Pond Life

Pond Life

“You Ok Francoise?” Asked Claude.

“Yer, just watching the newts, pissed as always.” Replied Francoise.

“Jesus it’s only ten in the morning. Those guys have no purpose. No wonder they are dying out.”

“Oh, there’s Torvill.” Said Claude. “Hello, Torvill.”

Torvill skated over, but looked upset. After wiping tears away from her face she explained that her and Dean had been pond skating when this robin plucked him from the surface of the pond. Couzins of Dean had tried to stop the robin, but it was too late. Francoise and Claude looked at each other and commiserated with Torvill. It certainly was a tough life in the pond.

They all sat there and contemplated life when Winston swam up to the surface. He was a big fish in such a restricted pond.

“Hello Torvill.” Said Winston, “did I hear you say Dean has gone?”

“Yes.” Replied Torvill, bursting into tears again.

Winston was a writer, and it gave him an idea for a story.

“What you doing Winston?” asked Francoise trying to change the subject.

“Just writing.” Replied Winston. “Difficult though, paper keeps falling apart. Do you mind if I write about Dean, Torvill?”

“No, I would like that.” Replied Torvill.

“OK, just a heads up, Joseph is in the grass over there.”

“Shit, let’s get out of here.” Francoise said to Claude, and they both hopped off. With that, Winston swam down to the bottom of the pond, and Torvill skated away.

Joseph lay in the grass and rolled his eyes, he wasn’t rushing to get food, but he was hungry. At that point the owner of the house the pond was in the garden of appeared. He was middle aged and knew there was a snake in his garden somewhere, he wasn’t a violent man, but he was a true man and hated snakes.

He walked through the grass to check for snakes, his daughter liked to play in the garden and was coming home from school soon. Then he stumbled upon a little pond skater laying on a paving slab, he stooped and picked it up. It seemed to be still alive, he smiled to himself and took it over to the pond. Gently placing it on the pond it seemed rejuvenated. Within a few minutes it started to revive itself. The man saw another little pond skater come over and it just sprang into life. The two of them zoomed off. The man thought that they seemed to dance on the pond in some way.

He stood up and in the corner of his eye he saw what he thought was a snake. He thought to himself, you crane your neck gently to make sure. Yes, it was, he thought. The snake lay still, occasionally darting out it’s forked tongue. The man reached for a spade that was leaning up against the wheelbarrow. Very slowly he picked it up and with a quick strike brought down the spade on the snake. It bounced up into the air and fell down to the ground dead. He picked it up and took it to the smouldering bonfire at the bottom of the garden.

“Daddy I’m home” Shouted his daughter as she appeared from the back door. The man walked back and knelt down to give her a hug.

“How are you Princess.” He said.

“I’m going to play in the garden.” Replied Rosie.