Mel is so lovely, so kind and so sweet that the nickname suits her perfectly—it means Honey in Portuguese. Do you know that girl who takes the best grades of the class, help the teacher and still makes abstracts and lends her notebook to colleagues? That is Mel. Besides, she goes to a shelter every Saturday to help them as a volunteer. She loves animals! 

Mel’s dream is to be a veterinarian and that some day she will buy a place to shelter all the homeless animals of her hometown. Mel believes she doesn’t need a lot of money to accomplish it, so why do the adults always say that she should think about having a “successful career” when she grows up. Why should she give up the shelter idea, since she’s so smart? 

Well, she doesn’t get it, but at least if she cannot get rich enough to buy the place she wants, she knows being a vet will enable her to help many animals in her practice. She already dreams about the decor: green and blue-painted walls—her favorite colors—and lots of pictures of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, monkeys, frogs and sheep all over the place. These are Melissa’s favorite animals. She loves all animals and it’s hard to pick favorites. 

But there’s one thing Mel never tells anyone. And that’s the reason she’s so fond of animals. Despite helping so many people, she thinks humans are a bit complicated. They are never satisfied with anything and as much as she cares for everyone and tries to help the teacher, her classmates, her friends and even her parents, they are always asking her to do another little favor and they would get disappointed if she has a lot of homework to do and can’t help them at that moment. 

Her friends complain that she spends every Saturday at the shelter and can’t go to the beach with them that day. Mel always asks if they can go on Sunday. But they would say: “Oh, I already schedule it with the guys. We prefer on Saturday. Why don’t you go in the shelter some other day?” But Mel knows that the furry ones are waiting for her every Saturday, rain or shine, and the abandoned animals don’t have a lot of people who can play with them.

So, despite being a little upset about this, she forgets about the beach and goes back to daydreaming. And she thinks of the day she is a veterinarian and can spend all day 24/7 helping animals and getting those sweet dog’s kisses!