Barely knew little of an exciting life. He was raised on a farm and had rarely traveled. He now resided in quiet Mineral town to live out the rest of his long life doing nothing but selling cow feed and enjoying the simple pleasures the world had to offer.
Barley lived alone with his only granddaughter, May. She was a shy little girl, but in Barley's eyes she was perfect in every way. She would wear a maroon dress and a necklace given to her by her parents. Her hair was a soft brown that would dance as she ran about the house with her best friend Stu. She would help him take care of the few cows that they owned, and his dog, Hannah.
Barley loved Hannah almost as much as May. He found her by the hot springs one morning several years before. She was quite scared, but she soon settled into a life with the old man. She was not a young dog, but one would not know it as she was energetic as a young pup.
She would keep Barley company most of the day when May was outside playing. On sunny afternoons, he would sit at his desk sipping his tea and waiting for customers, with Hannah playing around by his feet as he told her of things that went on in the village. He would tell her of his day, which was not very exciting, but as a dog Hannah could not object.
It was one such day that Barley was finally given his dose of excitement. May was outside taking care of the cows and Hannah was lying comfortably in her bed. "We have had such fine weather this month, haven't we?" He said as he looked down at her and stroked his long white beard. She gave him a blank look. He sighed. "Sometimes I wish that you were a human. That way, we could have a real conversation." He looked down at his cup of tea and noticed that it was empty. He got up and left to the kitchen to refill his glass.
When he returned to his desk, he looked around the room. It was always the same, the same paintings, the same shelves, the same girl sitting in Hannah's bed, the same dull curtains. Barley did a double take. There was girl sitting in Hannah's bed staring down at her hands and smiling happily.
Barley became very frightened. He was at a lost for words. But what does one say when there is a mysterious blonde haired girl wearing overalls in your house? Finally he spoke.
"Who are you?" he said nervously.
"I am Hannah. Well, that isn't actually my real name, but I have gotten kind of used to it," she replied.
"But you can't be Hannah. Hannah is a dog. Hannah can't talk. Hannah doesn't wear overalls."
Her eyes became very soft and understanding. "I am sure this must be very confusing for you."
Barley nodded slowly.
"Then let me explain. Several years ago, I came to Mineral Town to claim the farm that had once belonged to the old man Mike. When I got to the farm, I was quite pleased, though it wasn't in very good shape. "
"I decided to take a walk in the woods. I hadn't walked far when I found a beautiful spring. Then I remembered where I had seen this pond before. I had seen a picture of it in my Tourist's Guide to Mineral town and according to legend, the Harvest Goddess lives there and you are supposed to give her an offering every time you visit. I searched around and my eyes fell upon a flower. I picked it and threw it into the water, and sure enough the Harvest Goddess appeared."
"She thanked me for my offering and then told me I could have a wish. I thought about it and decided that it might be useful as a farmer to be able to talk to animals. I told her that was my wish, and then she asked me if there was any particular kind of animal that I wanted to be able to communicate with. The first thing that came into my mind was a dog, and so I said so."
The girl, or Hannah, walked into the kitchen, opened his fridge and took out a two liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. She took a large swallow and continued her story. "So anyways, the harvest goddess loves to play jokes on people. But what she did was no where near funny! Because I said I wanted to be able to talk to dogs, she turned me into one! Then she said 'see; now you have the ability to talk to dogs!' Which turned out to be a really crappy power."
"That's when you found me. I tried to run a way, but I realized I had no where to go. So I stayed. But now I am human again. Hooray!" She jumped up and down and clapped her hands.
Barely was still dumbfounded at the fact that Hannah was not a dog. She was a girl, a cute girl that likes to drink soda. He looked over at her as she was studying herself in a mirror.
"Hmm. My complexion seemed to hold out." She undid the top straps of her overalls so she could look at herself underneath. She was wearing a pink and orange plaid shirt with sleeves that went down to her elbows. "My figure actually looks better than before. I guess I got a lot of exercise as a dog."
Barley finally found words. "How did you turn back into a human?"
"You said that you wished that I was a human. Maybe that did it." Barley thought about this for a while, not quite sure if saying those words was a good idea, and then changed the subject.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked.
She thought for a moment. "I think I should go work on my farm that I can finally claim," she said as she re-buttoned her overalls.
"You can't do that. Jack lives there now. He must have been the next person in line for the farm."
"Well, then I will just go kick him out."
"You can't do that."
"Why not? I feel really pumped; I bet I could beat him up," she said casually.
"Dogs fights for territory, humans don't. You can't beat up Jack just to get his farm," Barely argued.
"Watch me." And with that, she ran out of the house towards Jack's farm.
This is by a wide margin the strangest idea I have ever had for a story. I don't know if I am going to continue with it or not. If I get a lot of good reviews, I probably will…;)