"Hello!" I say, slowly closing the gap between us. Slowly seems to be the way to do this. I've tried other ways and failed. "Please stay and chat for a bit."
"What have we got to chat about?" he asks me suspiciously, lifting his wings and then lowering them again. "We've nothing in common that I know of. Besides, I never talk to dogs."
"I'm not just any dog," I tell him. "And more than anything else, I want to fly like you do."
He laughs at me. I don't like being laughed at. But that doesn't matter. Nothing matters except getting into the air. "I can't help you with that," he said, "unless ... "
"Unless what?"
"Unless you turn yourself into a bird. You don't need to be a gull like me, necessarily, but it must be obvious even to you that without wings you're destined never to fly."
"I don't believe in 'never' - and you don't, either."
"How would you know that about me?"
"Because you said you never talk to dogs, yet we're talking, aren't we?"
"I suppose we are. Well, then, to reward your persistence I could give you a lesson!"
"You could?" My next 'woof' sounds more like a 'whoop'. "Thanks a million."
"Save your thanks till you're airborne. Now watch me carefully and than do exactly as I do."
He opens his wings, flaps them once and is suddenly lifted up on a gust of sea air. I run as fast as my legs will carry me - then jump higher than I've ever jumped. But it is not high enough. I bark at the gull, who is now right above me: "What do I do next?"
He just calls the other gulls to come and watch my efforts.
They're seeing me as a figure of fun. That's a bit much!
One day I'll show them my true colors - not today, though, as I've run out of puff!
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