|
I sat in the sun at Lake Ginninderra this arvo critiquing the draft of a
2000 word essay Younger Brat has to hand in next week. As usual, this led to
some challenging and, at times, heated after-dinner discussion but, as always,
we had fun!
While I was at the lake, a couple tied their Red Setter dog to a nearby
picnic table, left it a bowl of food and a bowl of water, and went off for jog.
Red Dog lay down and napped. Five minutes later an Australian Raven
landed before R.D. and made little quok-quok noises. R.D. sprang
to his feet, surging and barking at the end of his end of his leash, while
the raven hopped back and forth two metres out of his reach. Fifteen
seconds later another raven landed behind R.D., stole a piece of food from
his bowl and left as the first raven repaired to a nearby tree. R.D. lay down
and resumed his nap.
Ten minutes later, the same scene unfolded again. Fast-forward another ten
minutes and a third repeat hits the screen. Only this time, there's a twist to
the plot. R.D. seemed to discern what was happening just aft of his nether
regions, turned and surged towards the sable raider at his food bowl, but the
slick bird absconded with another helping of his tucker.
Then a little light bulb of intelligence clicked on above R.D.'s head. He
addressed his food bowl and wolfed down the entire contents. And, with all that
dehydrated dog chow in his tummy, he turned to his water bowl. But, alas, during
the excitement, he'd overturned it. He sat on his haunches and whined. I went
over, took his bowl, filled it at a tap and placed it be before him. He wagged
his tail, drank and resumed his nap.
Cut to Scene # 4: a raven wafted down and stood before the snoozing pooch
but remained mute as it circled around behind him, peeked into his food bowl
but, finding the cupboard bare, decamped. I put Samantha's fine essay
aside and copied down my observations.
Twenty minutes later, the joggers returned and hugged their dog. "Oh,
Captain!" I heard them chirp. "Oh, you good thing, and you've eaten all your
food too. Come on, boy, we'll go home now." They poked Captain into their little
car and sped off, completely unaware of the intriguing scenes that had graced
the screen during their absence.
John Layton.
|
