LES AMIS
The Friends
It was a beautiful day at the beach. The sun shone, the water was tepid, not hot nor cold, just right. Chestnut and Blackie were romping in the shallows where it was easy to run. No waves impeded the two friends from having fun. Waves always meant that you’d get a mouth full of water as you splashed.
The two friends were almost parallel, with Chestnut gripping a stick.
Blackie: ‘Hey, come on, Chestnut, be a good sport and share. It’s a long stick, we can each hold on to it.’
‘As soon as I get a grip on it, I’ll yank it off him,’ he thought.
Chestnut made no sign of acknowledgment and kept running just ahead of Blackie with the twig in his mouth protruding on the opposite side of the other dog.
Blackie: ‘Did you hear what I said?’ He was getting frustrated. It was becoming a matter of pride. ‘I’ve got to get that stick off him. It’ll make me look good,’ he alleged.
Chestnut with his wolf-like eyes remained unresponsive and just glanced unperturbed in front of him. The stick was still firmly intact in his mouth.
Suddenly, Chestnut increased his gait. Blackie as a result was now lagging behind him and his impatience got the better of him.
He took a leap to get parallel with his competitor who continued looking straight ahead. Now and then, Chestnut gave his playmate a sidelong glimpse but that was it, he didn’t feel threatened. However, he made sure the prize was firmly away from his pal.
‘What does he think he’s playing at?’ Blackie thought, ‘If I can get him to lose concentration even if only for a second, I can grab the branch from him.’
Blackie had a puffed-up opinion of his strategic abilities. In reality, he seemed to always come up short.
They both leaped along. Chestnut nonchalantly, but Blackie with an air of a desperado. He was formulating a plan.
Chestnut however, continued to merrily prance through the water, innocent of what could be impending doom for his control of the trophy. But then, that was Chestnut, not a conniving bone in his body. Life was a game to him, a fun time, he was neither competitive nor was he a pushover, however. Blackie on the other hand saw everything as a test of strength, of one-upmanship, it was all about winning.
‘Hey, you two, don’t go so far,’ called their owner, ‘Jessie can’t run so fast.’ Jessie was three-and-a-half years old and squealed with delight as she watched her darlings romping through the shallow surf near the shoreline. She ran as fast as she could but kept falling in the water as mini potholes developed with the wavelets. Her mother would get soaked helping her up and laughed with her.
‘Okay, this is war,’ thought Blackie. He went to grab Chestnut’s leg as he ran but he wasn’t prepared that his friend would change direction and alter the playing field.
Instead of the leg, Blackie swallowed a mouth-full of salty, frothy water, and coughed and spluttered in distress. Without a second glance, Chestnut ran back to his owners and gave the stick to Jessie’s outstretched hand.
‘Oh, that is so sweet of you,’ the mother said as she patted the dog’s head and became even more wet from the water his tail splashed up at her.
It was then they noticed Blackie still coughing.
Copying what her mother always says, Jessie called as she approached her other dog, ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Blackie, do you always have to be so dramatic and get yourself into trouble? Can’t you be like Chestnut and just play?’ she said with her hands on her hips.
Chestnut snuggled up to his buddy and said with a grin, ‘Yes, Blackie, can’t you be more like me and not be the Smartass you always are?’ and with that he jumped on him and they romped in the surf till both were exhausted and sputtering from the water they had swallowed.
Jessie and her mother laughed with delight at the tomfoolery.
‘Okay, you two, come on,’ called the mother, ‘time for lunch.’
They all headed for a grassy patch under some trees, and each had their favourite fare, meaty bones for the dogs and sandwiches for the humans.
____________________________________________
QUESTIONS FOR YOU
- What do you think of Chestnut’s strategy to keep the stick?
- What do you think about Blackie’s attitude ?
- What do you think is the moral of the story?
- Describe the relationship the people had with the animals.
- What did you like in particular about the story?
Leave a Reply