The+Animal+Shelter

J  The Animal Shelter J The year was about 1964 in the outback of Australia when 3 smart boys named Fred, Edward and Joe were 10 years old. Fred was dark skinned and had shoulder-length hair that was pitch black and curly. Edward, tall, skinny, olive coloured skin and had short brown hair. Last but not least was Joe. He was short with light skin colour, white-blonde hair and had extremely big feet for his age. Both Fred and Edward were originally from the N.T. but Joe was from Victoria. Now, these 3 boys went to a small school which was populated with only 45 children. The 3 boys usually walked to school like this. They walked from Fred’s house, into the bush, past the post office and then they were at school. Fred found a new way to get to school. “Hey, guys!” Fred shouted to his buddies, Joe and Edward. “Yo dude!” Edward said weirdly. “What’s up?” Joe asked. “I’ve found a new way to get to school but its 5 minutes extra,” Fred explained. “Well, we’d better get going if we want to go that way,” said Joe. So, the 3 boys walked from Fred’s small, 2 bedroom house to school. While they were walking, they caught sight of an old, spooky looking house. “I wonder who lives there,” Edward wondered. The boys just kept walking. When they got to school they saw their pretty, young teacher, Miss Lily. Miss Lily had long, curly black hair that she always wore in a bun with a different head band every day. She had dark skin, her face was pimple free and she had big, blue eyes. “Good morning class,” Miss Lily said to her class of 15 kids. “Morning, Miss Lily,” Class 4HL mumbled. “So, how were your weekend’s kids?” Miss Lily asked. “Umm, I played footy with William, Sean, Bob and Lockie,” Malcolm said. “I ate doughnuts and watched them play footy,” said Boomer, making the class crack up. Boomer was fat and short. His real name was Bailey but everybody called him Boomer for some silly reason, but he liked it. After class, Boomer asked Edward, Fred and Joe if he could hang out with them from now on. Fred, Edward and Joe said sure. The week went past and Fred, Edward, Joe and the new edition to the club, Boomer kept passing the old, abandoned house. There were 2 kangaroos that the boys named Dot and Willa that followed the boys to school every morning. One morning before school, the boys left extra early so they could have a peek at the house. “O.K. guys, act calm,” stated Fred. The floor of the house creaked. “Ahhhhhh! Who are you?” an old man said with a piece of straw in his mouth. “Ahhhhhh! We’re……Fred...d, E...Eedward, J…jjoe and Bbbb…oomer,” said Boomer in a terrified voice. “Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Mr Wilson,” said the old man. “D...do you live here?” Boomer asked. “No. I live over there. I just come here to have some chill time away from my wife and teenage son,” Mr Wilson replied. The house had a corrugated iron roof, rusty old timber floors and walls and a big old chimney. Dot and Willa jumped in behind Fred, Edward, Joe and Boomer. “Oh my god! Spud, Fink!” Mr Wilson shouted in excitement. “Who’s Spud and Fink?” questioned Joe. The two kangaroos jumped into Mr Wilson’s arms. “Oh, these two were just little joeys when they followed me to school every morning,” said Mr Wilson. “Oh, well they follow us every morning to school too! We named them Dot and Willa,” Boomer explained. “Oh, Really. I was 11 when the big dust storm came through. That’s why this place looks like a dump. And these guys didn’t follow me anymore because they ran away,” Mr Wilson explained. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Mr Wilson but we’d better get to school,” Edward said. “Ok then. I’d better get home too to make my lunch,” Mr Wilson told the 4 boys. “Oh! What are you having?’’ Boomer asked. “BOOMER!” they all shouted. “Bye, Mr Wilson,” said Edward, pushing Boomer out the door. “Bye boys!” Mr Wilson replied. When they got to school, Fred thought of an idea. But he would tell his friends after school. “Hey, guys. I’ve got an idea,” Fred said to his mates. “What is it?” asked Joe. “We could ask Mr Wilson if we could fix up the old house and make it into an animal shelter,” Fred explained. “Hey, yeah! That’s a great idea,” said Boomer. “We could ask Mr Long the handyman to fix it up,” “Yeah, my granny is looking for people help her out at the post office, so we could pay him back that way,” Edward said. “But what if he says no?” Joe complained. “Well, we’ll see,” Fred answered. With Fred leading the way, the 4 boys went to Mr Long’s handyman shop. “Hi, Mr Long,” the boys said to Mr Long. “Oh, hi boys, what can I do for you?” Mr Long explained. “Umm, well, it’s sort of a big favour,” Edward explained “What is it?” Mr Long said. “We have to check with Mr Wilson first but we saw this house when we were walking to school once and we thought we could renovate it and turn it into a care centre for animals,” Fred told Mr Long. “Well, you guys check with Mr Wilson and if he says yes, I’ll be happy to do the job,” Mr Long muttered. “Oh, thank you Mr Long,” said Boomer. “We were going to help my granny out at the post office to get the money to pay you back,” Joe said. “Fantastic! Now you go check and come back to me to tell me if you can or not,” Mr Long explained. So, Fred, Edward, Joe and Boomer set off to tell Mr Wilson their idea. Boomer knocked on the door of Mr Wilson’s little home. “Hi boys!” Mr Wilson said with a sandwich in his hand. “Hi Mr Wilson, we were wondering if you could agree to our little idea,” Boomer explained. “Well, I was going to tell you boys something too, but you go on,” Mr Wilson muttered. “We were thinking that we could make the old house near our school a little shelter for the animals,” Joe said. “Oh, My, God! I was going to ask you boys the same thing,” Mr Wilson said in disbelief. “Ha, Ha! So, do you like our idea?” Fred said. “Well it was my idea too so, yes!” Mr Wilson said. “We’ve already checked with Mr Long and he said he would be happy to do the job,” Edward said. “Ok then, we’ll go up to him and see what we can do,” suggested Mr Wilson. So they all walked up together to Mr Long. They all talked to Mr Long. They chose what type of flooring, wall paper, roof, bricks for the chimney, fence and gate they wanted. “Ok, that comes to ….. $1400,” Mr Long said. “Oh, how long do we have to pay that off?” asked Mr Wilson. “Well, I will be finished in approximately 2 weeks,” Mr Long said. “Ok, thanks Mr Long,” said Mr Wilson. Fred, Edward, Joe, Boomer and Mr Wilson walked out of the shop. “How are we going to make $1400 in 2 weeks?” Boomer questioned. “Look guys, we can do it,” argued Fred. “Yeah, we are going to get those jobs at the post office like we said we would,” Joe agreed. So, the 5 of them plus the two kangaroos, Dot and Willa scurried to the post office to see what Edward’s granny could do for them. “Hi granny,” Edward said to his grandma. “Oh, hello Edward,” Edward’s granny said to him, reaching over the desk to kiss his forehead. “What do you need?” the old woman asked. “Are you still looking for people to help you out?” Edward questioned. “Yes, are you thinking bout taking one?” Granny asked. “Yeah. Me, Joe, Fred and Boomer,” Edward answered. “Ok why do you want these jobs?” said Edward’s granny. “We are getting Mr Long to renovate a little house near our school and making it into a little shelter for animals,” Edward explained. “Ok, well that’s very good of you boys to do that,” Edward’s old, wrinkly grandmother said. “I’ll give you a time table, I’ll just write down the names first,” The old woman handed them a chart of who will work and when. “Thanks, granny,” Edward told his granny. “That’s alright, bye,” The old woman said. They walked out of the shop looking at the chart the chart looked like this: There was a note attached that read: You all start from next week, Monday 18th May 2009. Thanks, Mrs Lingna (aka, Edward’s granny). P.S. Sorry it’s on the school holidays. “Ok I think were all happy with our times,” said Fred. “Yep,” they all said at the same time. So they started their jobs on that Monday and continued the times for the 2 weeks. “Wow! We’ve raised $1200!” said Joe excitedly. “That’s really good boys!” Mr Wilson commented. “But we need $200.00 more,’’ sighed Joe. “I’ll pay that”, Mr Wilson Said. “Are you sure?” asked Fred. “Yes. How about we take the money up now and check on the house.” “Good idea”, they all said. They went up to Mr Long and pais him the $1400.00 they had saved up. “Here Mr Long,” Mr Wilson muttered handing him the cash. “Oh thanks mate,” Mr Long answered. “Do you want to see it?” “Oh yes please!” they all said excitedly. They all strolled up to the little old house. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing! Thew house had new, plain brown wall paper, new floor boards, a little second hand couch, a new fence around the place, a new chimney, an empty water bowl and an empty water bowl. “Oh my God!!” the 4 boys shouted. They ran in and sat on the couch. “Oh thanks Mr Long,” Mr Wilson said. “That’s alright, it’s for the animals so I was glad to help out,” Mr Wilson explained. The 4 boys played, talked and discussed things all day while Mr Wilson and Mr Long spoke. The next day, the boys made a chart about who would go and fill up the water and food bowls each day. The chart looked like this: They would give them fresh water and lots of fruit and vegies. Everyday more and more animals came so they had to get 2 more water bowls. Sometimes Mr Wilson offered to help when he could. Animals like kangaroos, possums, birds, cats, dogs, wallabies and even rats came to enjoy free food and water. They occasionally changed the menu from vegies and meat to fruit and cake. All the animals liked the fruit and cake the best! “Well boys, you’re going well!” Mr Wilson said. “Thanks for helping!” Fred said. “Well I’ll tell you what, if you do some favours for me, then I’ll promise to pay for the food and water for 1 month,” Mr Wilson explained. The boys had to clean Mr Wilson’s house for 1 month and in return he would pay for the food and water for a month “OK, you’ve got a deal!” Edward said. Soon enough the whole town was helping and congratulating the boys on their achievement. The town occasionally had fundraisers to help the boys raise the money for food and water. The boys were also becoming more popular at school. The mayor gave the boys $2000 to expand the shelter. Mr Long was honoured to do that job. A year went past and the little business was still going strong. The boys were becoming minor celebrities to the town. Mr Wilson occasionally said to them, “You’re going great guys!” The whole town still helped the boys. They would donate bags of food and drop them in a bin of donations. When the boys were about 15 years old, they were starting to get paid for it. The shelter got bigger and bigger. It will continue to do that for a long time now. J The End J
 * Person || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday ||
 * Edward || 9am-2:30pm || 9am-2:30pm  || Day Off || 10am-3:30pm  || 10am-3:30pm  || Day Off ||
 * Joe || 9am-2:30pm || 9am-2:30pm  || Day Off || 10am-3:30pm  || 10am-3:30pm  || Day Off ||
 * Boomer || 2:30pm-8pm || 2:30pm-8pm  || 10am-3:30pm  || Day Off || 3pm-8:30pm  || Day Off ||
 * Fred || 2:30pm-8pm || 2:30pm-8pm  || 10am-3:30pm  || Day Off || 3pm-8:30pm  || Day Off ||
 * Person || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday || Sunday ||
 * Edward || Morning || No Duty || Morning || No Duty || Morning || No Duty || Morning ||
 * Fred || Night || No Duty || Night || No Duty || Night || No Duty || Night ||
 * Boomer || No Duty || Morning || No Duty || Morning || No Duty || Morning || No Duty ||
 * Joe || No Duty || Night || No Duty || Night || No Duty || Night || No Duty ||