The Friendship

This story is of how endearing friendships are formed and the tale of how entities come to learn how to cooperate and live together.

Just a few years ago, two dogs with a little difference in size went to two households living in the east side of Sunny Singapore. Their personality was rather different too. The male, a white maltese, went to a family in Tampines, owned primarily (read: poo, pee, misbehave, hassle) by the beautiful youngest daughter. The other dog, a female brown mongrel, went to a family in Eunos owned primarily (read: poo, pee, misbehave, hassle, pregnant, but not the babies) by the quirky happy-go-lucky eldest son.

These two dogs led rather happy lives in their respective households, guarding the family in their own special ways. However, the family could not always be with them all the time, and at times, these two dogs would get rather lonely.

One day, things changed.

The maltese had a peculiar eating habit. He was an artist of sorts and fancied placing his kibbles in avant-garde designs which the family did not quite comprehend. One day, the maltese discovered a band of renegade ants feeding on his artwork. He was not very pleased at first so he trotted over to speak to them. The poor frightened ants did not quite know what to do with the giant who had caught them in the act of scavenging food for their poor hungry stomachs. The generous maltese took pity on them after learning about their starvation and thought it absolutely ridiculous these poor ants had to go hungry in a household which always churned out huge amounts of delicious food. Generously, the maltese offered his kibbles to them, saying they could have it anytime they fancied, since he didn't fancy the kibbles much anyway. He told the ants, "woof, it's alright, you guys have it, I could just manja-manja a bit and get food from the dinner table!" Thus, he earned the gratitude of the less discerning ants. Once in a while, if you visited the household, you might see the ants trying the same attempt at manja-ing for food at the dinner table too but the family didn't take too kindly to that as they couldn't hear the voices of the tiny ants and proceeded to wipe them out. They lost quite a significant number that way for their great noble cause but because of the maltese's generosity, they managed to survive and continued to live in that household. Thus, the maltese also earned himself friends. When the family was out, and he was lonely, he would talk to the ants and at times, advised and lectured them on things they could do. His conversations sometimes grew into passionate rousing speeches of freedom and philosophies of life. He got carried away sometimes and barked too loud in the presence of the family, and they would proceed to shut him up with the dangerous pointing to strange, unidentified metallic objects. But still, the maltese was contented and happy with these little friends of his who would sometimes tip him off on mynahs perched closeby so he could swiftly pounce there and roar at them. It was one of his favourite game as the mynahs were a major threat to the well-being of his beloved mistress.

In the other household, things were not as happy and cheery for the mongrel. Everyday, she would normally be caged up behind locked glass doors that she could not open even with her brillance at opening doors which she learned from the dinosaurs from the movie Jurassic Park. It was on one of those dreaded rainy days when she had to hide beneath the bench for shelter from the rain that she met her new friends- the sparrows. The sparrows were on their magnificent journey around Singapore when they saw this poor dog hidden uncomfortably beneath the bench. They stopped, and perched on the balcony asking what was wrong with the poor mongrel and she told them her story. The sparrows pitited her and told her they would always visit her and keep her company. Sometimes, when the mongrel had rice for food, she would keep grains for them so that when they visit they could have a feast as the sparrows loved having rice too. Thus, over time, they formed a strong friendship and the sparrows would tell her of the sights they see while soaring in the skies, and the mongrel would tell them gossips of the family like how ridiculous some humans look while watching TV, and the lastest news in MOE, ComfortDelgro or HDB. On rare occasions when the glass doors are unlocked, the mongrel would open them and sneak in. She would do loud celebratory woofs to invite the sparrows in for a little game of hide-and-seek.

And so, we come to the end of this happy tale of how two dogs made friends of a different kind and learnt to live happily with each other.

The End.