PREFACE

Within the scope of I Am Here Too project, our story with the theme "Importance of Effective Communication" was prepared as a joint product by 15 students as a Story Team. Audio reading is also available in our book. We wish you pleasant reading.

                                                     Team Mentors

                                               Neslihan ABBASOĞLU

                                               Halil İbrahim AKBULUT

         The little girl was walking thoughtfully. He had just come out of school and was on his way home. An old woman was coming from the opposite side. The little girl looked up to meet the old woman's eyes. The old woman smiled tenderly at the little girl.

That warm smile of hers and the way she looked at me led me to talk to her.
Little girl:
-Hello, he said.
 Apparently he wanted to talk too, so he started talking right away.
Old woman:
- It was the first time someone passed by on the street spoke to me and said "hello", he said. Then he thanked me for it.

The old woman was filled with love. The sun was shining for him today. He reached out to the dog that came next to him, his hand fondly caressed the dog's head. They say love is contagious, yes, and the little girl's love was passed on to the woman, the woman's love to a passing dog.

While the old woman was stroking the dog's head, she realized that the dog had an accident and that his foot was injured. She cleaned and bandaged his wound. At that moment, she remembered the milk in her bag. Thinking the dog was hungry, she opened it for a drink. The puppy, who had been hungry for days, drank the milk happily.

The cute dog, which was fed, ran away from the woman by running between the houses. Returning to the neighborhood where his owner left, the puppy lay under the tree at the edge of the playground in the neighborhood. In the evening, smoke began to rise from one of the trees in the park. The cute puppy caught people's attention by smelling the fire and barking.

Meanwhile the people on the street were; a six years old boy playing in front of his house, an old man went out to buy bread, a butcher waiting for customers in front of his shop and a young girl on her way to the guitar course. The boy thought that the dog was barking because it is hungry and smelt some food, so he tried to give his biscuit to it. The old and grumpy man started to grumble as he thought that it was an aggressive wild dog. The butcher yelled at the dog to make it go away from his shop.

The children watched in amazement. The attitudes of those around him towards the dog greatly upset his little heart. The boy immediately called the cute dog to him. Because his mother always taught him to love animals and to treat them well. He even heard a saying from his mother once;- Animals are silent servants of God." He hugged the cute dog that came to him, waving its tail, and dragged him to his house. He would ask his mother for permission to adopt him.

Suddenly the dog started barking. Taken for something. So what was it? after thought they came a little bit of glass. he was hungry for life. The butcher began to take the meat from the glass and send it away. After chopping, he put meat in one bowl and water in the other bowl. And gave it to the dog. He was eating heartily. He finished the meat and the water and left. After a little progress, he saw the dog on it. It was captured by flying birds. And we were struggling to collect it. With one last jump, he climbed onto the branch, but the bird had flown. He tried to get down from the tree but failed and the branch was about to break.

Stuck in the tree, the little dog started to bark for help. Even if it barked for a long time, no one came, because no one observed when it left and  ran away to the bird. After more time, while the dog was waiting for help it realized the only help that it is going to get is just if it is helping himself. So, the puppy started to think how it can get down. The only way that it found was to prepare himself for a really big jump and to get in the soft, green grass. After it stretched his little legs, the brave dog did his best and jumped down, in the soft grass. The puppy was very proud, but it promised to himself that it is never going to follow another bird.

After all that had happened, the puppy was very tired. He immediately went under a tree and fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, he saw an old woman in front of him. The woman, beginning to look familiar to him, took him in her arms. Watching carefully, he remembered the woman giving him milk. The old woman wanted to possess him.

And the old woman adopted the dog. Now the two of them are very good friends. They were no longer alone. A warm smile, a heartfelt greeting and a small kindness could change a lot, and this is what happened. 

Since the puppy was also fond of his freedom, he would occasionally throw himself into the streets. After wandering for hours, he was returning to his peaceful home. The old woman loved him very much and understood this situation. He was taking good care of the dog. The dog suddenly became everything to the old woman.

One day while the old lady was taking the puppy for a walk in the park, she was that little girl again. They looked and smiled eachother with love again.The old lady and the little girl started chatting. And the puppy was running and playing around happily. The old woman told the girl how she adopted the puppy. The little girl also loved the animals so much, especially the dogs. Arter that day, they became very good friends, met in the park every day and played games together.