Hey Mom,

Guess what? Your Baby Girl became an accidental time-traveler today! Yep, I sniffed out a space-time kennel, hitched rides on sphinxes, dodged medieval rats, and raced through the wild west with my fur blowing in the wind. Each era was a treat, but home is where the heart is (and Jasper and the snacks are). Don’t worry, I’m back, belly full of adventures and paws firmly in our Spencerville. Can’t wait to tell you all about it!

XOXO,
Daphne 🐾🕰️🌳

Listen to the story here

It was a fine morning when I, Daphne of Spencerville, awoke in my snuggly sanctuary of blankets, pondering the exploits I would undertake that day. My thoughts, as sprightly as the twitch of a Beagle’s ear at the scent of a distant hare, wandered over the many amusements afforded to us quadrupeds in this nearly celestial hamlet.

After a brief moment of fond recollection – green beans and carrots at last eve’s repast were delightfully crunchy – I sauntered through the verdant lanes of our blessed Spencerville, a tune only audible to the keenest of canine ears humming betwixt my jowls. Past the Pawsitively Purrfect Pet Store and the cheerful yaps of the Bark Shak, my tracks carried me. Good cheer abounded in every nook and sniffable cranny.

It was upon reaching the notable roundabout of Bullmastiff Boardwalk that I encountered the dreamt-of marvel, purloined from the tomes of that curious Time-Traveling spectacle we pups fancy. A most peculiar kennel, blinking with lights more befitting a firefly ballet than a dog’s abode, stood defiantly incongruous against the quaint shopfronts.

As any true canine adventurer worth her snout would, I approached with as much caution as I could muster – which was to say, the reckless abandon of the truly curious. No more had my paw graced its threshold than the world elongated, like a stretch after the deepest of naps, and with a jolt, I was there, yet not there – here, yet not here.

The kennel, as it were, appeared to be a vessel through time and space, piloted not by me, but by the capricious whims of Fate herself. One moment I was perched upon a sphinx’s back, sharing enigmatic riddles under the blazoned Egyptian sky, the next, I was chasing glorified rats, which the townsfolk of medieval Europe dubbed “plague-bringers.” Alas, their plight seemed distastefully real and infinitesimally less amusing than my normal quarry.

A blink, and I found myself at the helm of an odyssey across the boundless prairies of the west – oh, the tales I could bark about the canine companions I made there, their tales as wild as the winds that carved crags and canyons.

Yet, with all the yesteryears at my paw-tips, none warmed the cockles of my Beagle heart as did the thought of my dear friend and sibling Jasper – his diminutive size belied a spirit grander than any mastiff’s bluster. A sense, rooted deeper than any tree in the whispering woods of our abode, pulled me homeward.

Yet, ’twas not just the call of kinship that beckoned. It was the knowledge that, like a true Spencerville citizen, one must learn to marry the twin joys of anticipation and contentment. We missed our parents, true enough, but the solace in the day-to-day scampers and gambols along Beagle Beach and those healthful afternoon snacks brought comfort.

So, finding myself once more sand-dusted on the warm, welcoming shore of my homestead era, I regarded the time-traveling kennel with a mix of respect and wistfulness. Many times hence I might venture again – each a day’s tale in the ongoing saga of my life – but for now, I settled in the shade, and with a hound’s ruminative eye, watched the world with all the patient wisdom of those who ‘ve seen epochs unfold and the never-ending waves kissed the shore.

And should you one day wander along the boardwalk, you might chance to see me, Daphne, basking in the sun or briskly nose-to-ground tracking some new adventure, whisked away by neither time nor fancy but the simple, abiding pleasure of a day in the life of a Spencerville Beagle.

The End.

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