Seven year old Cindy Thompson sat the family dog, Layla, down. Cindy was an adorable and somewhat innocent blond-haired girl. The beagle was nearly two years old but had only been with the family for a few months, since Cindy had picked her out at the local animal shelter. "I'm going to go over to Sonya's house for a sleepover," she told the dog. "Sonya can't come here 'cause she's allergic to dogs. I promise tomorrow we'll play together," she told the dog.
Cindy had found it hard to make friends, which is why her parents got her a dog...wanting to help. It had taken this long for Cindy to come out of her shell and make a human friend.
"You're my best friend..." she told the dog....just as, a few blocks away, Jeff finished inputting his instructions.
"You're my friend too," Layla suddenly said, in perfect English.
"Layla...you can talk?" Cindy said, surprised.
"Of course I can talk, what kind of a question is that?" Layla said.
Cindy sat down in front of Layla. "You've never done it before. You've always just barked." She barked herself, to illustrate the point.
"What is it, Cindy?" Layla asked.
Cindy continued to bark....she couldn't stop...her lips were increasingly incapable of forming more complex sounds. As she looked into Layla's dark eyes, thoughts of leaving to go to Sonya's sleepover faded from her mind. She just wanted Layla's attention. It was hard to concentrate on anything else.
Layla rose on her hind legs. "What is going on with you today? What has you so excited?" She leaned down, towering over Cindy, picking the human up in her arms. She frowned. Hadn't Cindy been larger before? No...that was silly. She examined the human, starting at her tiny paws.
As she looked to see what might be wrong, the room changed around her...the room of a little girl morphing into one more suited to a teenager like Layla.
Layla gently lowered Cindy onto her human bed in the corner. "What's wrong, girl?" Cindy had always been a shy human...she seemed agitated about something though.
Even Cindy didn't seem to be sure what was agitating her, and eventually she settled down and curled up for a nap. Layla picked up her smartphone and called her best dog(as opposed to human) friend. "Hey, Miranda..." she said. "Is that Jeff barking in the background?"