A KIND OF LOVE ...

Ben Sampkins had a large retail flooring establishment that was not located in a shopping centre but hidden away in an area of factories. Somehow, this attracted lots of customers and he was placing orders quite frequently with my company, making him a much valued customer. Of course, I made sure that he had the latest samples to sell from and installed an attractive display stand in his showroom. It was made of tubular steel with large, horizontal, selector pages for easy flipping through. Housewives and decorators alike loved to stand there and leaf through its attractive range of vinyl flooring patterns.  

Arriving there, I noticed a few cars parked right outside, which is always a good sign of business. There was a very wide shop front and the interior reached a long way to the back to the offices.

Stopping for a moment at the entrance, I took in the picture of the whole  layout of this attractive showroom. There were big rolls of carpets, arranged in herringbone fashion and on the side walls were suspended beautiful rugs,

On the floor were passageway runners and over-locked carpet pieces. And sure enough there was a vinyl flooring section far in the back, near the offices, where my company’s display stand dominated the PVC flooring section.

From the ceiling were suspended large signs, pictures of room settings and ‘Specials’ advertising, slightly swaying.

There was something else that called my attention: a grey tabby cat that kept brushing up against my leg in a friendly gesture of welcome. I patted the top of a large roll of carpet and it understood immediately, jumping up onto the spot I indicated, waiting excitedly to be stroked.

Naturally, since every staff in the shop seemed busy, I felt unobserved and therefore tickled this fluffy creature under the chin, behind the ears and stroked it vigorously, whispering sweet nothings and looking into its beautiful trusting eyes. I have never heard a cat purr so loudly; it licked my hand fast and with dedication – obviously, this gorgeous creature loved to be loved and to give love!

Eventually I had to stop and proceeded into the back of this gigantic showroom, where I found Ben in his office. He was a middle-aged man with the youngish, ruddy complexion of a country lad.

Sitting down, I immediately directed our conversation to the subject of my visit. There were new samples of flooring with especially developed low maintenance properties, always an excellent selling feature which I had to make him acquainted with. Together, with prices, technical literature and maintenance instructions, I stacked everything neatly on his desk and then decided to pay him a compliment.

‘You have a lovely cat, Ben! I’ve just played with it………’ But I didn’t get any further.

‘Oh, that bloody cat – drives me mad!’ Was his unexpected outburst.

‘But – it’s a lovely cat!’ I heard myself protest.

‘Well, you can have him.’ he acclaimed.

‘Why? Don’t you like cats?’ I jumped to its defence.

‘That bloody cat’, he repeated angrily, ‘gets on my nerves…..I’m gonna get rid of him. Hangs around, costing me money, always wanting something………’

‘But it is a wonderful creature, a loving companion, a kind of partner……’ I found myself representing cats in general and that fluffy, furry creature I’d made friends with.

‘Take him with you! Go on, take him I can’t stand the sight of him anymore.’ His face reddened even more and his voice sounded very aggressive.

The arguments went back and forth for a while. Realising how long I had been with him and that it is never wise to upset a good customer, I stood up to bid my farewell. Trying to hide my hurt feelings I left his office.

Once outside his room, I found the cat was waiting for me. With its big amber eyes it looked so friendly and its fuzzy face was so lovable and trusting, my heart sank. ‘You poor creature’, I thought, if only somebody would love you’. Then it started to show me the way to the entrance of the shop. Trotting ahead with its tail upright and looking back from time to time, it led me through the gigantic showroom and when we nearly reached the entrance, it jumped onto the same roll of carpet it had sat on before and looked at me encouraging. Naturally, I too, remembered what we had done before, so I stroked and tickled it and whispered again sweet nonsense in its lovely ears. And it purred and licked my hand in rapture.

‘Hello Peter!’ One of Ben’s salesmen walked past and I had a desperate thought.

‘Do you want a cat, John?’

He looked surprised and taken aback.

‘Why would I want a cat?’

‘Ben wants to get rid of this lovely thing here. It needs a home!’

John sounded irritated: ‘He’s had that cat for years…..it wandered in one day and they have been together ever since.’

‘But he said he ….’

‘He never gets rid of him. He only talks funny’, John said, walking away and leaving me so relieved that I virtually floated out of this shop as if I’d gotten a very big order!

  

AN ABANDONED DOG….

A DOG WITH THREE TESTICLES......

I had known Ken Kendall for many years. Always cheerful, a great yarn spinner and very entertaining to listen to, I found that whenever I was in a pensive mood, meeting him always made me laugh and forget whatever stress I was under. Tall, somewhat overweight, but in a pleasant way, he had the ruddy face of a country lad rather than a city slicker’s. Plus, he had the widest grin in the country, with only his ears to stop his face from splitting.

‘Will you have a cup of coffee with me, Ken?’ I was enjoying the prospect of a good yarn and was not to be disappointed.

‘Alright, Peter.’ He sat down comfortably whilst I ordered him a coffee. ‘I arrived here this morning and have to work my way across the towns along the border with NSW. Which way are you headed?’

‘I have to work my way back to Melbourne, Ken. There is some business to attend to here which I will have finished by tonight.’

Knowing that Ken was privately a keen breeder of dogs and had won numerous prizes by participating in the many dog shows in the country, I steered the conversation to this subject.

‘And how are your dogs doing, Ken? Any recent successes?’

To my amazement, he became suddenly very serious and nearly swallowed his coffee the wrong way.

‘Don’t ask me about that’, he stated, ‘I have had a terrible disappointment recently and suffered great embarrassment which I won’t be living down for a long time! I don’t wanna talk about it.’

Knowing Ken well, I just looked at him in expectation. He was going to tell me the details any moment now and it would be a real yarn! And perhaps it would be a funny story. But I had to help things along. ‘Come on, Ken, you can tell me? You know I love animals; you can confide in me!’

‘Oh, I don’t know, really . . . alright! This is what happened to me.’

I quickly ordered two more capuccinos as he began filling me in.

‘Yes, Peter, like I said, I had a great disappointment at a recent dog show. You know that I breed pedigree dogs and have won a number of prizes with them. Well, I have this beautiful dog and groomed him for an upcoming dog show, confident of winning a prize. Unfortunately, I noticed that the dog had only one testicle, which disqualifies him from any dog show. These dogs have to be perfect! So, I spoke with my veterinary surgeon who explained to me that sometimes one testicle remains in the body.

‘”But we can do something!” he said. “Why don’t you let me give him a silicon implant, the same size as his other testicle - it’s only a very small incision and practically invisible. Nobody will know any difference. And you can show him and win prizes!” Anyway, that’s how my vet talked and I really thought ‘beauty, I’ve solved the problem!’

‘And, what happened? Did it work?’ I was at the edge of my seat.

Ken, who quickly sipped another mouthful, suddenly assumed an expression as if he had just tasted lemon juice.

‘Well, yes and no’, he continued. ‘I had that silicon testicle implanted and the dog looked terrific. Nobody was any the wiser.’

‘And? Did you win a prize with this dog?’ I asked slightly breathless with suspense.

‘Let me finish the story,’ he reprimanded and continued. ‘On the day of the dog show, when the judges came to judge my dog, he was on a high pedestal, with the spotlights trained on him. It got really quiet as everybody’s eyes were riveted on the judges and on my pedigree dog. And then the scandal broke. The judges found that the bloody dog had three testicles! Peter,’ he touched my forearm, ‘it was terrible. I’ll never hear the end of this.’

I doubled up with laughter and wiped the tears from my eyes.

Ken spread his hands disarmingly ‘Honestly, Peter, how could I have known that the thing stuck in his body would suddenly drop overnight. And it did so just in time for the show!’

 Peter Frederick

http://www.peterfrederick.org

http://www.life-on-the-road.com

A KIND OF LOVE….

Ben Sampkins had a large retail shop that was not located in a shopping centre but hidden away in an area of factories. Somehow, this attracted lots of customers to him and he was placing orders quite frequently with my company, making him a much valued customer. Of course, I made sure that he had the latest samples and installed an attractive display stand in his shop. It was made of tubular steel with large, horizontal, selector pages to flip over. Housewives and decorators alike loved to stand there and leaf through its range of patterns.
Arriving there, I noticed a few cars parked right outside, which is always a good sign of business. It had a very wide shop front and the interior reached a long way to the back to where the offices were.
Stopping for a moment at the entrance, I took in picture, the whole layout of this attractive showroom. There were big rolls of carpets, arranged in herringbone fashion and on the side walls were hung beautiful rugs, passageway runners and over-locked carpet pieces. And sure enough there was a vinyl flooring section far in the back, near the offices, where my company’s display stand dominated the PVC flooring section.
From the ceiling were hung large signs, pictures of room settings and ‘Specials’ advertising, swaying slightly in a gentle breeze.
There was something else that called attention to itself: a grey tabby cat that kept brushing up against my leg in a friendly gesture of welcome. I patted the top of a roll of carpet and it understood immediately, jumping up onto the spot I indicated.
Naturally, since every staff in the shop seemed busy, I felt unobserved and therefore tickled this fluffy creature under the chin, behind the ears and stroked it vigorously, whispering sweet nothings and looking into its beautiful trusting eyes. I have never heard a cat purr so loudly; it licked my hand fast and with dedication – obviously, this gorgeous creature loved to be loved and to give love!
Eventually I had to stop and proceeded into the back of this gigantic showroom, where I found Ben in his office. He was a middle-aged man with the youngish, ruddy complexion of a country lad.
Sitting down, I immediately directed our conversation to the subject of my visit. There were new samples of floorings with especially developed low maintenance properties, always an excellent selling feature which I had to make him acquainted with. Together, with prices, technical literature and maintenance instructions, I stacked everything neatly on his desk and then decided to pay him a compliment.
‘You have a lovely cat, Ben! I’ve just played with it………’ But I didn’t get any further.
‘Oh, that bloody cat – drives me mad!’ Was his unexpected outburst.
‘But – it’s a lovely cat!’ Was my stunned utterance.
‘Well, you can have him.’ he acclaimed.
‘Why? Don’t you like cats?’ I jumped to its defence.
‘That bloody cat’, he repeated, ‘gets on my nerves…..I’m gonna get rid of him. Hangs around, costing me money, always wanting something………’
‘But it is a wonderful creature, a loving companion, a kind of partner……’ I found myself representing cats in general and that fluffy, furry creature I’d made friends with.
‘Take him with you! Go on, take him I can’t stand the sight of him anymore.’ His face reddened even more and his voice sounded very aggressive.
The arguments went back and forth for a while. Realising how long I had been with him and that it is never wise to upset a good customer, I stood up to bid my farewell. Trying to hide my hurt feelings I left his office.
Once outside his room, I found the cat was waiting for me. With its big amber eyes it looked so friendly and its fuzzy face was so lovable and trusting, my heart sank. ‘You poor creature’, I thought if only somebody would love you’. Then it started to show me the way to the entrance of the shop. Trotting ahead with its tail upright and looking back from time to time, it led me through the gigantic showroom and when we nearly reached the entrance, it jumped onto the same roll of carpet it had sat on before and looked at me encouraging. Naturally, I too, remembered what we had done before, so I stroked and tickled it and whispered sweet nonsense in its lovely ears. And it purred and licked my hand in rapture.
‘Hello Peter!’ One of Ben’s salesmen walked past and I had a desperate thought.
‘Do you want a cat, John?’
He looked surprised and taken aback.
‘Why would I want a cat?’
‘Ben wants to get rid of this lovely thing here. It needs a home!’
John sounded irritated: ‘He’s had that cat for years…..it wandered in one day and they have been together ever since.’
‘But he said he ….’
‘He never gets rid of him. He only talks funny’, John said, walking away and leaving me so relieved that I virtually floated out of this shop as if I’d gotten a very big order!

Peter Frederick
http://www.peterfrederick.or

AN ABANDONED DOG….

With all my belongings carefully stored in my station wagon and a full tank of petrol, I drove out of the town only to slow down immediately.
Water was everywhere, as far as the eye could see on the horizon. There was no safe land anywhere to be seen, except part of the road ahead where the floods were greedily lapping at its edges.
This narrow road was divided by a white centre line, forcing the trucks and semi-trailers to drive perilously close to the edge where there could be a deep ditch submerged beneath the treacherous water.
I had no choice but to keep driving as the vehicles behind me were getting impatient. Gripping the steering wheel and taking a deep breath, I drove on. I switched my radio off, as I needed all my concentration to stay on the dry part of the road and to cope with the traffic coming from the other direction, which would submerge me in a wave of water and make my windscreen wipers work more furiously.
I glanced nervously at my watch. I had been driving for about thirty minutes and must be halfway to the town of my destination and became aware that my shirt was soaked in perspiration.
‘How these truck drivers manage to overtake each other in such conditions I will never know!’ I wondered. Thundering along, beyond the clearly marked edge of the road and far in the fields, now covered with water; a motorboat was speeding towards me. Its bow created heavy waves on both sides, ‘is it called starboard and stern?’ I thought to myself. As it came closer I recognised it was a four-wheel-drive vehicle, heading for the only dry ground in this inland ocean.
An incredible sight, I thought, but there was no way I could have stopped and taken a photo of this strange world, with waves as far as I can see, seemingly trying to merge with the sky.
The traffic thinned out with most vehicles overtaking me with breathtaking confidence.
Then I noticed that the water’s edge was starting to invade the road. Tongues of water tried to reach the centre line; waves created by overtaking cars and trucks causing me set my windscreen wipers at a faster speed.
The rising water seemed to abate and the traffic began to slow down. Then I noticed something like a brown lump ahead of me.
‘A mound of soil? I thought. ‘Or a rock?’ dangerously close in the path of traffic? I better keep an eye on this object and try to avoid it, just in case.
At closer observation, I noticed it moving, slowly swaying back and forth and it seemed to be transporting itself along the road. Then I clearly recognised a medium sized, brown dog, was trying to trot with the traffic, God knows where because there was no land anywhere to be seen. The creature seemed to understand that all that traffic was going somewhere and simply wanted to move with it!
Its brown fur was dirt-encrusted, especially on the underside of its body, with grass clumps sticking to it. The legs gave the appearance of wearing boots with thick dirt clinging to the body.
As I came closer to it, the poor creature looked back at me. And there I got my first shock; this beautiful teddy bear-like face had such an incredible expression of tiredness. The normally attentive ears were drooping, the head was hanging down low, and dirt covered its chest which eventually merged with the muck from the underbelly.
‘Had it been trying to sleep somewhere’? I thought to myself.
The dog disregarded my slowing down, visibly not expecting anything from me.
I felt that I had to do something for the poor thing. Freaks of weather can affect us all, some more, some less. And I have always considered animals as the most disadvantaged members in our community.
I overtook it carefully, taking a risk of crashing into traffic coming from the opposite direction. I stopped the car and opened my rear door invitingly, waiting for the dog. As it approached, I noticed again that it was extremely tired and sore. Its movements were slow and forced. I wondered about how long it had been on the road?
With a dripping wet coat, and trying to trot through the water, the dog was clearly spent and worn out, hungry and looking in desperate need of a rest. There was nowhere for it to rest, as there was no firm ground except the road itself, and far too dangerous with the traffic thundering over it.
Lifting its droopy head for a moment, visibly strenuous, it recognised my parked car and the opened door. And in a dejected gesture, it decided to ignore me, continuing as if I wasn’t there.
‘Come on! In you get,’ I encouraged, trying to invite it into my car with a gesture of my hand.
Then I received a shock, the dog growled and snarled with in such a hostile gesture. I never thought a dog had so much control over his face muscles. The normally beautiful, brown eyes were blazing hostility, conveying, what I thought, was the sensation of terrible disappointment with the human race.
This poor creature had been through utter and cataclysmic disappointment and now considered me as a member of a low-life species. Its sense of disgust seemed to penetrate me and reach deep into my soul. What had it been through? What had it experienced? We are certainly not all like that and my help is here now!
Slowly, it moved around my parked car, the extra effort of doing so was visibly draining it more. It could not go on like this much longer.
I started my car again, carefully overtook the creature and stopped again.
Opening the back door of my station wagon again, I quickly threw my carefully arranged samples and other rep’s paraphernalia into the car’s interior and spread the blanket that normally covers everything, inviting the door onto the free space. I felt a wave of anger at myself for not having any food in my car, not even a biscuit or sandwich I could offer. What sort of hospitality was that? And I resolved quickly, that from now on I would always have some sort of sustenance for dogs and cats in my car, together with drinking water and clean bowls. (I had this equipment in my car from then on!)
Now the dog came closer again, seemingly heading straight to my opened backdoor. ‘Come on, in you get!’ I said, following up with a determined gesture of my arm, patting the warm blanket I’d spread out.
As the dog growled and bared its teeth in a very tired gesture, the normally white in its eyes flared with yellow hatred. Hatred against the human race! And without losing momentum it staggered around the car and ahead, looking so very tired, desperate and utterly disappointed.
Since it clearly did not want to have anything to do with me, I had no means of getting it into my car. And unable to leave a morsel of food as a gesture of compassion I drove off to reach the next town, Woolara, where I hoped to get help for this wretched creature.
Narrowly avoiding some accidents, I hurtled along the highway, sometimes torn sideways by the waters, but filled with desperation. This was an urgent matter, since the dog could not last much longer the way he was and surely, it could break down somewhere and eventually be run over and killed.
On the horizon ahead of me, dry land became visible and then a sign appeared, ‘Welcome to Woolara!’ Reaching the centre of the town, I headed straight to the local police station, half-expecting to be brushed off with my urgent concern.
The sergeant looked tired as he sat at his desk, but listened intently and with great compassion. Having just finished his night shift, his leather beaten face betrayed nothing, although at first I was not sure what he thought of my desperate appeal. Then came his short exclamation, ‘These truck drivers are bastards! When they have had enough of a dog they simply kick him out of their cabin!’ Somehow, his voice had the same growl as the dog had.
I ended my report with the urgent plea that something needed to be done there and quickly.
‘Isn’t there a dog catcher in the town to rescue him?’ I pleaded. ‘He looks so terribly tired. If it costs anything to rescue him I will gladly pay for it.’
I could not go any further because the policeman looked up at me and said with red eyes, full of moisture, ‘I will be heading in the direction you came from and will look out for the dog! Just leave it with me.’
Heaving himself out of his chair, he reached for his jacket and for his car keys and quickly headed out of his office to his waiting car.
But there was something in his movements, some determination, something that filled me with the assurance that someone was looking out for the poor creature.

Peter Frederick

http://www.peterfrederick.org

http://www.life-on-the-road.com