Friend or Foe?
Doggie picked up his ears at the sound of the vehicle and ran to the door to welcome his masters’ home. He missed them every time they went out. So he jumped up and down and rolled on the floor to show them how much he missed them and how glad he was to see them again. They too rewarded him by petting him and trying to calm him down. Doggie loved all the attention he got from them. Life was good!
The door opened but Doggie jumped up only once. “What’s that smell?”
He stopped and started sniffing at what his owner was carrying. “Who is that horrible monster?” In his master’s arms was a hideous creature staring down at him with piercing green eyes. Doggie barked like mad trying to chase it off. This was his home and there was no room for that creature. What annoyed Doggie the most was the fact that his owner was carrying this creature lovingly in his arms.
Kitty looked down at the creature who was growling at his new master’s feet. It was bigger than her and Kitty didn’t like the smell of him either. He just didn’t smell like a cat! “What a stupid creature!” she thought angrily. “This is my new home now and I don’t want this creature to be here. I’ll have to get rid of it sooner than later!” So Kitty too started hissing at Doggie.
Although their master tried to make peace between his two pets, it was impossible. Doggie was annoyed to see Kitty walking around the house like she owned the place. She even slept on the chairs. “I’m never allowed to do that!” he thought angrily. Kitty was angry to see the commotion Doggie made whenever their masters returned home and how he was petted and praised for doing so. Whenever the two of them saw each other, Doggie made sure he growled showing his sharp teeth and Kitty made sure she snarled and hissed showing her sharp claws.
One day Doggie saw some milk left in Kitty’s dish. He looked around and saw no one. “Why waste good milk?” thought Doggie. So he quickly drank it and ran away. He didn’t know that Kitty was watching him from the top of a cupboard. The next day Kitty saw a piece of dog treat left on Doggie’s plate. “If he can do it, so can I!” thought Kitty and quickly and ate it. “That tasted quite good!” she purred happily. Doggie was hiding behind the door watching.
A few days later, Kitty was out in the garden aiming at a bird when Doggie came running, panting like a steam engine. Hearing the sound, the bird flew away.
“Fool!” scolded Kitty, “clumsy and noisy, that’s all you are!”
“And what are you?” scoffed Doggie, “selfish and arrogant!”
“That’s not true!” hissed Kitty.
“Oh, did I forget to say ‘mean’?” continued Doggie.
“What about smelly, to describe you?” shouted Kitty.
“That’s funny coming from someone who never bathes. At least they bathe me once a week!” barked back Doggie.
Dusty the neighbour’s cat who was on the wall, lied down enjoying the fight. He always walked on walls, eavesdropping and loved to gossip with others. He always exaggerated whatever he heard. This fight interested him because he could go around telling other neighbour’s pets about this.
The fighting continued. Kitty was very angry about what Doggie said about her, so she thought of a way to get back at him.
“Well, at least,” she said sarcastically, “I’ve never heard of a dog drinking milk off a cat’s plate!”
“What?” snickered Dusty, closing his mouth with his paw. This was getting better than he thought!
“What?” thought Doggie, “how does she know?” So he quickly reacted.
“Oh don’t get me started,” howled Doggie laughing, “you ate my doggie treat right off my plate!”
“Ha, Ha, Ha!” laughed Dusty and fell off the wall laughing. Both Doggie and Kitty stared in shock. They didn’t know that there was anyone else in the garden.
“Wait till the others hear about this!” laughed Dusty jumping back on to the wall. This was not good. Both Doggie and Kitty stared at each other. Although they both hated each other, they understood that this was not going to help them at this point!
“Hear about what?” asked Doggie moving forward.
“Yes, hear about what?” asked Kitty staring directly at Dusty.
“What you two said just now!” Dusty replied.
“We never said anything!” said Doggie defensively.
“He’s right!” supported Kitty.
“But I heard it all!” replied Dusty.
“Well if you say anything to the others, I am going to teach you a lesson!” barked Doggie.
“What can you do?” asked Dusty, sarcastically.
“Well I am going to tell everyone that it was not Kitty but you who ate my doggie treats!”
“And I’m going to tell that Doggie is telling the truth. Who would the others believe? It’s two against one!” said Kitty.
Dusty looked defeated. “If they both say that, all the others will believe them!” he thought to himself and jumped off the wall angrily.
“Well that should take care of that,” said Doggie, “thank you for the support!”
“You are welcome!” said Kitty, “I must say you were pretty good in handling the issue!”
“Kitty doesn’t seem that bad,” thought Doggie, “maybe I should stop treating her as my enemy!”
“Well,” thought Kitty, “I never thought I’d ever like a dog, but Doggie seems okay!”
And so finally Doggie and Kitty decided to forget their differences and to be nicer to each other.