“Gráinne,we’ve finally found you a real honest-to-goodness Wheaten friend!” they
exclaimed when they returned from Bible Study one evening last July. Sometimes
I’m allowed to go along, but they said it was too hot to leave me in the car
that night.Chapter 30
(12th March 2009):
The Competition Grows
“Gráinne,we’ve finally found you a real honest-to-goodness Wheaten friend!” they
exclaimed when they returned from Bible Study one evening last July. Sometimes
I’m allowed to go along, but they said it was too hot to leave me in the car
that night.
They
were just getting out of the car at that week’s designated home when Mummy
screamed, “Wheaten!” Daddy turned and
called “Wheaten!” In a flash they were
smooching around with a strange Wheaten puppy in a neighboring driveway. (Am I supposed to be enthusiastic about
that?) Mummy dug around, found a crumpled calling card of mine and left it with
the
Wheaten’s owner.
On Monday the first phone call came. The rest is history. Mummy and Daddy love Eva and Enno and I’m afraid they love Tessa, too.
Tessa knew from our first meeting – at my
house – that she’d better keep a low profile or she’d be missing a few Wheaten
parts. She was 8 months old at the time. Now when I was 8 months old, I was still terrorizing the whole neighborhood.
You can imagine what I thought of this angelic little newcomer, when she rang
the doorbell, looking as if a rascally terrier trick would never cross her mind. I told her 
immediately who was boss. When she found one of the toys I had ignored for years, I took it away from her. When she found a chew bone, it was mine at once. Tessa was a good girl and watched from afar. She even did the submissive “couldn’t I have a bite?” dance: lying on her side and waving a paw
in my direction. I played cool and
unmoved. Tessa’s parents and mine let us
work it out on our own and that’s lucky for this friendship.
Tessa invited us to their
weekend cottage on an island in the River Weser. I have to admit that she was a gracious hostess. We ran on her beach, ate in her cottage and
there was no need to squabble.
So the next time she came to my house, I let her go upstairs and bring down my turtle and chew on it. It’s indestructible anyway ;-) The same visit we had a playful little tussle on the living room carpet and a week later we lay peacefully under the same restaurant table while our huMoms and huDads ate fish. FISH! My favorite food. Now I wouldn’t have shared the last Stint on the platter with Tessa, but I do have to admit that she’s actually a really cool kid! As long as she doesn’t try to take over my mummy and daddy she can even have my toys. I’ve invited her for a slumber party weekend over Pentacost.
Between you and me, I believe I’ll need her. Mummy and Daddy, Eva and Enno are talking about a certain "Diarmuid nGall" ('Deer-mud'), Little Brother. They’ve booked a ferry to Denmark to pick up the twit. Tell me it isn’t true. First a little cousin and then a brother?!!! Tessa, help me! If this is true, we have to gang up on the little brat. Gráinne is the Monarch, Tessa is the Lady-in-Waiting and Diarmuid is the Court Jester. I see it now.
Don’t worry, Gráinne, nobody can ever replace you, you precious gift!
