What felt like a fun-filled adventure at the beginning, didn’t feel that way anymore! Bingo looked around feeling very tired and hungry. It all started in the morning when Bingo chased a cat off their lawn. The cat went missing near the gate. Bingo noticed that the gate was not properly closed. He pushed the gate with his nose and it opened.

Bingo knew he was not supposed to go out. He had tried it a couple of times and got a good scolding from his owners. But today he was feeling adventurous. He slowly looked around. There was no one to be seen. “I’ll just go out and explore a bit,” he thought. “I won’t go too far and I’ll be back before anyone notices that I am missing!” 

And so he passed a couple of houses feeling very important because he was on his own. “I’ll just walk up to the end of the lane and come back,” he thought. The road was very dusty and hot. Vehicles whizzed past him. There were four dogs
sitting at the end of the lane. A black one saw Bingo and alerted the others.They all looked at him and growled. “Enough mouths we have to be fed around here!” growled the black dog. “We don’t need  more dogs in this neighbourhood!” “Oh,
but I do live in this neighbourhood,” started Bingo. “Yeah? Well then, how come we’ve never seen you before?” growled a brown dog, who had very little fur and was scratching himself continuously. “Well, I don’t exactly live on the road, you see…” said Bingo trying to explain things. But the dogs weren’t interested. “Go back to where you came from!” said a white one, who wasn’t exactly white with all the dust and dirt on him. They all stood up growling. “Come-on boys!” barked the black one, “Let’s bite and chase him back to where he came from!” Then they started to chase after him. Bingo ran and ran, turning in every direction his legs took him. Finally he managed to escape them. But there was one problem. He didn’t know where he was now!

“Those dogs are not a friendly bunch,” said a spotted dog peeping from behind a lamp-post. “That’s their territory and no one is allowed in there!” Bingo panted staring at this new dog. He was also around Bingo’s age. Only, he was not very well looked after. “Where do you stay?” Bingo asked still panting. “Here, there, everywhere…” answered the spotted dog. “Where do you stay?” he asked from Bingo. “I am from a house,” said Bingo. “Oh dear, did they beat and chase you?” “No,” replied Bingo, “They looked after me really well.” “Well then, why are you here on the road?” “I came to explore, but now I think I am lost!” “Explore?” the dog scoffed. “When you have warm food and shelter, what more is there to explore?” the dog asked looking confused. Bingo looked around feeling frightened. “What if I never find my way back home?” he whined.

“Can you sniff your way back?” asked the dog, trying to help. “Maybe you’ll be able to catch the scent back home.” Bingo sniffed but all he got was the smell of dust. “Well if you can’t find your way back, you’ll have to learn to live on the road like I do!” said the dog.

“Come on, let’s find something to eat.” He went near a trash-can, stood on his hind legs and toppled it. Bits of food scattered all over. “Eat,” said the dog and started nibbling on a piece of bread. Bingo smelled the food.
It all smelled stale and
horrible. “You can’t be picky when you have
nothing!” the dog said.
“I don’t think
I am that
hungry!” said Bingo. Just then a woman came running towards them with a broom. “Shoo! Shoo!” she shouted and chased them off. Both dogs ran away as fast as they could.
“What was that all about?” asked Bingo.
“They think we mess-up their neighbourhood,” replied the dog. “Are you thirsty?” he asked Bingo. “Yes, very much!” replied Bingo. “Then let’s drink,” said the dog and started drinking from a puddle. Bingo was shocked. He always had a clean bowl of water at home. He felt so sad for this dog and felt scared that he too might have to live this way
forever.
It was slowly getting dark. By now Bingo was feeling extremely miserable. He sat on the pavement and started howling. “Hey, don’t cry,” said the other dog trying to cheer up Bingo. But there was no consoling him. Just then a vehicle stopped by the pavement. “There he is!” shouted Bingo’s little master jumping out of the car. “Bingo!” he shouted and Bingo ran up to him barking like mad. “Where did you go you naughty dog? We looked all over for you. I thought I’d lost you forever!” he said hugging Bingo. “You are so dirty and smelly and who’s this?”

The little spotted dog came forward wagging his tail. Bingo went near him, sat next to him and barked loudly. “Looks like you’ve found yourself a little friend. Did he keep you company?” “Woof!” said Bingo. “Do you want to take him along and find him a good home too?” “Woof!” replied Bingo, “I like that idea very much!” Both dogs wagged their tails as hard as they could. This didn’t turn out to be a bad day after all!