Teacher’s Pet

"Are we going to invite Bea to our party Friday night?" Valentina asked her friend Jane as they sat on Valentina's bed, going over their party plans. "No way! We don't want the teacher's pet at our party." Jane looked at the list. "Looks like we're inviting all the girls in our class except Bea." Valentina put a finger to her lips. "If my parents find out, we'll have to invite Bea too. Keep it quiet, will you?" Valentina slipped the list into her desk drawer, and the girls went down to the kitchen. Valentina's dad greeted them with a puppy in his arms. "Look what I've got." "A puppy!" Valentina took the puppy and cuddled him under her chin. "Can we keep him? I'll take care of him--I'll teach him good doggie manners!" Then she thought of their other dog. "Has Roscoe seen him?" Dad smiled. "No, Roscoe hasn't seen him yet, but yes, we can keep him--if Roscoe will let us, that is. Let's go see." When they opened the porch door to go out, a collie came bounding across the yard. Suddenly he stopped and growled deeply. "Come on, Roscoe. Don't act like that," said Valentina. "This puppy wants to be your friend." The puppy whined, but Roscoe growled again. "Stop it, Roscoe!" Valentina frowned. "Why is he being so mean, Dad?" "Because he's jealous. Roscoe doesn't want you to have another pet." As the girls looked at each other, they both suddenly realized they had been acting just like Roscoe because they were jealous of Bea. We need to replace jealousy with love, Valentina thought, remembering a lesson she'd recently heard at church. Jesus loves us so much He gave His own life for us, and because of that, we can love others instead of being jealous of them. "I think the two dogs can learn to be friends," said Dad. "But for now, you'd better take the puppy inside." The girls took the puppy to Valentina's room. "I think I'll name him Shadow," said Valentina. "Here, hold him for me a minute." She handed the puppy to Jane, then pulled out the list for the party and added Bea's name. "Guess what, Shadow?" she said, patting the dog's head. "On Friday you're gonna meet all the girls in our class!" –Barbara J. Westberg