Percy the Pug Vs The Pencil

Well, next thing you know....This story takes place when Percy the Pug was a little Pug—a not-so-big Pug, a younger Pug, a Pug with less experience and yet the same amount of smartness. This is the story of Percy the Pug versus the pencil.

One day, Percy the Pug decided that he wanted to draw. And of course, in order to do this, he had to find paper and a pencil. Easy enough. He knew where his mother kept all the paper and where she kept the pencils. So, of course, he quickly went to the desk drawers, got out the equipment he needed, and put it on the kitchen table. Because that's where he tended to do this kind of stuff. That way, he could see what people were doing as they came in and out of the orchard. And if his mother cooked anything, he'd know about it.

Today, his dad and his mom were both working in the orchard, so he had the kitchen all to himself. He sat down in the chair with the paper on the table and took out the pencil. The pencil felt good in his hand. It was just the right size. It had an eraser on the top and a fine tip to start writing. And so, Percy the Pug began to draw. He drew some lines. He drew some lines over there. He drew some lines over here. And eventually, when he took a break and looked at what he'd drawn, it was kind of what he wanted. He had drawn a car with a giraffe driving it, which was a bit awkward because, of course, the giraffe’s neck was really, really tall and had to go out the sunroof. This meant the giraffe had to wear goggles, and its scarf was flying behind it as it drove really, really fast.

Percy the Pug really liked the picture. But now came the difficult part—the shading. This is the part that gave the picture its three-dimensional look. It made it pop, so to speak. And so, he took his pencil. It still felt good in his hand. It still had an eraser on top. But then he noticed it no longer had a fine tip. In fact, its tip had become all nubby and blunt. And that was no good at all.

"What had happened to make my pencil so blunt?" Percy the Pug wondered. Regardless, he knew what to do: the pencil sharpener. And so, he took his pencil into the living room, into his dad's studio, where he thought there had been a pencil sharpener. But it was missing. His dad had apparently moved the pencil sharpener.

"Why would Dad do such a thing?" Percy thought. And then Percy the Pug remembered—because he had broken it. And so, it was in the repair shop, the pencil sharpener. Percy the Pug began to panic because, of course, he had a pencil that was no good. He ran upstairs into his bedroom. Maybe there was a pencil sharpener there that he'd forgotten about. He did that sometimes. He took his stuff from school home and left it at home.

He looked in his toy box. He looked in his drawers. He looked under his bed. He looked in his mattresses. He looked in his bathroom. He looked behind the toilet. He looked on his bookshelves. He looked under his bookshelves. By the time he was done, he'd spent all afternoon looking in his room. And his room was really clean. Because, of course, if you're going to look in your room, you should clean it while you're going. Who wants to live in a totally disaster room?

And so, Percy the Pug looked out upon his clean room and realized he had no pencil sharpener. He had wasted the entire afternoon. Most of his day was gone, and he still didn't have a sharp pencil. He ran downstairs and found his mother in the kitchen, getting ready to cook dinner.

"Mom! Mom!"

"What is it, Percy? What do you need?"

"I need a pencil sharpener, Mom. I need a pencil sharpener." He held up the pencil, which was blunt and unusable.

"Oh! Well, why didn't you go use your dad's? It's in the office."

"No, it's not! I broke it! Remember?"

"Oh, that's right. You did indeed break it. Hmm. Well, I guess we could use... the non-mechanical pencil sharpener."

"What's that?"

"Oh, here, let me get it for you." And then she brought out a knife. "See? This is a pencil sharpener."

"No, it's not, Mom!" he said. "It's a knife."

"Oh yes, but watch." And in a quick flick, using a very sharp knife, she whittled away the tip of the pencil so that it was sharpened to a very fine point.

"Wow, Mom, that's amazing!"

And so, Percy the Pug went back to drawing—specifically, shading. And so he shaded. He shaded all the way until dinner. Then he had dinner. Then he got his stuff back out because he had to put it away and realized that his pencil was nubby again. His mom and dad had gone back out to the orchard for some last-minute tree tending. What could he do? He knew that he had to find that knife.

And so, he went to the knife drawer. He took out the knife and started whittling away at his pencil. His mom had made it look really easy. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get it right. He shaved a little here. He shaved a little there, and it snapped. Shaved a little on this side. Then it snapped. Shaved some more. Shaved a little bit more, and it snapped. Shaved some more. Shaved a little bit more. It was very frustrating. Shaved some more, and it snapped. How did his mom do this?

And then he realized something—there was no more pencil to shave. He had shaved it all. All that was left was a little tiny nub attached to the metal eraser holder. He put the knife down, very mad.

"Cursed pencil! You've left me in the lurch!" he cried out.

Because, of course, he had not finished his drawing. He had this huge domestic clean-up of pencil shavings all over the floor. His mom came in at that moment and said, "Oh my gosh! Percy the Pug! What have you done?"

Percy the Pug tried to explain, but he couldn't. He was so mad. All he could do was mumble.

But thankfully, his mom understood Percy the Pug's angry speech. She said, "Oh! You tried sharpening the pencil with the knife. Well, you should have just waited until I got here because I would have done it for you."

Percy the Pug just stomped around the kitchen, getting all cranky because he had no more pencil. And then his mom did what all moms do. She said, "You know, Percy the Pug, there is another pencil." And she went to get it, brought it back, and held it up.

Percy the Pug's eyes widened, for it looked exactly like his first pencil. In fact, he was pretty certain it was an exact duplicate. He took it, snatched it, held it in his hand, and it fit just like his first pencil. It even had an eraser and a metal holder at the top. And it still had its fine drawing point. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Mummy. This is exactly what I needed."

And then his mummy said, "Oh yes, but before you can continue your drawing, you must clean up."

And that's when Percy the Pug said, "No! Curse you, pencil! Even in your death, you have defeated me!"

And so, he cleaned up his mess. And then, the next day, he continued his drawing. Because by the time he cleaned up his mess, it was time to read stories and go to sleep.

And so, in this exciting episode, the pencil did, in fact, defeat Percy the Pug. How is that possible, you ask? Well, I guess you just have to listen to the story again.

And so ends Percy the Pug versus the Pencil.