Josh was the smallest in his class. Everyone liked to tease Josh because he wasn’t very good at doing things. He would try and try, but he just wasn’t very good. He wasn’t good at sports, he wasn’t good in math, he wasn’t good in art, he wasn’t good at language, he wasn’t good at music; he just wasn’t very good at anything.
Josh tried and tried to do his very best, but he always finished last.
In races on the playground, he would come in last. In doing his math, he always came in last. When doing most everything, Josh came in last.
Josh’s mother told him he would be better when he got bigger. It was just that he was so small that he couldn’t keep up with the others.
Josh didn’t give up. Even though the other children teased him, he kept trying and trying.
The only thing that Josh enjoyed was playing on his computer. He didn’t have to compete with anyone. He could just play by himself and if he lost, no one else knew but him.
Josh spent most of his time by himself, even in school. His best friend was his dog Max. His parents had gotten Max from the market two years before. Max was a common street dog. He was white and tan. He was very tiny when he came home from the market as a puppy, but now he was big and strong. Max was a very smart dog. Max was fast and he could catch all the other dogs in the neighborhood. Max would bark when it was time to eat. Max would sit and lay down when he was told. Max would bring Josh his slippers at the door when he got home from school. Max and Josh slept together every night. Max would protect Josh if someone ever came into his room.
When Josh and Max would go out for a walk people would always say to Josh, “You have such a smart dog. How did you train him so well?”
This made Josh feel good. He had something no one else had; the smartest dog in the whole world.
One day in school the teacher told the students that the following Monday would be “Bring your pet to school day”. Each of the children could bring one pet to school and then they would be able to tell all about their pet the other students.
Josh got excited. He was always sad when he had to leave Max at home every morning. Now Max could come with him to school and sit with him all day.
Later that day the children were talking about their pets. Each one told about how much they loved their pets.
Suzie told about her pet frog named Julius and how in the middle of the night it would start to make noises. Sometimes when she took Julius out of his cage he would hop and hop across the floor. One time Julius went under her bed and it took two hours to get him out.
Frank told about his pet snake named Slider. Slider was a big long snake that liked to eat mice. The girls went, “Eeww, that’s terrible!” Frank just smiled.
Rudy told about his cat Irvin. He has had Irvin all of his life. In fact his parents had Irvin before him. Irvin was just a big fat cat that liked to sleep and eat. He was lazy. One day a mouse came into the house and Irvin just looked at it and then went back to sleep.
Josh got so excited that he had to tell about Max. “My dog is the smartest dog in the whole world. He sleeps with me, he brings me my slippers every day, and he can sit and roll over!”
The other kids just laughed at him. “Ha, ha , ha, Stupid Josh has the smartest dog in the whole world. Ha, ha ha, that is sooooo funny”, they all said.
Josh just looked at them and said, “You will see. When I bring Max to school on Monday you will see that he is the smartest dog in the whole world. Everyone says so.”
The children just laughed at him.
Josh didn’t care. He knew that Max would change their minds. Max was his best friend and everyone would see just how smart he really was.
That night Josh got home after his music lesson, and there was Max at the door with his slippers waiting for him. Josh took his slippers and then gave Max a big hug.
After dinner, Josh and Max went for a walk. Josh and Max practiced all of the tricks they had learned. The favorite trick for Max was when Josh would throw his ball. Then Max would run as fast as he could to get the ball. Then he would bring it back to Josh so he could throw it again and again. This made Max tired and ready for bed.
The next day in school the teacher told the students that she had a surprise for them. The school had received new computers and now they were ready for the class to go and use. The new computers were faster and they could connect to the internet. The boys in the class got excited. They loved playing internet games on their computers at home. The school had a rule against playing internet games, but the boys made a plan to fool the teacher. Josh overheard them talking and asked if he could play too. They said, “No, you are just a loser, you can’t play. You will just lose anyway.”
Then one of the boys said, “What if he tells the teacher? Maybe we should let him play. That way he will keep quiet. Also, what can it hurt? We can all beat him anyway.”
The others agreed and decided to let Josh join.
It wasn’t until seventh period that they could go to the computer room. When the bell rang at the end of the sixth period the boys jumped out of their seats and ran down the hall to the class. Josh was last to get to the room so he had to take a seat at the back of the class in the corner.
The children all knew how to open the computers and get to their games. When the teacher came by they switched the program to the one the teacher wanted them to be doing. When she walked away they went back to the game. The competition was tough. The boys were concentrating on the game. At the end of the class someone using the name of MadMax had won the game. No one knew who that was.
The next day in computer class the boys played again. Once again the winner at the end was MadMax.
The following day at lunch the boys were trying to figure out who MadMax was. They asked each other but the others were FlyingFrog, KillerBee, MightyMan, Fruitcake, Just-4-You, and DownTown. No one said that they were MadMax.
Josh stayed quiet. He didn’t join in because he knew they would just laugh at him.
On Monday, the big day, Josh and Max came to school. Max was excited to be with Josh and he was excited to visit this new place. Max sat very quietly beside Josh in the classroom. Each of the students was asked to come to the front of the room and introduce their pets. There was Julius the frog, Slider the snake and Irvin the cat.
Now it was Josh’s turn. He and Max walked to the front of the class. “This is my dog Max. He is very smart.”
The students began to laugh. The teacher told them to stop and to listen to Josh.
Josh then showed them how Max would sit, shake his hands, lie down, roll over, and bark when Josh asked Max, “Do you love me?”
The children were surprised. They agreed that Max was the smartest pet. They all came and petted Max and told him how smart he was.
At the end of sixth period the class went to the computer room again. At the end of the class MadMax won the game for the fourth time. As the students left the room they started to talk about who MadMax might be.
Max began to bark and bark. The kids turned around and saw Josh and Max. Suddenly one of the boys asked, “Josh, are you MadMax?”
Josh just smiled and walked down the hall with his best friend Max. They were both so smart.
