The Crazy Life of Savannah Nicole Porter

The Troubles Begin

I rolled over and groaned. My back was hurting (that's what happens when you sleep on a couch!) and I was groggy. I pushed myself up very slowly and stiffly. I yawned and stretched my arms to the ceiling. Then I came to my senses. I was in my living room,and I could see a streetlight shining through the window. What time was it? I stood up and walked into the kitchen. The oven clock said 5:48 am. It was way to early to be up, especially since it was Saturday. I walked past the window to go back into the living room, and that's when I noticed 2 very odd things. 1st, my dad's truck was gone. He didn't work on Saturday, and it was too early for him to ride to the cafe down the street to get coffee. Second, it was very dark for nearly 6:00am. Usually you could see the sun beginning to rise. There was no way the streetlights would normally be on at this time of the morning. I walked to my parent's bedroom because I wanted to know what was going on. I opened the door and gasped at what I saw.
Big piles of clothes were everywhere on the floor. My parents had just sold everything we didn't need in a garage sale last weekend! We didn't need to clean out anything! Besides, why would my mom be spring cleaning at 6am? I found my mom in the closet, digging through clothes and shoes and muttering to herself. She seemed frazzled, so I snuck off without doing anything. I looked through the screen door to the backyard. The dogs were pacing around nervously. That wasn't a good sign. I went into the living room and waited for Dad to get home. He finally did about 10 minutes later. I walked outside to meet him. He turned around with a grim look on his face. "Dad..." I started to say, but I was cut off by barking. My dad pulled a cage out of the truck. Inside were Malik, Cougar, and their 6 puppies. I haven't said much about Malik and Cougar, but they are my personal dogs. Malik is a big black Pit Bull and Cougar is a boxer. Their puppies are all named after NBA stars. Shaquille, LeBron, Kobe, Anthony, and Stephen are the boys, and the girl is Jordan (named after Michael Jordan). They have been at the Pet Palace for about a week, which is where we sometimes send the dogs so they can be pampered. The Pet Palace is basically a five star hotel for dogs. It is complete with a spa, room service, and even a mini beach!
But I knew they weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow afternoon. "Dad, why are the dogs back so early?" I asked. "They are trying to get them out." he muttered dryly. Then he took the dogs to the backyard. Ok, that was strange. The Pet Palace never tried to send the dogs away. I followed my dad inside. He put the dogs in the  living room and walked to his bedroom. A minute later he shut the door, and I decided to leave him alone. Malik and Cougar were in the living room when I went back to watch TV. They were whimpering, but the puppies were running around and wrestling. I found a tennis ball and tossed it to them. They wrestled for it, but Anthony got it and brought it back to me. It went on like this for a little while, with me half watching TV and half throwing the tennis ball. But I kept feeling uneasy. The darkness outside, Mom cleaning out the closet, and Dad bringing the dogs home early gave me a feeling that something was going on that I didn't know about. And whatever it was didn't seem good.