Molly’s Trip to Mars
December, 2003

In honor of the Beagle and the Mars Rovers, now arriving at Mars

Once upon a time, there was a beagle called Molly who wanted to go to Mars.

Molly had grown up in Independence, Missouri, where everybody likes to be independent. But soon after she was abandoned by her family, she got fed up living by herself on the streets, and came to Best Friends.

Now it was six months later, and Molly was ready for a new adventure. And one evening during the summer, when Mars had just come over the horizon and was staring at her with its big, orange, beady eye, Molly heard it say very clearly, “Molly, come!”

The little beagle was awestruck. “We have to leave at once,” she told her pals, Pickles and Leroy.

“But how are we going to get there?” her friends wanted to know. Pickles and Leroy had hurt their paws quite badly before coming to Best Friends. And although they were feeling much better, the idea of having to walk 35 million miles to Mars was a bit daunting.

“Plus,” Leroy pointed out, looking toward the sand hills near the sanctuary, “the ground on Mars looks just like it does here.”

But Molly was quite determined. “There’s already a beagle going there,” she told her friends. “And two Rovers are on their way, too.”

“That beagle isn’t a beagle at all,” replied Leroy. “It’s a landing craft that’s called The Beagle. That’s its name, and it’s on a spaceship, and it’s going to be dropped onto Mars by parachute. And the rovers aren’t Rovers like Rover the dog. They’re Rover the robot. And they’ll be landing by parachute, too.”

“That’s exactly what I want to do,” said Molly, who’d never been on a space ship or landed with a parachute. “In any case, Charles Darwin once sailed to the Galapagos Islands in a ship called The Beagle. Beagles can go anywhere.”

Leroy gave up trying to explain it all, and went to lie down under a tree.

So Molly decided to call Midget, a kitten at the TLC Cat Club who has such big ears that people say she can pick up signals from anywhere in the universe.

“I want to go to Mars” said Molly.

“Mars?” said Midget, who’d been pricking up her ears and had heard Molly’s conversation with Leroy and Pickles. “You must be living on another planet. This is Mars.”

“What are you talking about?” Molly retorted. “This is Best Friends.”

“Look around,” said Midget. “This is obviously Mars.”

Molly thought about this, and went to discuss the matter further with Leroy and Pickles. They went back outside to check it out and, sure enough, there was lots of red sand, just like on Mars. So they mounted a full expedition all over Dogtown, and saw more Rovers running around than you could ever see at NASA. There were alien dogs, too, who must have come from Mars. And there was even a big canyon and red sand hills close by, just like they have on Mars.

“This must be Mars!” exclaimed Molly at the end of a long day. “And it’s the best adventure I’ve ever had.”

So Leroy and Pickles went back to their tree for another snooze, happy for Molly and especially happy that they wouldn’t have to go for a 35-million-mile walk after all.

P.S. If you want to have a big adventure, too, come to Best Friends, where you may think you’re on another planet, and all your dreams may come true, just as they have for Molly the Beagle.