The day before my seventeenth birthday, a Tuesday morning, at 10:06am, we are standing at the door of Hans’ house. Sparkie sat beside me, her ears up. This is new. Hans opens the door, smiles and says, “Right on time!” Four dogs surround him, all wagging their tails and pressing eagerly against the screen door. We head to the backyard where Sparkie gets to meet all the dogs. She quickly made friends with a nine month old Smooth Collie, called “Sunny”, and they were romping around the yard until Hans called his dogs and put them away. We chatted for a while, and then the work began. We took Hans’ car to the shops, and spent two hours exploring the town. We went into IGA and banks and a variety of different shops. Hans’ got us to cross the busy road several times, climb up and down stairs, and walk through narrow alleyways. At one point, in an alleyway, he and Mummy walk towards me as though they were about to run into us, then at the last moment break away. This was to get Sparkie used to walking in a crowd. After lunch, we went to the mall where Hans introduced us to a travelator. Sparkie freaked out, and of course so did I! She refused to go on it, even for treats. Eventually we picked Sparkie up and put her on the travelator, where she got lots of praise and treats. The next time around she only hesitated a second, before jumping right on it! We went up and down the travelators several times, until Sparkie was hopping on and off with no fear at all. Riding the travelator to the bottom and then back to the top by ourselves was one of the best moments of my life! We took the lift a few times too. We went up some more stairs, down a ramp, into another bank and a restaurant. We stood on the balcony overlooking the car park and weaved through the tables in the food court. We went to Aldi and K-mart. On the way home Sparkie fell asleep in the foot well of Hans’ car.
Coming soon, a new video of our day at the shops!
I can't see myself without you.
With you I get strength to do things I've never,
ever dreamt in a million years.
I'm unstoppable 'cause you're here with me.
- “Impossible,” by Newsboys
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