INITIATION

I’ve just found a friend.  Or he has found me.  He’s waiting by our front gate as Mum and I set off for the beach.

He’s a friendly fellow with a waggy tail.  Both our tails are wagging.  Bet Mum wishes she had a long tail to wag!

She was cross with me yesterday after I shook that black mud over her and Violet.  But how was I to know that shaking myself was as bad as jumping up?  Nobody said it was till after I’d done it.  Humans sometimes have strange ways of doing things.

Still, Mum’s happy again now – and today’s a new day.

I can see ponies ahead.  They’re so big that I always stay well away.  My friend isn’t doing that, though.  He’s running right up to them.  Oh heck!

I’d better go and show that I’m not afraid of them either.  Except that I am a bit scared.  Looking up at Mum, I see that she knows how I feel.  She smiles, saying: “Be true to yourself.  Don’t just shadow Hector.  Only do it if it feels okay.”

I think I get her gist.  Suddenly I feel braver.  Those ponies are grazing.  They’re showing little interest in my friend.  So why would they be interested in me?

I edge closer … then closer still.  One of them lifts his head and snorts and I draw back a bit.  But next minute he’s eating grass again.  I wonder what grass tastes like.  I’ll try it sometime.

I suppose they are not actually all that big.  And they aren’t fierce.  They’re simply doing their usual thing and minding their own business.  I needn’t have been frightened.

Hector’s off again.  How did Mum know my new friend’s name?  Now he’s barking at seagulls.  I join in.  This is such fun!  The gulls start diving at us and we both jump up, trying to take wing.

Why weren’t we given wings, I wonder?  It’s the biggest of my wonderings.  But nobody seems to be answering - so I’ll just get on with the next thing.

We’ve followed the gulls to the castle and now we’re almost flying down the steep sandy path to the beach.  I expect Mum’s somewhere behind me, but I can’t stop to turn and see.

Hector is in the river ahead of me – but only just.  We’re both swimming across and there are still gulls above us.  They probably wish that they could swim like this and that they had four legs to run on.

“Can’t you run any faster than that?” calls Hector as we set off on the Oxwich side of the beach.  “Race you to the rock!”

There’s an enormous rock jutting up from the sand part way across.  I’m bigger than Hector and have longer fur.  So I can run fastest, I’m almost sure.

I send this message (without the ‘almost’) to my paws.  They begin bouncing over the sand almost as if each one has wings.  This is fantastic!  It’s the nearest thing to flying.  We’re leaving Hector behind.

I can’t see him now that he’s behind me, but I can see … the rock!  Reaching it breathlessly, I turn to greet Hector – as if being the winner is no big deal.

Pretending not to be bothered, he plunges into a large rock pool.  I plunge in too.  It’s where we are, with lots of little fish, when Mum finds us.

“Well,” she says, “I’m glad you two are friends!  Whatever are you planning to do next?”

We leave the rock pool and shake ourselves.  I notice that Mum stands well back as we do this.  Does she think I’ve forgotten the mud incident? 

Hector is off to the sea.  There are great waves today.  When the waves are this big I stay away.

“Come on!” calls Hector as he starts barking at the surfers.  “We can do what they’re doing.”

“Can we?” I ask uncertainly.

But Hector is already doing it – throwing himself into the sea and then letting it bring him back towards me.

“Just ride the waves!” he shouts over their roar.

Ride them?  How?  I don’t know how, but maybe I don’t need to know.  Maybe I just need to do as Hector’s doing.  He’s obviously having fun doing it.

So in I go.  This is scary, but copying Hector also begins to be … thrilling.  The sea is lifting me.  It’s a bit like having wings.  Yes, I’m … flying!  I never want this to stop.

Finally our fun is over and we’re going home.  I’m so tired that my paws are heavy instead of light.  I’m almost wishing to be still small enough for Mum to carry me.

But that wouldn’t look good in front of Hector.  By our garden gate, before running off, he says: “’Bye then!”

Later, when I’ve eaten and slept, Mum tells me: “That, Sam, seems to have been your initiation into getting the best from our environment.  I doubt you’ll ever forget Hector’s lessons.”

Is that her way of saying this has been a great day?