National Adult Literacy Database

November 15, 1999

Beverly is a devoted mother, who endeavours to help her daughter in any way that she can. This is really what has motivated Beverly to improve her own reading and writing skills, and thus help her daughter with her learning. She is a regular volunteer in her daughter's class. Beverly has participated in a number of our programs including: Books Offer Our Kids Success, Learning and Reading Partners and the Prospects Tutoring program. Beverly really enjoys writing, particularly when she can write about her daughter. She has explored many new avenues in expressing herself through poetry and story writing.

 

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The Great Rescue

by Beverly MacKinnon
illustrated by Fish Griwkowsky

Dedication

I would like to tell you a very special story about two dogs named Benji and Rusty. I kind of owe them a lot. I dedicate my book to them. I dedicate it to all the people who are helping me.

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One Weekend we had friends come down to visit us from Ft. McMurray.

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We have a rule that the gates to the yard have to be closed for the dogs and our daughter Sarah, so they don't get out. Even the tenants know that rule. But everyone is human and people forget to do important things sometimes.

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While our friends were up in Edmonton one of them went out to the car to get something and he forgot to close the gate. Sarah, our daughter, was outside with the dogs playing on her swing set.

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Sarah got out of the gate. She walked down the back alley and down towards the bike paths. Sarah got to a point that she couldn't recognize where she was. So she stood in one spot and began to cry.

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A few minutes later my girlfriend came and said that they could not find Sarah. I was very upset but I kept my cool. Everybody was panicking because they knew how upset I would be.

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Everybody went looking for Sarah. One of them found her standing on the sidewalk going down by the bike paths crying.

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But what was good was that the dogs went with her and stayed with her until one of us found her. The dogs did not leave her side. They protected her and comforted her.

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I was very proud of the dogs and the Lord for looking out for our little girl Sarah.

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I was very upset at my friend for doing it and he felt very mad at himself for forgetting to close the gate.

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But what is funny is every time my friend comes down he still talks about the time Sarah got out of the gate he left open.

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The moral of this story is to not forget important things if you are around children.