ADR - Episode 636: Paulie's Puppy

[00:00:17] And welcome to Adente Rigamortis. I'm Review Cultist. Insert silence here. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, and be critically silly doing it. And tonight we have... Garfield without Garfield. I'm sorry? No, you just said like, oh, we'll add some silence here, so we'll just not have Garfield without Garfield. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I'll tell you about Mikey.

[00:00:44] Mainly just because it feels weird, me, like, going second and there's no one else. Like, I'm always third. Yeah, no, for sure. And tonight we have... Paulie's Puppy. So, yeah, Paulie's Puppy is another MMPrat 99 creepypasta set in Hogan's Gap. So again, we're back to Curtisville and the Hogan's Gap region of the Pacific Northwest.

[00:01:10] You can also check out Paulie's Puppy, along with all the other MMPrat 99 creepypastas, on creepypasta.wiki. And, yeah. We're down on Mikey. We're down our cosmic demon, but we will... He said to go on without him. He's currently fighting off some void. But, yeah, so... So, Paulie's Puppy. You almost said Puppy's Paulie, didn't you? Yeah, I did.

[00:01:40] Puppy's Paulie. They are not interchangeable. No. But, yeah. I suppose before we get too far, we should give our initial recommendations. I'm going to recommend it. I'm going to channel Mikey. I will not recommend it. There. Fair enough. Well, let's dive in and find out why we gave those recommendations or non-recommendations.

[00:02:10] Starting with the rundown. So, it's a sunny October day. It's a sunny October day and Gwen Berry is in her home trying to catch up on some reading after some homework. However, her six-year-old sister Polly keeps badgering her. First, about a dream she had about cows chasing her up a tree, trying to lick her all over. Followed by asking about getting a dog.

[00:02:36] This annoying interruption is further interrupted briefly by the sound of a group of known Hogan's Gap kids, screaming and running from something outside. As her sister pulls her focus back to the topic of the dog, which their family has repeatedly denied Polly's request for, Gwen decides to feed into Polly's imagination and say that if you wish upon a pumpkin fairy, then her wish will come true.

[00:03:06] Polly is super excited and runs off out into the backyard, allowing Gwen to get back to her reading. But then, Polly returns shortly after with a surprise. From the back door, a dark shaggy dog with glowing green eyes and bared teeth pads into the house.

[00:03:26] It approaches with slow and menacing intent toward an obliviously excited Polly and a terrified and immobile Gwen. Finn. So yeah, that was Polly's puppy. And I suppose we'll move on to... Everyone tolerates the grand inquisitions! At this point, I've got two. I'll start with this one here.

[00:03:55] They kept licking me so I climbed a tree, but they climbed up and kept licking my feet. And Melvenia... Or Melvenia and... Jared... Or Jared, depending on how you pronounce that G... That G... Um... Didn't help me on... Didn't help me one bit. Melvenia and Jared were Polly's imaginary pixie friends. And they sounded just as annoying. So, just a little inconsistency here with the name of Melvenia or Melavina,

[00:04:25] but I think it's supposed to be Melvenia because the majority of the wording is Melvenia without an extra I in it. Oh, okay. I didn't catch that. Yeah. And then the next one here... Gwen was about to say, Well, tough. That's how life is. When she suddenly had a commotion from outside. Shoes slapping and loud screams.

[00:04:52] So I think it's meant to be when she all suddenly heard a commotion outside. That makes a lot more sense. Mm-hmm. Um... And that's all I got for Grammarquisition. So... Gamer. McGamer. McGamer. Uh-huh. Uh, what do you have for the Grammar in Yellow? I have a conjunction junction. You son of a bitch.

[00:05:21] I'm like furiously preparing it while you're going through your stuff. I didn't know, but it has to be done for Mikey. Does it though? Does it really? It's a bit at this point. All right. And now the conjunction junction. Toot, toot. Hell yeah. Uh, so absorbed was she in this literary masterpiece that she did not hear the patio door open, nor the pitter-patter of small footsteps approaching.

[00:05:53] But, instead, she said in the sweetest tone she could muster without gagging. Actually, I thought it was giggling. I'll read that part again. But, instead, she said in the sweetest tone she could muster without gagging. It had very sharp and pearly white teeth.

[00:06:17] It curled its black lips back, revealing two rows of long, gleaming teeth like a set bear trap. Finn. I'm going to fight you on the sew, on the first sew there though. I mean, I wasn't going to do it, but I was like thinking like, okay, which one does Mikey do? It's always front ends, front butts, front sews. Because like, sew in this case is like, sew engrossed was she?

[00:06:44] Like that's, it's a descriptor of how engrossed she was in something. I agree. So yeah, like in this term, the sew is valid. Absolutely. I'm emulating Mikey. If he was here, he would have mentioned that. I don't know if he would have. I'm going to send this to him right now. I'm absolutely going to send it to him and we're going to find out. He's like, I'm in a cosmic battle against like a dark void of like, M2P. He's like, he suddenly gets a message like, I'm kind of busy right now. This is important.

[00:07:13] I know he's trying to like wrestle like an electric spirit back to his home plane, but it's fine. Yeah. All right. But. And the reason that Mikey and by extension me do this is basically to highlight all the sentences in the story, the star of the words that they probably shouldn't like its ends or buts because there's generally better words to use. Sure. Yeah. I will continue my stance that like, this is more just for fun than anything.

[00:07:42] Yeah, obviously. Yeah. All right. Well, is there anything else for the grammar in yellow or is that just a conjunction junction? Actually just that. Yeah. Okay. Then we'll move on to actual thoughts. So we're going to start with the image, which is at the very top of the story on the, on the wiki. Uh, and it's the, uh, the Modi do, um, or do who by mmprat 99. It's a picture of a, uh, what looks like a ravenous black dog.

[00:08:09] Um, almost looks like it's a, a photograph, but it's been like Photoshopped with some filters perhaps. Um, and, uh, I do wish it was maybe put at the bottom of the story rather than the top as it kind of spoils the story a little bit to me and would actually serve as a direct, uh, as a direction as to the outcome of the ending a little bit. I mean, I guess, but like it's called Polly's puppy.

[00:08:38] So, you know, there's going to be a dog in it. All that it shows you is it's a black dog. Yeah. But well, you say that because, uh, the, the, another interesting note about this is actually the title of the image, which is, uh, the Modi to who, which I found out when I looked up. Okay. What the hell is that? That's gotta be something. And so I Googled it.

[00:08:59] And so in, according to Google, uh, in folklore from the Isle of Man in the British Isles, um, the, the Modi to who I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, but might just do maybe, um, it is a black dog variant, uh, and black dogs, um, in folklore, they are basically, um, black dogs weird that show up, um, uh,

[00:09:26] and, uh, like reveal themselves to people, uh, and our omens of death and misfortune for that person. Usually. So black dogs are do that, but not to be confused with black dogs that don't do that. Yeah. Not like the, like capital black capital dog is a, is a folklore creature. Um, and like, I think even the Modi do, I think that's even just like, if you translated that it's just black dog.

[00:09:52] Um, but yeah, so like they're, they're basically like folkloric, like doom bringers or like death bringers or, um, of the like, uh, and they, they usually are depicted as these shadowy black dogs or like the silhouette of just like the silhouette of a dog that you can see or in the shadows. Um, but they usually have glowing eyes as well. So. I see. Yeah. That being said, the image does not have glowing eyes. Well, no, but no, it doesn't. It does not. It could, it could use some glowing eyes.

[00:10:19] Um, but again, like I do, I don't know, like personally, I would have this image at the bottom of the pit of the story, but agreed. Yeah. Bottom of the story with some glowing eyes. Did it say what color they are? I assumed red because it was green. Actually. It does describe it as green. Yeah. Greenish eyes. Yeah. Yep. You doubted me. I did actually. I legit did. Yeah, no, that's fair. Cause they're always red. They're always red. No, not always.

[00:10:49] Um, wait, what are they glowing? Pupilless glowing eyes. Yeah. So they're solid green. Yeah. But, um, that's, that's all I have for the image. Do you, do you have anything else for the image? Yeah, I agree. It should just be at the bottom with a green put in its eyes. It's good. Yeah. Does it have a second row of teeth? I guess you can't really tell because of the, the blur. That's. Uh, no. Yeah, it doesn't really.

[00:11:18] I think it's just, again, it kind of just looks like, like, um, like a photo of a, of an attacking dog. Um, that's just been like Photoshopped a bit. Yeah. Like the oil up by, um, filter was put on it basically. Yeah. Yeah, basically. For sure. Um, all right, then I'll, I'll move on to the next thing I have, which, uh, is this. It was a sunny yet chilly October day in the small seaside town of Hogan's Gap, California.

[00:11:47] And Halloween was still three weeks away. I'm beginning to think there are no other seasons of note in the Hogan's Gap region. Yeah. Nothing happens all year. It feels like almost every story we cover from Curtisville to Hogan's Gap is set around or leading up to the Halloween season. Yep. Absolutely. And I won't be this clear. That's not a complaint. It's just an observation I've had of these stories.

[00:12:15] Like, obviously, um, the, the, the author, M.M. Pratt probably has like a, uh, a favorite season and a favorite holiday. Well, it is also the spooky one, even if it isn't their favorite. True. Yeah. And, and honestly, like, I, like, I get it. If that, if it, if this, if this season is there, is their favorite, like, I get it. Like it is, it's one of my favorite seasons as well.

[00:12:39] So, um, yeah, actually, did you know that the quick aside, um, do you know, there's a, like people are starting to like try and make summer ween a thing. What? Just a second Halloween. Yeah. On June 22nd. Um, and this comes actually from a, uh, this is actually kind of related a little bit. Connected to tissue time a little bit. Um, this, uh, summer ween comes actually comes from, uh, from Gravity Falls, um, from an episode

[00:13:08] where like there, cause the show, the show Gravity Falls takes place over the course of a summer break. And, um, there's a Halloween episode, uh, because the town of, of Gravity Falls loved Halloween so much. They added a second holiday. They added a second Halloween in summer. Wow. Um, but instead of jack-o'-lanterns with pumpkins, they, they use, um, uh, watermelons as the jack-o'-lantern. Yeah. So the, basically people are wanting that to be real now. Yeah. And like, there's been like a growing kind of trend online, uh, since the, since Gravity

[00:13:37] Falls aired, um, of people trying to make summer ween a thing. And I mean, like, honestly, God bless them. It's like, if we, if people want to try and have like what Christmas in July, we should have Halloween in June. Does anyone actually do Christmas in July though? Some people do. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Cause I've always heard that's a thing. I just, I didn't know if anyone actually did it. Yeah. I mean, it's on par, I think it's on par with like talk like a pirate day and like those

[00:14:02] kind of like nerdy or like kind of unofficial holidays that people make up. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but anyway, getting back to the story itself. Uh, yeah, no, just like, wow. Hmm. And then another, another Hogan's gap story set around October, like we're leading up to Halloween. Uh, I mean, maybe it's just because we've been reading a ton of creep of, of the creep pastas in Hogan's gap that are set around that time, but I'm starting to see a pattern. It might literally just be like, because it's around Halloween season. That's when all the weird stuff happens. Maybe. Yeah.

[00:14:34] Um, but I'll move on to the next thing I have here. Her little sister wasn't one for telling tall tales, even though she believed in fairies, magical worlds, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. She wasn't the only one that believed in that ridiculous stuff. A lot of people around here believed, a lot of people around here believed it and not just little kids. Gwen, on the other hand, considered herself a sensible realist and saw it as

[00:15:02] her sworn duty to provide Polly with explanations based on science and reason instead of magic and folklore. Boy, did you, do you live in the wrong place, miss? A little bit. Like Gwen's like, oh, like fairies, magic, that doesn't exist. Like meanwhile. Oh, hi, hi, uh, uh, hi Mr. Uh, Mr. Dracula or hi, Mr. Alucard. I was like, hello, blah, blah, blah. Like the neighbor. Yeah. Vampire.

[00:15:31] He's got like a sun hat on, so he can't, he doesn't get burned. Yeah. I don't know how anyone living there can even think about not believing. Yeah, exactly. That's like, yeah, just the, yeah. Cause it's just like, cause again, like reading so many of these stories set in Hogan's gap in Curtisville, it's like, yeah, no magic's real. Like, yeah, quantifiable, we have quantifiable evidence of this setting being like fantastically realist, like fantastically mundane. Yeah.

[00:16:01] It's not like most of the stories are kept on the down low. It's just like, kids are just like out just at the beach, hanging out, talking about all this creepy stuff that's actually happening. And like, one of them is like a Gorgon. Literally the bus driver for like, like the in-town transit is a, like an, is like a former, like, or is a former like band, like metal band groupie or like, or like roadie. Um, but it's also a troll. Yes. Or like some kind of like an ogre.

[00:16:28] So it's like, it's one of those things where like in that, I'm pretty sure we've said this before in one of the recordings or multiple, but in that setting, that troll, that's a driver. That's not weird. That's just a different race of people. Like, so that's fine. That's normal. But Gwen saying like, like, oh, fairies and magic don't exist. Like, no, that like, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. You're not wrong and I hate you, but you're, you're wrong.

[00:16:58] You chose the wrong place to live. If you don't believe it. Unless like, she's the only sane person and everyone else is just like delusional. Like all of these stories have just been delusions of like, just an entire town that's just insane. Wow. That's one way to view it for sure. Yeah. She's the only sane one. So technically she might be the insane one because she's the one that, she's the same one that lives in a world of insanity.

[00:17:28] Yeah. But I digress. I'll start with the next thing I have. I'll continue with the next thing I have. So this is like regards to like the, the cows licking her and some of that. And like, um, uh, Gwen, uh, like kind of talking to Polly about, uh, Polly about it. Uh, in a dream answered Pauline, she swept her small arms wide. They were big, big horns and big feet. And they were colored like chocolate chip cookies. Hmm.

[00:17:58] Gwen looked nonchalantly up at the ceiling and shrugged. And these cow cookies chased you up a tree. Polly rapidly shook her head, causing her wispy locks to fly around. Not cookies. She insisted. They were cows. She frowned. I'm just like, as I was reading this, like this part and like the, the kind of inner back and forth interaction between like Gwen and her little sister.

[00:18:23] This is such a real conversation with a six year old as, as an uncle. Yeah. It does. It's like pretty genuine. Yeah. Uh, and then the next thing I have, um, for she recognized, so this is when she like, here's the screams and stuff outside and like the, the running, uh, and like she sees like a group of kids running for their lives, seemingly out in the rain or out in the, out in the, uh, the weather.

[00:18:48] Um, four she recognized from her first period French class, Irene Dawson, Jeffrey Maurer, and his much skinnier twin sister, Ethel. Thomas Lutz, the fifth kid she didn't know too well, just that her name was Midori Sayuko. And she recently moved here from LA. Ah, yes. These troublemakers. You may remember them from such stories as the Gray Man, among others.

[00:19:19] Yeah. They seemed familiar. I just, I didn't know how to go back and find that out. Yeah. I'm pretty sure they were, they've been mentioned as a group, uh, as a grouping from, I think, I think we got them in the Gray Man and like, we also got them in some of the, the more recent stories we've covered, um, that were like revolving around like Halloween and stuff. The, the Halloween party that never happened. Like the, those stories. They were in there. Yeah. Well, they were like, remember, like the, I think the kids like met them like while they

[00:19:46] were trick or treating, like Sully met them while they were like trick or treating and stuff. Oh. Yeah. In fact, I think I'm, I think I even brought this up. It's like, ah, yes, these characters. I remember them from the Gray Man. Probably. There was a million characters in that story. It's really hard to keep track of them. That is true. Although. Okay. So this said, I do really enjoy having like as somebody who's read all these stories, like who's, who's now read a pretty big plethora of, of Curtisville and Hogan's gap stories from this author.

[00:20:15] I do really enjoy having characters pop up from other stories. Um, it just makes the setting feel that much more lived in when like a character, like a character from a previous story just kind of pops in, um, uh, into a, into the current one. Yeah. That is always nice. It makes, as you said, it makes the world feel like lived in and real. Yeah. Downside being is like, if you have a memory like me and you don't remember specifically who these characters are, there's just like a tangle of like, I should know who these people are.

[00:20:45] They sound familiar. I don't remember though. Then it's just kind of like speed bumps to go over. Fair. Yeah. Uh, and then the next thing I have is, uh, so this is at the end as like, um, Polly invites her new dog inside. Um, with excruciating slowness, it padded over to Gwen and stared up at her with pupilless glowing eyes.

[00:21:11] It curled its black lips back, revealing two rows of long gleaming teeth, like a set of bear traps. Okay. So I think that actually might've been like, instead of like two rows, I think that might've actually just been like two rows as in like the bottom row and the, and the top row. Oh, not actually like double, like double road, like a shark kind of thing. I think that's more just like describing like the, the top and the top and bottom row of the teeth of teeth. You might actually be right. Yeah.

[00:21:41] Uh, and then continuing on with the quote here. See Polly exclaimed, see, see him smile. Gwen. That means he likes you. Oh crap. Croaked Gwen. And then that's the end of the story. End of this, I was like, but who was dog? I mean, yeah, but that's also my problem is like, okay, who was dog though? Well, see, and you, you had a problem with it. I didn't actually hate the cliffhanger as much.

[00:22:09] Um, cause like, yeah, the story does end on a cliffhanger. Uh, one that I don't think we're getting a resolution to actually. Yeah. One that I don't at the time of writing this, my notes and stuff down one, I don't think we're getting a resolution to, um, I don't necessarily mind it because it does kind of harken back to certain like campfire stories or like freaky stories where the story just kind of ends on like a, uh, on a, what happened to the, what happened to the protagonist? Like, did they get killed? Did they get hurt?

[00:22:38] Like, like, and it just kind of like fades to black, like before, like anything truly gruesome happens. Um, now the downside of a, like a horror story is that like this story doesn't really have anything that like really horrifying happened aside from this dog is now in their home and it seems to have some kind of menace or malice to it. Um, but like, yeah, the story just kind of ends. Like I've, I, you know, I've even seen like goosebumps episodes or even are you afraid of the dark episodes that end the kind of like this where like, it's like, oh man, we

[00:23:06] escaped the monster or it's like, or it's like, oh, go like, oh, uh, like the, the kid like says like, there's a monster out somewhere and like the, the parents don't believe them. It was like, and then they, it's like, Hey, see, here's my friend. See, and then it's revealed that the imaginary friend was real and it was like this horrible monster. And like, then like the, the, the, the episode usually ends like as like the kid is like smiling with her, with their grotesque monster about to like kill their parents. But then it just fades before that, any of that happens. Yeah.

[00:23:31] Um, so like maybe that's just like a, like I'm con I've been conditioned from like years of what I've seen those kinds of things in stories and media, um, where it's just like, it's an anticlimactic ending. Cause like, it just lets the audience or the reader, um, interpret what happens next. Um, but yeah, to me, it didn't really make sense. A what? You're a Lovecraft fan. He does love his anticlimaxes. Oh my God. Does he ever? Did he ever? Mm.

[00:24:01] Um, but yeah. Uh, so yeah, I, I, it didn't bug me as much, but like, yeah, it does, it does kind of end on a, on a cliffhanger and like nothing super, super scary happens outside of, again, a giant animal has now entered somebody's home and like they're paralyzed. Like they, they are, they, they, they, they rolled their sand check. They failed and they, they chose fugue state. Like they can't, they're paralyzed with fear to, to stop or to do anything against it.

[00:24:27] Um, now regarding who was dog, um, I, I do kind of like that either Polly, uh, Polly's wish did in fact come true. Like, cause, uh, Gwen told her like, oh, if you make a wish, like the pumpkin fairy will, will grant it and some of that. And obviously he was doing that just like to, um, just to appease, um, Polly and like to get her to, to leave her alone so she could continue reading her books and stuff.

[00:24:54] But then I like the idea that like either a fairy did actually just like grant her wish or like karma's a bitch to poor Gwen. And like, like what she thought was like, oh, like if you make this wish, it'll come true. Ha ha. Yeah. Just go away. So I can, and it's like, oh my God, my wish came true. What? And then like there's a giant like dog in their house now. Um, or the other idea I had is like, um, actually when the kids were running outside, like they were, it seemed like they were running from something.

[00:25:21] So I kind of liked that maybe that is like some kind of foreshadowing, like, uh, like later earlier in the story of, of the dog, uh, dog's appearance at the end. Like they were running from this dog. And then when, uh, when Polly went outside to the backyard, the dog, instead of chasing the kids any longer, the dog got caught its attention to the, to, to Polly and went into the backyard. And then that's how, um, that's how the dog got there in the first place is that it

[00:25:49] was chasing those kids and then change targets in a way. So, um, can I say words? Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I, yeah. Yeah. Um, first off, does it say that he was in the backyard? Cause also it was patio. Like patio doesn't necessarily just mean the back patio. It could be the front patio too. Right. Okay. It might be, that might be a fabricated shotgun on my part. Um, because like, um, Gwen like saw her friends running down the street out front, running away from something.

[00:26:16] And then, um, and then she says to, uh, Polly, if you wish for it, maybe it'll come true. And then all of a sudden she finds the dog. So obviously the dog, I'm assuming at least the dog was chasing the kids down the street. And then, as you said, got diverted by Polly and Polly invited the dog in. It does. Also, if I might just quick interject. I did find that Polly promised before scurrying out into the backyard. Okay. Yeah.

[00:26:45] Just, just, uh, wanted to put that in there. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So then the dog was in the back regardless. Um, also the dog could just be a mundane, normal, angry dog at this point. It there's nothing supernatural about it. Cause like even the glow of the eyes is sort of like very understated to the point that it might not literally be glowing. I mean, especially after you, especially after you convinced me that he doesn't have shark teeth. Oh no.

[00:27:15] I ruined the whole thing for you. Yeah. I got to change my recommendation to a full recommendation now. What? It goes all the way around. But you know, like obviously like, yeah, you could take this also like, um, like it's, it's also demonic description, uh, at the end could also just be, um, kind of fear tinged perspective of, uh, of Gwen seeing a giant animal or like a larger, like threatening animal in their home.

[00:27:42] Um, so yeah, cause realistically, like you say like demonic description, there's nothing really demonic about its description. Cause like all those things can, you can use to describe an angry dog unless I'm missing something. Well, it does say again, like it does say like pupillus glowing eyes. Uh, so maybe that's where I'm kind of like grabbing onto. Um, and then although, although it rained heavily that morning, the thick shaggy coat

[00:28:06] was bone dry and it was, uh, and it's wide paws, it's wide paws and it's wide paws left no wet or muddy prints on the, or tomorrow, the wooden floor. Right. That, that is the part that actually confirms it is supernatural. You're right. I forgot about that part. Yeah. Okay. So there was something weird about the dog. Yeah. There's definitely something, I don't know. It seemed like there could be, but like, I mean, to counter counterpoint your thing, it does seem like it could, like, it could also be mundane.

[00:28:35] Like this, this could just be like a wrap up your mind, dude. No, it's like, I say one thing you fight me. I say another thing. You'll fight me the other way. It's like, I can't win. That's our friendship, sir. Is it? I guess it is. Um, but you know, like I can see, like, like I want it to be supernatural, but I could see, like, make the, make the argument that it is just a mundane dog, but also a, maybe a not, a not friendly dog.

[00:29:04] Like, like, uh, Polly thinks it is like Polly's Polly's oblivious because she's a little girl and she just wants like, Oh, it's a puppy. But like dogs aren't, aren't always cute and puppy. Like, no. And like, they're like, they're I've been like, they're definitely been in like situations where like, uh, uh, where a kid like goes to try and like befriend a, a, a wild feral dog or like a stray that that's not happy. So even an own dog. That's not happy. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:29:33] That happened to me when I was a kid, I tried to get my sunglasses back from a buddy of mine and his large black scary dog bit me in the hand and drew blood. So I ran home crying. Did it have glowing eyes? Uh, now that you mentioned it. Yeah. It did rain that morning, but it was dry as hell. I didn't realize you lived in Hogan's gap when you were a kid. I don't like talking about it. The things I've seen, man. Yeah.

[00:30:02] You're actually from, uh, you're actually from that, uh, other altar, that alternate earth. Yeah. You're one of those refugees. How, who, how? That well. Yeah. You're well out. Hmm. I won't put that against you. It's fine. Okay, good. There's other things that you'll put against me. So that's well. Yeah. But either way, regardless, all this being said, um, my big problem with this isn't necessarily that the dog shows up and then we don't get any closure.

[00:30:32] It's the fact that 95% of the story has nothing to do with the actual creepy part that shows up really. Yeah. It's just like, there's a whole bunch of dialogue and there's how many characters I actually wrote down all the characters as I always do. We got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 characters mentioned in this short story. Yeah. Uh, but the actual creepy stuff happens to two. Yeah.

[00:30:59] So it's, it's just like reading the story as short as it was, I was getting like bombarded with information and most of that wasn't relevant to the actual main plot that happened, which is girl wanted dog, older sister said, no dog shows up. Everyone's scared. Yeah. Well, again, that's why I felt like if, if it is like the kids that were running outside,

[00:31:25] like they, they must've been like, that must've been like foreshadowing for like how the dog got there in the first place. Like it chased them and then showed up and then like heard, maybe heard Polly in the backyard and like got in there somehow. And then that's why how Polly met, met the dog. Yeah. It would be, it would kind of blow better if there was a story that came before this of those characters, like investigating somewhere. They find some like, like cage in the woods or something that's in a cave and they unleash

[00:31:55] this dog and have to run away from it. And then by the end, they're just running down the street, hoping to get away. And then cut to this where it picks a new target. And then it continues from this, but I don't know if it does that or not. So I, so update to my notes here, um, that I feel are actually kind of, is kind of connected to what we're just talking about here of like, you're wanting like a prequel to this. It's not so much that like there's a prequel to this story, but this story is technically a prequel to the gray man story.

[00:32:24] Um, cause minutes before recording, like before I jumped online to record this, I decided to go back to the gray man story, just to triple check that the kids from that story were the same ones. And again, like confirmed they were, but as I was reading, like, just like skimming through it, I read the first like paragraph or two and realized that this story, like that this story, um, Polly's puppy is a technically a prequel to the gray man, uh, as a result of

[00:32:54] this quote that I'm about to do from the gray man. So this is the first thing in the gray man. When Gwen Berry asked me if it was her dog now adopted that was chasing me and my friends yesterday, I paused for a moment, then shook my head. No, it was something else. It was lunchtime. And we were walking through the main hallway heading for the stairs leading to the school

[00:33:20] cafeteria due to the lousy weather and the major improvement in today's lunches. It was jam packed. The noise volume increased with every step we took. Well, what was it then? Gwen asked a trifle impatiently. I gritted my teeth, mentally kicking myself for being so truthful in my answering. Why couldn't she just, why couldn't she have just asked my other friends about what had occurred last weekend?

[00:33:49] Uh, and that keeps going on. And basically it wasn't a dog that was chasing them, but in this story, in, in, in, in the gray man, like they, cause like in the gray man, like they're being chased by, I think the gray man itself or something like that, or some kind of other entity. Um, in Polly's puppy, it seemed like that, that group of friends, like those, those group of friends, like the characters from the gray man running down the street.

[00:34:15] It seemed like that was like connected to like the, the, the, the dog that Polly eventually meets, but I don't think it was. I think they were like, literally like, uh, Gwen looked like heard some, heard a commotion outside, looked out her window and saw another story happening outside. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's. And that's another story that we don't know because she's asking about what happened then. And she's like, no, although we do learn about what happened though. He threw here and we, yeah.

[00:34:45] And we do learn that Gwen at least survived that event with the dog because this story takes place the, the day, the day after. Like the gray, the gray man takes place the day after because Gwen is asking a character from the gray man. And, uh, I don't quite remember in the quote doesn't actually give me the, the narrator of that one. Um, uh, is asking her like, what was chasing you guys to pass my house? Yeah. It's just like, oh, so that, okay.

[00:35:15] Like it, so it kind of ruins, it kind of ruins the, um, the, um, my, my idea of like the implication that like them being there was foreshadowing for the dog because it's in, in Polly's puppy. It seemed like that was like some kind of foreshadowing for like how the dog got there. But then they straight up say that it wasn't the gray man confirms. No, it wasn't. Can the gray man turn into dogs? I don't remember his deal. Um, maybe. Yeah. It's hard to say.

[00:35:41] Oh, or like the gray man might have like, maybe like there was like, uh, it has like servitors, like the, like the, like the, uh, the black dog and such. Maybe. It has been about a year since we covered the gray man, I think. So like, go back and check that one out. Like it was a Midori that was narrator in this in gray man. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it even says like, like the rest of my quote that I didn't add is like, why did it have to be me? Midori Sayuko. Midori Sayuko. Yeah. The awkward new kid. But yeah, it's straight up. Yeah.

[00:36:11] Like we basically have confirmation that like, yeah, it's all those characters and they ran past Gwen's house in a different story. But I, but at the same time though, I kind of love that. Like, I love it and I hate it because like, hate it because it kind of means that they had nothing to do with this story. Like their foreshadowing was not, was not, was not actually there, but I love it because it's like just the meta idea of just like two stories, like passing in the night. Yeah.

[00:36:40] Because realistically, like in this town, there's a lot of weird stuff happening simultaneously. You know, it's not one weird thing that's happening everywhere. Yeah. Um, yeah, no, it's just like, wow. And like, just the fact that like, I, this was like, just, I happened to like, decide to go and triple check on the gray man story and then realize, oh wait, Gwen Berry. Is mentioned like right off the hop of that one.

[00:37:07] And we even get a timestamp of, of that, that, that basically solidifies that she survived whatever happened with the dog in, in the, in, in Polly's playtime. In Polly's playtime. I keep, you know, I've been trying to like stop myself from saying Polly's playtime because it sounds, because Polly's puppies sounds so much to me, like trying to say it like Poppy's playtime. But now that you've said Poppy's playtime, now it's out of your system. Hopefully. So I think you're good now.

[00:37:37] All right. Um, but yeah, so like, that's just like my revelation or update from, uh, that was, that seemed connected to what you were talking about, uh, earlier about the, um, uh, the kids and like how many there were in such in the story. So for sure. Also regarding, uh, the show of the gray man where it says like when Gwen Berry asked me if it was her dog now adopted, that was chasing me and my friends. So does that mean like by the end of, or at least by this point in the story, the dog that

[00:38:05] showed up in Gwen's house was later adopted by Midori? Maybe. Cause it says now adopted. Like, well, no, asking if no, I think she was asking if, if her dog, if her dog was the one that, uh, was chasing them. Oh my God. Yeah, you're right. Like I, oh no. What if it means like, okay, maybe, maybe this is what you meant. I don't know. Like I may have gotten pushed up there.

[00:38:35] Or like, you mean, do you mean like the dog that showed up in, in Gwen's house? Um, like in, in the gray man, Gwen is asking Midori if Gwen's dog now adopted, like they've adopted that, that black dog that was, that showed up in, in Gwen's house, um, was the dog that was chasing them outside. Yeah. That's what I'm asking. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, oh my God. I just realized. Yeah. So like, so this, so we, this had a, this actually did have a happy ending.

[00:39:04] Like, I guess kind of confirmed that like Polly got her puppy. Well, no, she's talking to Midori. Midori is the one that's adopted. No. Cause Gwen is asking if it was, if it was her dog. Oh, Gwen might be asking if it's Gwen's dog. Gwen, the Gwen family dog that was chasing them. Yeah. Yes. You're right. Yes. Yeah.

[00:39:33] Which, which might like, so, which means that this story is kind of like almost mandatory for reading the gray man in a way. I mean, yeah, it is a prequel to this technically. Yeah. And well, because by that, without it, that story starts in media res. Yes, absolutely. It's like, who's this dog? Yeah. Who wants the dog? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Wow. Yeah. I guess I'm like, is this technically a buddy horror?

[00:40:02] Because like they got a dog, but it was like horrifying on their first encounter. A little bit. Yeah. Okay. So like another thing with that is like, it kind of also has a little bit of a, um, to me anyway, it kind of gives off like this story kind of gave off little fears or like child horror vibes. Like again, similar to like, uh, are you afraid of the dark or like goosebumps or again, kids on bikes sort of thing. Well, you say that because there's a child there and it's horror. Yeah. Yeah. Weird. Yeah.

[00:40:31] But like not quite kids on bikes because there's no bikes involved, but like that, that genre of like, or I guess like that genre or like temper or like, uh, I guess, um, age focus for the characters. Um, and like, I think that's part of why I liked the story a lot is because it did like, I just like that kind of story, like those kinds of, um, uh, the vibes from those kinds of stories a lot. Um, but yeah, it's, I definitely feel like it could have gotten darker.

[00:41:01] Like as a standalone story, Polly's puppy definitely could have gotten a lot, couldn't, could have been a lot darker in terms of like the outcome of what happened. But, um, yeah, that's, that's all I have for, for, um, for Polly's puppy. So, I mean, again, it's been a hot man since we read gray man, but yeah. Does Gwen still have a younger sister? Yeah. Oh no.

[00:41:27] Well, I mean, our puppy now adopted did eat or did eat Polly. Yeah. But he's a good boy. He was just hungry. Yeah. Also. Yeah. So I, I did quick, well, uh, I did quickly check through the gray men, like just skimmed near the bottom. Um, uh, apparently the, they don't remember, um, uh, or like, uh, Midori doesn't remember like what happened after like their encounter with the gray man, but they do remember, uh, running out into the street and stuff like that.

[00:41:56] So that's basically, they were, they were trying, they were running to get away from the gray man in their, in, in, in their home. Hmm. And so basically the way it works is Polly's puppy happens. Yeah. Scary dog at the end and then freeze frame. You're probably wondering how we got here. Then it rewinds back to like the start of the gray man and then plays through the story a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah.

[00:42:24] Polly, Polly's puppy is first in the timeline. If just to like, uh, uh, figure that all out. And then we get to like, then we get the gray man, uh, the first part of the gray man. And then, um, when, uh, at some point during the gray man, it like pulls the rest of that story in front of Polly's puppy. Yeah. In terms of like chronology. Yeah. I'm shocked that it, Polly's puppy isn't just put here at the start of gray man.

[00:42:53] Honestly, it probably, I feel like it would have been like appropriate. It's small enough to actually fit there with the rest of them. Yeah. I just kind of, it's actually quite a bit bigger than, uh, well, I'm also, cause I think all these puppy might be one of her, one of M and Pratt's earlier works because it's like number one on her listing. So I'm actually, I'm going to actually take a look quick here and just see what the, um, when was this one posted?

[00:43:18] So the first, first instance of the story being posted by M and Pratt was in 2012 March. Um, and then we go to M and Pratt's, uh, work, go to the gray man, which is a couple, like a handful of stories down from the gray man, uh, from, from Polly's puppy, which is at the very top of her list of stories she's written so far.

[00:43:45] Um, and that one based on the edit, on the history of it, April 2012. Okay. So not soon after. Yeah. Or relatively soon after rather. Yeah. So probably written in work. Probably like almost a month, uh, like a month between the two stories being posted. Yep. So. Interesting. That's cool. Yeah. Shame. We didn't read this one first. Yeah. Well, again, like, because I think we would, you know, right?

[00:44:15] Yeah, exactly. And like, we were covering the gray man because, uh, we, there were, cause I wanted to cover the gray man story, but I found that there were two gray man stories, uh, I think in, uh, on the wiki and I wanted to like tackle them both at a time. So I didn't, and I didn't like, there's no weirdly enough gray man and Polly's puppy don't have any mention that like, they are like a prequel or a sequel or like they're, they're connected to, uh, to, to one another. Like some other stories in the M.M.

[00:44:42] Pratt series of, of Curtisville and Hogan's gap stories where we get like, oh, this story is like a rewrite or this one is a, an elaboration or a sequel or prequel to our spinoff of some other story that I've done. Um, but yeah, so that is kind of interesting. Cause like she, she's known for doing that and from her other works. So, yeah, but this is like the first thing that she was doing. So yeah, no, that's true. Just hasn't gone back and edited in. Oh, by the way, URL to the continuation.

[00:45:10] And then on the continuation, URL to the prequel. Yeah. For sure. But either way, I don't remember where we were. I think we were on your notes. No, I'm done. So is your, Oh, I basically said all I need to say, honestly, throughout your notes. That's, that's fair. Yeah. Um, then, uh, I suppose we'll move on to final thoughts.

[00:45:38] So like I said earlier, I'm going to recommend it though. It definitely teetered on like a partial recommendation for me. Like I wasn't sure if I was going to recommend or partially just because for me, it was a tad tame in terms of the horror angle of it and such. Like I really liked the writing and I loved the interaction between the two sisters and like the fun little like step into Hogan's gap again.

[00:46:05] I, it was more of a trailer for a horror movie than a horror movie. Yeah. Um, it just, yeah, to me, it could have afforded to be scarier. Um, but otherwise I enjoyed the writing. Um, so like that's for me, like, that's kind of what it was like, it was like, like a soft, scary story. Um, so like I recommend it if you, if you've been reading other like M. M. Pratt stories, you might enjoy it because of that, like little, like step back into like

[00:46:31] that world a little bit, but I definitely feel like it could have been a little bit scarier at the end. Like there could have been a little bit more of a threat level than, um, cause like, I mean the threat level is definitely high, but like for, for the, for the little kids, but like there could have been some more like, um, there could have been something more to it than, than like what happened. Like it, again, like, like I said, like, like we also said it like leaves off like on a cliffhanger

[00:46:58] and lets that kind of like the fate of these characters, uh, hang for, uh, hang in the, in the, in the imagination of the, of the readers, unless you've read the gray man, in which case you find out everything's fine. At least one of them survives. Yeah. At least one survives. Um, but yeah, like I feel like for, as a standalone story, like Polly's puppy could have used a little bit more fear. Um, but otherwise I I'm, I'm willing to give it a recommendation, but it's like not like a high recommendation.

[00:47:27] It's more just like, um, if you've read more, if you've read other stories by M.M. Pratt, check this one out. So gamer, your thoughts and recommendations. I actually have one thought prior to final stuff that I forgot to bring up. It's in regards to, um, their parents's, um, excuses for why they can't have a dog. Yeah. One of them being like, well, it's super expensive to have a dog. Meanwhile, like one of them is a lawyer and the other one's like a high school teacher.

[00:47:57] High school teachers don't obviously make a lot of money, but I'm pretty sure lawyers do. Uh, both of them are working solid jobs. Like I, they could afford a dog. That's bullshit. I think it's more or less, they don't want a dog because they don't want to have to deal with the mess. Like that is very often. That is why parents don't want to deal with a dog is because like dogs, depending on the breed, they shed constantly. Um, and even like worse seasonally, like depending on the type of breed you're, you're looking at

[00:48:25] like dust bunnies, the size of, of, um, tumbleweeds. Yeah, for sure. Or you're, you're, you're looking at like fur balls, the size of tumbleweeds, like just like, like hanging in the corners of your, of your house. If you're not, if you're not, uh, um, uh, vigilant enough. And then of course there's also like, I think actually there's even some mentions like, like the poop and some of that, like they, they poop all the time. You gotta like always like pick that stuff up. Otherwise you have like a very shit, no pun intended or no, I guess no pun intended

[00:48:54] shitty lawn. Absolutely. Um, and yeah, so it's, it's, they're dogs, dogs are love them, but they are a handful at times. Um, there's, there are a lot of responsibility, especially for like a six, a six year old. Yeah. Cause cause like a dog for a six year old is really becoming the dog for the family. Oh yeah. The six year old is not taking care of that dog. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. They're playing with that dog and keeping it occupied. Yeah.

[00:49:24] So again, like, and that's like, again, it's something I actually kind of liked about the writing in this one is like, yeah, no, this is like the exact kind of arguments I was given when I was younger for not having to, like I, we had to wait till we waited till we were like, uh, till I was in my teens before we got a dog. Um, and, uh, uh, yeah. Like, so, but like, I remember like having these, like these, these asking these questions, like, why can't we have a dog? I want a dog now. Like, like I really want a dog. Uh, and my parents gave me these exact same arguments. So. Okay.

[00:49:53] So they're very realistic. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like the, the, the dialogue in like the arguments and the interactions in the story. I think that's one of the reasons I like, I like the writing is cause it's very grounded and very like relatable, at least personally. So. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. I'll give you that for sure. But yeah, onto, um, final stuff. Uh, so as far as I'm concerned, um, if you're reading this as a one-off, just like as a story

[00:50:23] that's just sits in space on its own, I feel like it doesn't really, uh, hold its water very well, just because like the majority of the story is setting up background and additional care characters that are not used in the story at all. And then to top it all off, it's ended on a cliffhanger where you don't know what's going to happen. So like, it just kind of blue balls you the whole time. Yeah. A little bit. Uh, yeah.

[00:50:49] And there's just like a lot of extra characters for no real reason, which is my biggest problem with the story. However, if you know that this is actually part of the series, then it actually makes sense why it's just kind of brief. Cause it's meant to just be that, um, that little bit of an intro at the start before the credits of a movie, you know, like before the, the title screen of a movie or a trailer of the movie, it's meant to just be this little thing that just sort of kind of gets you into

[00:51:17] the story a little bit to see some of the characters and stuff that you're about to see throughout the rest of it. Uh, with that, thinking of it that way, then I would recommend it as an intro to the gray man and everything just on its own. It doesn't stand very well. It needs the crutches of the gray man to stand up. Yes. But that's my opinion. Fair enough. All right. So I guess that'll, that'll do it for tonight.

[00:51:43] Uh, so, uh, one like low end recommendation and, and one non-recommendation, uh, unless it was like connected. If you're planning on reading the followup, I'd recommend it. If you're wanting to read it by itself. No. Yeah. That's my opinion. That works. Um, but that's it for tonight. Uh, so if you'd like what you heard or if you didn't leave us a comment in the comment section below, wherever this gets posted. Some of us are on blue sky.

[00:52:11] I for one is what the fuck? It's weird when Mikey's not here. Um, I'm at review cultist. You can also send us emails at al dente rigor mortis at gmail.com. That's a L D E N T E R I G A M O R T I S at gmail.com. Where you can also leave us suggestions for other creep pastas, SCPs, spooky things. You creep it. We'll peep it. Yeah.

[00:52:43] And if you'd like to help support our show financially, you can go to Patreon. We have special episodes, early access, some extra content to all our patrons helping support the show. Thank you immensely. You're helping keep those hosting bills at bay. And as always, we very much appreciate that. And to our listeners and the authors of these stories, thank you immensely. Cause without your listenership, it'd be like screaming into the void. And without your authorship writing and posting these stories online, we really wouldn't have much of a show cause we'd have nothing to talk about.

[00:53:12] So thank you. Now's a good time to mention that we are part of a podcast network crit in the night, an actual play and creepypasta podcast network where they're alongside our sister podcast, one last die and our cousin podcast, the role-playing exchange for things that go crit in the night. Until next time I have been your host review cultist and I'm the gamer in yellow. And this has been al dente rigor mortis sleep. Well,