Nobody’s dog

When Luke is playing in the park, he notices a dog who appears to be Nobody's dog.  But the dog is very wary of people, and they decide that he must have been treated badly.  So gradually Luke and their neighbour, Mr Bronzovi, befriend the dog.  Then Luke decides that they should call him Bushy, because he has a bushy tail.  But they worry about him living in the park.  Sadly, dogs are not allowed to live in their apartment block.  So Luke decides to pray for Bushy.

But then things go really wrong for Bushy and for Mr Bronzovi.  Just as Bushy had to learn to trust Luke, so Luke learns to trust God:

"Everything's worked out just right, hasn't it, Mr Bronzovi?" said Luke.  "For all of us.  Now we'll all live happily ever after, won't we?"
Mr Bronzovi thought for a moment.  Then he said, "We'll live happy ever after all right.  One day, when we've lived our lives here and go to live with God in heaven.  That'll be wonderful.  But we won't be going there just yet.  There's the rest of our lives here first, and I dare say it won't all be easy.  But we've got God to help us."
"He answered a lot of prayers for us didn't He?" said Luke.
"He did", agreed Mr Bronzovi.  "Not always in the way we thought we wanted.  But always the right thing in the end, even in the hard things."

"Will more hard things happen?" asked Luke.  The sky was so blue, the sun so warm, and everything had worked out so well that he couldn't believe they ever would.
"Oh, there'll be more", said Mr Bronzovi.  "But we'll get through, with God's help.  Learning to trust Him, a bit more each time."
Luke thought about this, sitting on the grass and looking at Bushy.  He had already forgotten where he had buried the bone and was sniffing around for the place.
"Like Bushy learnt to trust us", he said.  "A bit more each time.  When he was Nobody's dog."
THE END

Age guideline: 6 - 8 years.  This is suitable as a child's first Chapter Book, and it is in a dyslexia friendly font.