A story about hope, faith, and miracles.
“The White Bowl with Blue Polka Dots” — a story written by our Foundation for animal lovers of all ages, both young and old.
(In Ukrainian).
Author: Elvina Moskalik, Project Manager of the “Bioethics” Project.
Enjoy watching! 😊
The White Bowl with Blue Polka Dots
“Here comes a new day, and the magical bowl is still not mine,” Foxy sighed, sitting in her shelter enclosure.
For the second month in a row, a little dog named Foxy had been living in the shelter, dreaming of her own home and loving owners. But so far, she had been out of luck. She had tried everything: sitting obediently, cuddling up, and wagging her tail with all her might—but nothing helped.
“Today, as soon as they open the enclosure and let me out for a walk, I will try to jump into the arms of that boy with the kind eyes and the yellow scarf. He came up to my enclosure twice; surely, he will take me home,” Foxy reasoned while waiting for her walk. “And if they don't take me this time either, then it's definitely all because of the magical bowl.”
The thing was, Foxy had noticed that twice already, furry residents had been taken to new homes from the exact enclosures that had a special white bowl with blue polka dots. As soon as another pup left the shelter for a new home, their magical bowl was given to another four-legged friend, but Foxy hadn't been lucky yet.
And so it happened again: no matter how Foxy jumped on the boy in the yellow scarf, no matter how she tugged at him to play, he did not choose her. Instead, he chose a tiny, shaggy puppy who happened to be the latest to get the lucky bowl.
After the walk, Foxy returned to her enclosure and waited with bated breath to see who would be chosen as the next owner of the white bowl with blue polka dots. Most of all, our heroine hoped that this time, luck would finally smile upon her.
And then, the big moment arrived. The shelter owner walked into the enclosure where the shaggy black puppy had been sitting just this morning, picked up the magical bowl, and headed straight toward Foxy. Words couldn’t describe how happy Foxy was at that moment! She stood on her hind legs, wagged her tail with all her might, and couldn’t calm her fast-beating heart.
When the owner was just a few steps away from Foxy’s enclosure, she suddenly tripped, lost her balance, and dropped the bowl. With a loud, ringing crash, the bowl hit the floor and broke into two pieces.
“Oh, what a pity! It was such a beautiful bowl with blue polka dots,” the owner said.
Foxy couldn’t believe her eyes. She hoped that all was not lost, that they would glue the bowl back together. But the owner simply picked up the pieces and threw them into the trash.
That day, when the magical bowl with blue polka dots was thrown away, Foxy’s hopes of ever finding a home seemed to shatter along with the bowl. Time went on, the leaves fell from the trees, and autumn arrived.
During another walk, Foxy heard the joyful laughter of a little girl and boy who had come to the shelter with their parents to play with the animals. Inspired by the children’s happy mood, Foxy picked up her favorite ball in her mouth and ran over to the little ones. The children immediately understood what the fluffy beauty was offering them, and a fun game began.
After a while, the parents called the children. They patted Foxy, threw her the ball one last time, and ran back to the adults. At that moment, Foxy remembered the broken bowl. She lowered her head and tail, returned to her enclosure, and lay down on the floor.
“Oh, if only I had a magical bowl,” Foxy thought, closing her eyes.
“There, there she is!” Foxy heard the familiar children’s voices through her sleep. “It’s her, let’s take her home, please. She’s the best!”
Foxy couldn’t believe her ears. Were the children really talking about her? She was terrified to open her eyes and see the family standing by the neighboring enclosure instead.
“Her name is Foxy, she came to us three months ago,” the shelter owner was saying.
Slowly, Foxy began to open her eyes. Standing right in front of her enclosure were the very same children and their parents.
“She’s awake! Can we take her home right now? Please…” the children chimed in.
That very evening, Foxy left for her new home with her loving family.
But the biggest surprise was waiting for Foxy at home. On the kitchen floor, she saw a white bowl with blue polka dots prepared just for her.
“The magical bowl really did help me after all,” Foxy thought.
Foxy would probably be very surprised to learn that, in reality, her new bowl didn’t have blue polka dots at all—they were purple. But Foxy, like all dogs, saw them as blue due to the unique way dogs see colors.
The illustrations for this story were created by participants of the 2nd All-Ukrainian Humane Treatment of Animals Competition.
Learn more about the competition and see the participants’ artwork here - https://happypaw.ua/ua/news/one/376
