It had been storming for days and when Mama brought Little Sam and Little Savy over to the packhouse for the weekly playgroup, there were only a few children.
"That's okay." Laura said at Circle Time, "We can get into a nice and cosy circle."
"That's my mum." Little Jonah sat down next to Little Sam. Little Jonah made it a point to tell every pup this every single week.
"I know." Little Sam answered.
"That's my mum." Little Jonah leaned over to tell Little Savy too. Little Savy nodded.
Then Little Jonah told Little Ben, "That's my mum."
Little Ben completely ignored him.
"That's my mum." Little Jonah tried to explain again in case the other boy didn't hear him.
Little Ben decided he would rather sit next to the bin at the corner of the class.
"Ben, please come back and join us." Teacher Laura said.
But Ben just hugged his legs close and sat next to the bin. He was the same size as the bin. Except you couldn't throw anything into him.
Teacher Laura tried again. Little Lizzy moved to sit next to Little Savy, "I've got new socks." She showed Little Savy her sock, "There are 3 kitties on this sock and 4 kitties on this sock."
Little Savy looked at Little Lizzy's socks. Little Sam looked too.
"Cats are for girls." Little Jonah told them, "Boys like dogs."
Little Dean and Little Drew were late.
"Sorry, we're late!" Little Dean's mum looked wet and frazzled, "Warlock's weather."
"Don't worry about it." Teacher Laura stood up from Little Bin, I mean, Little Ben who was still sulking next to the real bin, "Hello Dean, hello Drew."
Dean started to cry. Like with tears and everything. Drew stopped and looked at his brother. Dean was a year older, but both boys were the same height.
"Awww..." Teacher Laura knelt down kindly, "Don't cry, Dean, you mummy will be back before you know it."
Little Sam walked over to check if Dean was okay, "What's wrong?"
Teacher Laura was still rubbing Dean's thin back and trying to sooth the crying puppy. Drew looked confused. Their mummy had disappeared out the door
Dean cried every week, he was crying so hard his words came out in gasps, "I wa....want...mm... Mum...mummy..."
"She'll come back." Little Sam was quite confident about this, "If they leave us here too long, we'll drive Teacher Laura crazy."
"Wha... No!" Teacher Laura protested passionately, "I love teaching all of you! You're all very cute pups."
The other pups had come over from the Circle Time mat by now.
"That's my mum." Jonah told Dean. And then he added, "So she can't forget to come back."
Dean cried all through Circle Time, but he was much calmer after the Hello Song. And he was only sniffling at the third round of Skip to my Lou.
"One more time!" Little Sam called out.
"I think we can stop now." Teacher Laura lifted her hands to signal stop, "Let's listen to a story before snack time."
Snack Time was a magic word. Suddenly the puppies were all seated back on the mat, waiting for storytime to end.
Except for Little Ben, who was still squeezed in a ball next to the bin.
Today's story was about the Alpha and his Luna. Little Sam had heard A LOT of stories about Alphas, so she considered herself an expert. Today's story was not exciting at all - the Alpha rescued his Luna without even throwing a single punch.
"How did he get her back from the rogues?" Little Sam wanted to know, "Did he beat them up?"
"Oh, no, no... We don't beat up anybody" Teacher Laura assured us.
"He shot them." Little Ben guess from next to the bin.
"No, he didn't use a gun." Teacher Laura quickly clarified.
"I know, he shifted into his wolf form and..."
"He used magic!" Teacher Laura quickly announced.
Ooohhh. Little Sam stopped to consider this.
"There's no such thing as magic." Little Ben yelled over from the bin.
"There is too!" Little Lizzy yelled back at her twin.
"Like please and thank you?" Little Jonah asked.
"Yes!" Teacher Laura looked extremely pleased at that answer, "Please and Thank You are the magic words!"
Little Sam never heard of an Alpha who used magic before, but in her experience, please and thank you were indeed the magic words to get cookies. (As long as it wasn't too close to mealtime.)
Ben joined the puppies when it was Snack Time. They sat at the table. In playgroup, the tables and chairs were puppy sized.
"I'm the Alpha!" Little Sam announced and took the head seat. The other puppies found their seats too. They all got cookies and juice because they could all say please and thank you really well. Even Little Ben.
After that, their mummies came to collect them. Little Sam and Little Savy showed their mum the hand print they made last week.
"Oh, did you make them today?" Mum asked.
Little Savy shook her head.
"Yesterday." Little Sam told her. (But don't worry, Mum understood she meant last week.)
"I see. What did you do today?"
"We practiced magic." Little Sam said, "And got cookies."
"I see." Mum said. (But don't worry, Mum understood... No, she didn't.)
"I see..." Mum said again.