Have a Nice Day
It’s just a Matter of Perspective

By Viveca Monahan

There once was a big beautiful, somewhat clumsy yet very friendly, Golden Retriever.
Loping over to the spot where he knew he had buried his bone,
He digs and digs and digs, soil flying in all directions.
He finds some keys, a rubber ball, a tin can, and assorted other amusements.
What fun it is to dig, thinks he. And such fun to find things to play with!
So he plays all afternoon.
Then takes a nap under the old oak tree.

A neighbor comes through the gate with a freshly-baked cherry pie.
He walks toward the house, carefully holding the pie with both hands.
Eyes straight ahead, pie firmly in place....
Then suddenly his boot disappears into a hole while the rest of him crashes to the ground.
The pie flies directly into a tree, cherry and piecrust splattering.
The pie tin and remnants plunk straight down onto the snoring head of a dog.

The startled dog bolts awake and notices the man in HIS hole-
Obviously out to steal his bone!
He lunges at the shaken fellow and bites the guy's femur.
The desperate man reaches into the hole, grabs hold of... a bone
and lifts his arm poised to strike.
In one smooth move, the dog releases the man's leg and snaps his teeth deeply
Into the marrow of his coveted treasure.

The dog plunks down once again under the oak tree- this time with his prize.
The man limps over to his pie tin, bends down to pick it up,
Then hobbles out through the gate from which moments earlier he had arrived.

The End

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