The Trap

 by Angela Koturbash (ages 6-9)

Jem was in bed with the quilts over his head. He was fast asleep and dreaming sweet dreams, when he heard a blood-curdling howl. Throwing off his blanket, he ran outside with his night shirt on. He saw his dog , Nugget, lying on the ground. There was a trap stuck to his front left paw.

“Mama! Pa!” he screamed.

Ellie, Mama, and Pa came running out.

Pa asked why the dog was lying on the ground and howling.

“He …. He … He’s got something on his paw,” said Jem. “I think it’s a trap!”

“Could we carry Nugget into the tent?” Ellie asked.

“That’s a fine idea, Ellie,” Pa said. They carried him carefully into the tent.

“We don’t have money enough to take him to the vet,” Ellie said suddenly.

“Yeah, let’s go outside to think,” said Jem. “Who could have done such a mean thing, leaving a trap near our tent? Actually, I don’t care much who did this. I just want to know why.”

“Breakfast first,” Mama said.

“Lucky it’s Saturday,” Pa said. “You don’t have to go to school. You can take care of Nugget.”

Jem nodded. He ate his yucky mush  as quick as he could. Then he ran outside to think. Ellie joined him and Nugget limped after them. Mama went to wash the dishes and Pa went to find some gold.

   Jem and Ellie walked to the creek, with Nugget slowly following them. They sat down near the water. As they were sitting, Nugget started pawing at the ground with his good paw. Ellie leaned over to see what was going on. There was something shining on the ground.

“Gold!” she shouted. “It’s gold!”

“My silly sister is making up stories again!” Jem thought. But he still asked, “How big is it?”

“About as a big as your fingernail!!!” Ellie shouted.

“As big as what?!” Jem asked. He moved closer to look for himself. There WAS a piece of gold the size of his fingernail there! It was not as big as his thumb nail. It was more like the size of his pinkie, but still …. Living in Goldtown was hard, but this was a prize.

Jem and Ellie ran screaming with excitement into the tent. Mama was still inside, getting ready to bake some pies.

“Good heavens! Don’t scream!” exclaimed Mama.

“But Nugget found gold,” Ellie said. She held up the gold chunk for her to see.

“Oh! Where did you find it?” asked Mama.

“At the creek. Ellie and Nugget found it.” Jem said. He told her about the story of the gold.

“Well that is a good piece of gold!” said Mama.

Nugget suddenly whimpered nearby.

“Oh, we forgot about Nugget.” Jem said. “Mama can you help us lift Nugget into the wagon, please?”

“Yes,” said Mama. She lifted Nugget carefully out to the wagon.

“Uh, oh,” Ellie said pointing to the wheel of the wagon. “It’s broken,”

“We have to wait for Pa to fix it,” said Mama. “And I must finish my pies.”

Just then Strike-it-Rich Sam came along. “Hello, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Nugget got hurt,” explained Jem and told him what happened.

“Oh,” said Strike, “Let me see if I can fix that wheel.”

Strike borrowed some tools and soon fixed the wheel on the wagon. “There, it’s all fixed,” he said. “Well, I’ll be off now.”

“Thank you,” Jem and Ellie waved goodbye to him. They started pulling the wagon along the dirt path.

They had went along for five minutes, when Jem suddenly remembered, “The gold! I forgot all about the gold!”

“I’ll get it,” said Ellie, racing back home. She got the gold from the tent and off they went again.

Finally, they made it to the vet. Mr. Brown greeted them at the door. “What can I do for you two?” he asked.

“Nugget hurt his paw in a trap,” said Jem, pointing to him.

“Let’s see what I can do,” Mr. Brown gently picked up Nugget and took him inside. He wiped away the blood and dirt with a clean cloth and put a bandage around the paw.

“Will this be enough?” Jem asked. He gave Mr. Brown the gold nugget, who gave him some change back.

“Thank goodness that Nugget found the gold to pay for the trip to the vet,” thought Jem.

They left, pulling Nugget back home in the wagon. He was wagging his tail and feeling much better.

They met Will Sterling on their way.

“Why is your dog in the wagon?” Will said meanly. He was the richest and meanest kid in Goldtown.

“Why do you ask?” asked Jem, wondering why Will would care about his dog. He knew Will didn’t really like Nugget. The dog often barked at Will and kept him away from their pie wagon.

Jem told him the whole story though.

Will looked uneasy for a minute and said, “You know I …. I … I did it.”

Jem asked, “Did what?”

“I was the one who put the trap by the tent,” Will explained how he had been the one to lay out the trap exactly where Nugget would walk regularly. He wanted to catch Nugget, but he didn’t want to hurt Jem’s family.

“Will you forgive me?” Will seemed sorry. He regretted what he did.

“I forgive you,” said Jem and he meant it.

Ellie, Jem, and Nugget continued home. They were glad to know what had really happened. Now, Ellie and Jem felt happy once again. And so did Nugget.