The Murphy Dog Mysteries

This delightful story won first pirze in the writing competition held at Beth's School in Australia. It was passed on to me by her Grandmother who lives in Stoke Ferry.

Chapter 1 - A Mystery Occurs

The Durrance family needed a dog. They wanted a dog to take care of, play with and walk. They went to the pound one day and found a funny looking dog called Murphy. He was a very unusual looking dog with sticky-up black ears, a large pointed nose and long gangly legs, which meant that he could run very fast indeed.

What they didn't know was that Murphy's great, great, grandfather came from a long line of very important doggy detectives, including Sherlock Bones, the famous English basset hound detective. But the most amazing thing about Murphy was that he was a master of disguise. He had often managed to help himself to a selection of dog biscuits from the pantry without being seen!

He was also very good at barking out his three times table.

One day, while Murphy was outside lying in the sunshine getting warm, he decided that he would like to play with his ball. "I know," he thought, "I shall dig up that ball that Beth bought me for my birthday. I just fancy a quick ball chase!"

He went to the deepest, darkest corner of the garden, turned around three times, shuffled his paws twice to the left and then the right and began to dig. He dug and dug and dug, but nothing was there! "That's very strange," he thought. "I know that I put it there!" He looked on the ground and there in the mud were footprints - the footprints of the thing that had taken his favorite ball!

Chapter 2 - Rabbit Trouble!

Murphy followed the prints until and he found an old wooden gate in the wall. The footprints disappeared through the gate. He thought maybe he might take a sneaky peek at what might be behind the gate and to his amazement he saw a field full of rabbits. "I must use my best rabbit disguise and find out which one has taken my ball." He ran back to his kennel and changed into his best rabbit outfit that had been given to him by a magician friend.

He ran through the gate again and hopped over to a rabbit. "Hello" he said to the nearest and kindest looking rabbit, "Have you seen a pink tennis ball?" "Yes", said the rabbit sadly. "Our leader Rufus Rabbit found it lying near that wall and thought it was a pink Easter Egg. When we discovered it wasn't we passed it onto Penelope Parrot to use in her Hawaiian dance". Murphy was upset that they had passed his ball on, but was glad for the kind rabbit's help. "Where can I find Penelope Parrot?" he asked. "She will be practicing her dance with her dance group in the kitchen of the big house", the rabbit said.

"Hmm", thought Murphy, "this means another change of disguise!"

Chapter 3 - Hula Hula

Murphy changed his rabbit clothes into his hula clothes. As he walked to the house he could hear Penelope screeching to the others "Sway your hips". "Oh dear", thought Murphy, "this is going to be difficult!"

Murphy knocked on the door and Penelope told him to come inside, thinking he was one of her dancers. "You're running very late, very late. Start to sway your hips, sway your hips" she repeated in parrot fashion.

Murphy danced while keeping his beady eyes open for his ball. He couldn't see it anywhere. Finally he asked "Penelope, are we still going to use the pink ball in this dance?" "No!" Penelope screeched at him. "I've passed that silly ball over to Bowie, the performing circus dog. He has decided to use it in his latest trick." Oh no thought Murphy, time for yet another change....

Chapter 4 - Circus Fun

Murphy ran as fast as he could to his kennel and changed once more. This time he changed into his favorite outfit, his green and gold clown's wig. He knew that the circus wouldn't be hard to find. The Big Top was blue and red striped. As he ran around the outside he could hear people clapping inside - he knew it was only a matter of time before Bowie the Dog went on stage.

Bowie was Murphy's best friend, and all his years as a circus dog was what had helped Murphy become so good at dressing up. He nudged his way under the tent and ran underneath the people's seats until he came to the stage entrance. He ran behind and finally found Bowie.

"Hello Bowie" Murphy gasped puffed out from running. "Murphy, my friend. What are you doing here?". 'I'm looking for my favorite pink ball," he said. "The rabbit thought it was an Easter egg and passed it onto Penelope Parrot for her dance show. She didn't want it and said she had given it to you for a new trick. I really want it back as Beth gave it to me for my birthday." "Oh that's alright" Bowie said, you can have it back just as soon as I have finished the show. I'm going on right now and you can come too!"

Bowie led Murphy out on stage. Murphy barked out his three times table and Bowie balance the ball on the end of his nose. Then they clowned around together and made everyone laugh as they chased each other as fast as they could. At the end everyone stood up and clapped and cheered and shouted for more.

Backstage afterwards, Bowie gave Murphy his ball back. "Thanks for letting me use your ball, you're are the best friend a dog could have", "That's OK", Murphy said, "I'm glad it had better use that just sitting in a hole in the garden, and it has been quite an exciting day after all!".

Chapter 5 - Home Again

Murphy quickly made his way back home before Beth and Ellie got home from school. He was always there ready to meet them with a big lick and wag of his tail. He ran over to his basket and snuggled down, glad to be back home with his favorite ball in his mouth. Before long he was softly snoring to himself.

Beth and Ellie arrived home from school eager to see Murphy and take him outside for a play.

"That's very strange", said Ellie, "Murphy is sound asleep and doesn't even know that we're home!"

"Look!" said Beth; "He has his pink ball in his mouth. He has probably been digging that ball up all day and tired himself out! Let's leave him and let him sleep. I wonder what he dreams about?" "Probably just about dog biscuits and going out for walks I expect," said Ellie.

But in his dream world Murphy was reliving his wonderful adventure..........

The End

Beth Durrance (Aged 8)