Charlie and Beatrice
Greed Versus Cunning
Some years ago, my friend Jennifer acquired a beagle called Beanz. Beanz had belonged to an American family who were returning home and could not take her with them. She was a large, ponderous, matronly, sneaky dog who lived solely for the delectation of food. Having said that she was in fact quite a nice girl who happened to love her tuck just a little too much.
Once Jennifer and her son got to know her, they changed her name from Beanz to Beatrice which seemed to suit her right down to the ground. And right down to the ground was not far for Beatrice as she suffered from duck’s disease — you know short legs and built really close to terra firma! Even her tummy was in imminent danger of touching the earth as she plodded around the garden. Now Jennifer had a friend living with her who owned a black Labrador called Gulliver, and Gully had needed to learn and adapt to living with Beatrice and her unfortunate food-stealing ways.
Fact is it got so bad for Gully that whenever he wanted to take a stroll around the garden, he would take his half-filled food bowl in his mouth and carry it with him; this was to stop Ms. Greedy from helping herself to whatever he happened to leave for his own later afternoon delight! Even so ever hopeful, she would sally along in his wake, slipping, plodding in behind him to hoover up whatever might happen to…
