The Jewel Collar (4 page)
Authors: Christine Karol Roberts
Tags: #friendship, #adventure, #holiday, #beach, #roses, #sad, #house, #cat, #dog, #christmas, #trees, #tree, #california, #los angeles, #spirit, #snow, #attorney, #sharing, #orange, #gifts, #courthouse, #collar, #lesson, #fountain, #christmas tree, #garden, #moving, #harbor, #dove, #flowers, #squirrel, #puppy, #jewel, #newport, #crickets, #apples, #champion, #duck, #mommy, #popcorn, #beach house, #possum, #aristotle, #feathers, #decorating, #christmas spirit, #move, #lhasa apso, #ari, #mallard, #sparrow, #finch, #maltese, #jewel collar, #train station, #newport harbor, #show dog, #law library, #floral park, #bushes, #share, #orange tree, #paw, #birdhouses, #sunflower seeds, #quack, #garden friends club, #snowfall
Mrs. M said “Ari, that is so very kind of
you, but we will be your friends, even without one of your jewels.
All of the creatures in the garden are our friends and we take care
of each other.”
“We always spend Christmas day together
decorating our garden Christmas tree. See our friends the birds
over there eating?” Ari wanted to share his precious jewels with
his new friends, so he handed two sparkling jewels from his collar
to Mrs. Morning Dove.
“You know, Ari, we are good friends with Mama
and Papa Finch and we would be happy to introduce you to them.” The
Finch family, who had been living in the garden for a few years,
were very sad because their dog friend, Larry the Lhasa Apso, had
moved away. The Finches were very excited to meet Ari. Ari gave
each of them one of his jewels and said “Merry Christmas.”
Ari thought to himself that things were
almost perfect. The only friends missing were his old friends the
Sparrow Family, Paul the Possum, Mickey the Mallard and the
Hummingbird Family.
If only I can meet a few more new friends
like the Sparrows, The Hummingbirds, Paul and Mickey, spending my
days in the new garden will be so much more fun.
Just about that time, a beautiful green
Mallard duck approached them to see what was going on. It was Mikey
the Mallard. Mikey was friends with Steve the Squirrel and the rest
of the garden friends. Mikey had beautiful, colorful feathers and
loved to eat bread pieces and quack and swim in the pool.
He immediately spotted Ari’s Jewel Collar and
said to Ari “Where did you get your beautiful Jewel Collar?” Ari
told him that his Mommy gave it to him so that he would not be so
sad at Christmas in his new garden at their new home. “Would you
like to be my friend, too?” Ari asked Mikey. “Here is a lovely
jewel for you from my collar. Merry Christmas.”
Mikey, who was a very playful duck, was
overjoyed since he also missed his friend, Larry the Lhasa Apso.
Larry the Lhasa Apso moved away from the garden when his parents
sold their house to Ari’s Mommy.
“You know, Ari”, said Mikey, “I have another
friend, Pete the Possum, but I only see him at night when he comes
out to eat leftover food and oranges which have fallen from the
orange trees.”
“I can introduce you to Pete tonight.” Ari
was excited because one of his best friends in the beach garden was
Paul the Possum. They chased each other around the pool in the
moonlight every night at the beach house. The new friends said
goodbye until the next day because Ari’s Mommy called him into the
house for bedtime.
That night, after dinner, Ari took his place
by the edge of the pool, waiting for Mikey to show up and introduce
him to Pete the Possum. Ari had been watching Pete for a few weeks
now.
