big ones look like a bear,” he whispered in a quavering voice. He kept going through the dark into the woods following the footprints.

When he heard some rushing water, he thought, If there is a river Nugget probably went to get a drink. So he followed the sound, but instead of a river, he found a logging flume, which is a half tube, up on wooden poles that moves logs with water. He followed the flume till he got to a building with a ladder. He climbed the ladder.

There was nobody inside. He went to the flume and found that there was a stuck log. Jem climbed on the log, which then went zooming down the flume. His thoughts of why he had not found the flume before were interrupted by a sound that made him happy. He thought, That faint bark sort of sounds like…Nugget!

Then there was another building sort of like the one he had climbed up earlier. Once he got closer, he saw a handle, which he grabbed onto and boosted himself up onto a platform. Jem turned around and went down the ladder. The bark came again. He followed the noise hoping to find Nugget.

He thought, I could probably climb a tree to see where he is. He climbed a tree and saw a little gold splotch. He was so happy he skipped the whole way to Nugget. Nugget was happy, too. Jem could see dried blood on Nugget’s hind leg and he had a limp. Then Jem realized he didn’t know which way was home.

 Jem thought, I’ll follow the flume home. It should lead me back to where I started, ‘cause that’s how I got here. So they went out and started walking slowly in the dark, following the flume. 

After a while, Jem started getting tired. He dragged his feet. Suddenly, he tripped and landed on a rock. “Ooowwww!” he screamed. Nugget was so startled, he jumped. “Ow! What was that?” Jem said. “What happened?” He started to get up and fell again. “Ohh,” Jem moaned. “My arm!”

Nugget whined nervously. Jem reached over and felt his hurting arm. He slowly pushed himself up with his other arm and got to his feet. Then, he started walking again, holding his arm carefully. Jem continued into the forest following the flume in pain with his injured dog. 

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Back at home, Ellie whispered, “Jem, are you awake?” No answer. She sat up and looked. “He’s gone,” she breathed. Ellie got dressed as quickly as she could and ran downstairs.

Pa and Ma were already gettin’ breakfast ready. “What’s the hurry?” Pa asked.

“Jem!” she panted. “He’s… he’s… gone!”

Ma and Pa both gasped. “What are we going to do if Jem and Nugget are gone?” Ellie began to cry. Pa jumped up from the table, hurried to the door, put on his boots, and ran out the door. Ma followed, and so did Ellie leaving their breakfast behind. 

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Jem saw the streaks of yellow, pink, and blue coming up from the horizon. “It must be morning,” he told Nugget. Nugget answered with a whine. Suddenly, the little dog started barking. “What is it, Buddy?” Jem asked. He strained his ears to listen.

There! Off in the distance! Voices! It sounded like Pa, Ma, and Ellie! “I’m here! I’m here!” Jem hollered. Nugget kept barking. Jem could see his family running towards him. He ran, too. Ma grabbed Jem in a huge hug. “Ow!” he yelled.

Ma quickly released him. “What?” she asked anxiously.

“I fell on my arm,” Jem groaned.

Pa noticed a lump on his arm that looked like it had been broken. “Jeremiah Coulter! You need to go to the doctor RIGHT NOW!” Pa said urgently. He hoisted his son up and started walking very carefully, and quickly, towards home. 

The next day, Jem’s arm was in a cast. He sighed, I have extra one-armed chores, with no frogging, no mining, no playing with friends. Yeesh, I am in a heap of trouble, but I have Nugget home safe!