By: Edward Yuan

When I got home from work, I decided to take a quiet walk in the snow. After walking for half an hour, I decided to go home. As I was walking home, I saw people walking turtles, people trying to wrestle a dog to go for a walk, and cats eating snow. I also saw children playing in the snow with their pets and laughing as they threw all kinds of objects for their pets to fetch. Snow, stuffed animals, ice, too much to count! As the cold wind battered my face, numbing it, I thought about my dog Cinnamon and how warm I would be when I got home.

After reaching my house, I immediately stumbled in and lit a fire in the fireplace. Its warmth calmed me as I thought about everything that had happened today. After making a cup of coffee, I heard a noise outside that sounded like a whimper. After opening the door, I took a step back as I saw an abandoned dog, shivering cold. I felt so many conflicting emotions, happy, as I might get another dog and sad, because I might have to return the dog.

After taking the dog in and feeding it, it started to warm up to me and even let me pick him up. I ended up naming the dog Bagel. Bagel and Cinnamon soon became good friends and were inseparable. After a few months, I came home on another chilly night and decided to take my dogs on a trip to Hawaii, as it was too cold here in Alaska, and I wanted to go to someplace warm.

Days later, after boarding the plane, I realized I had forgotten my phone.

After quickly getting my phone from the airport lounge where I had left it, I went back onto the plane and what I saw, or didn’t see, were my dogs! I frantically searched around the plane, calling out both their names. My heartbeat felt like it could be heard across the world as I was hoping they would answer me when finally, I heard a familiar bark in the plane’s cockpit. After hurrying to the cockpit, I saw a surprised pilot staring at my two dogs.

After a few minutes of silence, as it looked like the pilot had stolen the dogs, I asked him about my two dogs. He told me that they had just run into him and started cuddling against his leg. I asked him how they had even gotten in and realized that I forgot to put their leashes on, so they could just run around. After clearing up the misunderstanding the pilot beckoned me to go back to my seat with my dogs and after I did that, the pilot immediately started the flight.

After the flight, I got onto the shuttle and booked a hotel. After getting into my hotel room, I unpacked my luggage, took a shower, and went to the lounge and smiled back at everything that had happened these past few months.