Inspirational Stories Motivational Experiences Pinoy Life Stories

The Potato Puppy
By Linda Stafford

My four-year-old son, Shane, had been asking for a
puppy for over a month, but his daddy kept saying, "No
dogs! A dog will dig up the garden and chase the ducks and
kill our rabbits. No dog, and that's final!"
Each night Shane prayed for a puppy, and each morning
he was disappointed when there was no puppy waiting
outside.
I was peeling potatoes for dinner, and he was sitting
on the floor at my feet asking for the thousandth time,
"Why won't Daddy let me have a puppy?"
"Because they are a lot of trouble. Don't cry. Maybe
Daddy will change his mind someday," I encouraged him.
"No, he won't, and I'll never have a puppy in a
million years," Shane wailed.
I looked into his dirty, tear-streaked face. How
could we deny him his one wish? So I said the words that
were first spoken by Eve, "I know a way to make Daddy
change his mind."
"Really?" Shane wiped away his tears and sniffed.
I handed him a potato.
"Take this and carry it with you until it turns into a
puppy," I whispered. "Never let it out of your sight for
one minute. Keep it with you all the time, and on the
third day, tie a string around it and drag it around the
yard and see what happens!"
Shane grabbed the potato with both hands. "Mama, how
do you make a potato into a puppy?" He turned it over and
over in his little hands.
"Shh! It's a secret!" I whispered and sent him on his
way.
"Lord, you know what a woman must do to keep peace in
her home!" I prayed.
Shane faithfully carried his potato around for two
days; he slept with it, bathed with it and talked to it.
On the third day I said to my husband, "We really
should get a pet for Shane."
"What makes you think he needs a pet?" My husband
leaned against the doorway.
"Well, he's been carrying a potato around with him
for days. He calls it Wally and says it is his pet. He
sleeps with it on his pillow, and right now he has a string
tied to it and he's dragging it around the yard," I said.
"A potato?" my husband asked and looked out the window
and watched Shane taking his potato for a walk.
"It will break his heart when the potato gets mushy
and rots," I said and started getting out food for lunch.
"Besides, every time I try to peel potatoes for dinner,
Shane cries because he says I'm killing Wally's family."
"A potato?" my husband asked. "My son has a pet
potato?"
"Well," I said shrugging, "you said he couldn't have a
puppy. He was so disappointed, in his mind, he decided he
had to have a pet..."
"That's crazy!" my husband said.
"Maybe you're right, but explain to me why he is
dragging that potato around the yard on a string," I said.
My husband watched our son for a few more minutes.
"I'll bring home a puppy tonight. I'll stop by the
animal shelter after work. I guess a puppy can't be that
much trouble," he sighed. "It's better than a potato."
That night Shane's daddy brought home a wiggling puppy
and a pregnant white cat that he took pity on while he was
at the shelter.
Everyone was happy. My husband thought he'd saved his
son from a nervous breakdown. Shane had a puppy, a cat and
five kittens and believed his mother had magic powers that
could change a potato into a puppy. And I was happy
because I got my potato back and cooked it for dinner.
Everything was perfect until one evening when I was
cooking dinner, Shane tugged on my dress and asked, "Mama,
do you think I could have a pony for my birthday?"
I looked into his sweet little face and said, "Well,
first we have to take a watermelon..."