Seven year old Kyle stared distantly out the window. The newly fallen snow looked so inviting. He envisaged himself building a giant snow fort next to the icy pond. In his fort there would be a table and chair made out of snow, and he would slide on the frozen pond. His snow home would be cozy and comfortable.

The sound of feet walking on the wooden floor brought Kyle back to reality. His mother was cooking breakfast in the kitchen. “Can I go play outside Mom?” He asked. “Not until you eat breakfast and do your chores.” She replied. “Ah Mom. I really want to go play. I’ll do my chores later.” Complained Kyle. “I said no. Eat your breakfast then go out and do your chores.” His mother said while putting a plate of food on the table for him. Kyle sat down at the table and slowly ate his food. When he was done he put his snow clothes on and snuck out to play in the snow. On his way out the door he felt someone pulling him back inside. “Didn’t I tell you to do your chores first?” His mother demanded angrily, “Put your work clothes on and go out to feed the animals.”
Once his work clothes were on, Kyle went outside to feed the animals. First, he got the hose out and filled up all the animals’ water troughs. As he dragged the hose to all of the troughs, he thought about how he was going to build his snow fort. In all of his day dreaming, the water trough he was filling up overflowed. He Hurried and moved the hose over to the next one. When he was done with that he went to the feed room. He filled a bucket up with chicken scratch and threw it in the chicken cage. Next he fed the horses. Kyle went to each stall putting hay in the hay nets and filling up the grain buckets. Finally, he gave the sheep hay and grain. At last he was done. He ran to the house to inform his mother that he was done with his chores. She gave Kyle permission to go outside and he cheerfully put his play clothes on.

Outside, Kyle started building his snow fort. He shaped the snow into blocks and put them together. He added more blocks and eventually made a small snow fort that he could crawl into. Tired from all hard work he did, Kyle went back to his house for lunch. After eating his sandwich, he went back outside to work on his snow fort. First he formed a chair out of snow. Then he made a table. Kyle stood back to look at his accomplishment. He just needed to do one more thing to be completely satisfied; slide on the frozen pond.

Just as he stepped out on the ice a dog barked. It sounded close. Kyle looked around and saw a big black Labrador retriever looking at him enthusiastically from the other side of the pond. Eager to get to the dog, Kyle started running across the ice. He was almost to the middle when the ice started to crack. Kyle was so excited to get to the dog that didn’t notice the danger he was in. The next step he took broke the ice. He flailed as he sunk deeper into the icy water. All of a sudden a dark shape jumped into the pond and pulled Kyle to the surface. He coughed up some pond water and when he looked up, there was a big wet black dog staring at him. He was freezing cold and he knew that if he didn’t find warmth quick he would get hypothermia. He could barely stand up because he was so exhausted. Step by step Kyle made his way home with the dog. He stumbled in the door and his mother quickly went to work. She put Kyle by the fire and made some warm soup for him. After she was sure Kyle was safe and comfortable she noticed the dog. “What’s this?” She asked. Kyle explained how the dog saved his life and helped him home. “Can we keep him?” Kyle pleaded. “Well, he doesn’t have a collar. I guess we can keep him. But you have to take care of him.” His mother replied. “Yes!” Kyle said excitedly. He ran over to the dog and inspected it. “I think I’ll name him Jet.” He exclaimed, “Because he is jet black.” Kyle bent down and gave Jet a big hug. He looked up at his mother and smiled.