Lilly and Dean lived in Texas, in the USA. Lilly was the eldest, an entire nine years old, and she loved to help her mama look after her little brother and their dog. Their dog’s name was David. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “David is a name for a person, not for a dog!” but to Lilly and Dean, David was more human than a dog, so his name fits him well.

Every day, Lilly would help her mama by getting out David’s food and making sure his water bowl was topped up. Not a very exciting job, but it needed to be done, and Lilly enjoyed taking care of David. That is to say; it wasn’t very exciting until one day when suddenly, it was. The day itself didn’t start off any different to any other day. Lilly got up, got dressed, and played with Dean until breakfast time. Mama made them fried eggs, toast and sausage, Lilly’s favourite. After breakfast, Lilly saw David looking longingly at the leftover sausages on the bench.

“Aw, are you hungry little fella? Let me get you some food.” Lilly went to the cupboard where they kept David’s food but paused when she got there. To the left sat the regular dog food, but then on the right side of the cupboard sat a bag of dog biscuits Lilly had never seen before. 

“Mama!” Lilly called, “Where did this dog food come from? Is it ok to give to David?” 

“Of course, Lilly,” came her mama’s reply from the other room where she fed Dean, “I wouldn’t buy dog food we couldn’t give to David.” Lilly shrugged and pulled the bag from the cupboard. The bag was jet black, with tiny white stars all over. As Lilly moved the bag around, the stars almost looked like they twinkled. The name on the front of the bag read “Magical Marlow’s Marvelous Mutt Munchies”. Lilly giggled; what a funny sort of name for dog food. With another little shrug, Lilly tipped some of the biscuits into David’s bowl. 

It wasn’t until later in the morning, while Lilly drew pictures when the excitement began. David came trotting into the room, and as Lilly looked up to greet him, she gave a startled, “Oh!”. David’s fur had turned black, with what looked like tiny white stars all over it. His coat looked magical, almost as if the stars twinkled at her. Lilly wondered what in the world had happened to David until she realised she had seen the same pattern earlier in the day. Lilly raced to the cupboard, threw open the door, and pulled out the bag of Magical Marlow’s Marvelous Mutt Munchies. Sure enough, she saw tiny white stars on the jet black packaging.

“How strange,” Lilly thought. “This Marlow person must really be magical”. David had followed Lilly to the cupboard, and when he saw the packet of dog food, he gave a short soft “ruff” and licked Lilly on the cheek. Lilly giggled; she liked it when David licked her face, except now she smelt like dog food. She went to the bathroom to wash her face, and when she looked at her reflection, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Lilly’s hair had also turned jet black, with tiny white stars in it! 

“David!” Lilly called, “Go lick Dean’s face!” David went and found Dean and licked him. When Dean asked Lilly why she had sent David to lick him, she just pointed at his hair. When Dean saw what had happened to his hair, as well as Lilly’s hair and David’s fur, he laughed and laughed. They spent the rest of the day drawing pictures of themselves and David flying through space like astronauts.

The next morning the effect had worn off, and everyone had gone back to normal. Lilly quickly ate breakfast and rushed to fetch dog food for David. Today, however, when she opened the cupboard, the bag of Magical Marlow’s Marvelous Mutt Munchies was no longer jet black with tiny white stars. Today, the bag was electric blue with bright pink and purple flowers on it.

“Oh my goodness,” Lilly gasped. “Dean! David! Come here quickly!” Lilly poured some dog food into David’s bowl, and after he had eaten it, they all watched to see if his fur would change. Sure enough, after a few minutes, David’s fur started turning blue, and little patches of pink and purple began appearing. Lilly and Dean laughed out loud and told David to lick their faces. After a moment, both children’s hair turned electric blue with bright pink and purple flowers through it. They spent the rest of the day lounging around drawing pictures of themselves on a tropical island, pretending to swim in the ocean and sunbathe on the sand.

Over the next week, the bag of Marvelous Mutt Munchies changed from green with orange spots to rainbow coloured to a silvery colour that glittered in the sunlight. Lilly and Dean had so much fun drawing and playing with David and looking at the different patterns and colours in their hair. They felt sad when they finally fed David the last of the Mutt Munchies. As Lilly threw the bag into the trash, she sighed. Feeding David tomorrow would definitely not be as exciting as it used to be.

The next morning started typically as Lilly expected it to. They had toast, and Lilly slowly walked to the cupboard to feed David. Opening the cupboard, she glanced to the right, even though she knew the bag of Magical Marlow’s Marvelous Mutt Munchies was no longer there. However, there was a different bag of dog food there. This one had plain brown packaging, with the name “Fabulous Fabio’s Fantastic Food for Fido”. When Lilly picked it up, the bag smelt faintly of peppermint.

“David!” Lilly called, quickly pouring the food into his bowl. She couldn’t wait to see what magical adventures this new food would bring them!