CHAPTER TWO

The animals in the wood

Sally awoke with a start when she heard someone talking. A fox and a vixen were walking down the beach arm-in-arm, the vixen was impeccably dressed in a full-length fur coat and a very fashionable hat with a feather in the side. She wore the most exquisite ear-rings and carried a black Gucci handbag. She seemed to glide as she walked, obviously completely comfortable in her stylish red shoes with four-inch stiletto heels.

How strange that such an elegant lady should wear shoes that didn't match her handbag, Sally thought.

The fox was equally elegant in a magnificent tuxedo, and as they walked past Sally got to her feet and addressed the couple. 'Good evening' she said, as the sun was just above the horizon, and the fox said 'It's after evening, the sun is coming up and it's tomorrow already. I didn't see you at the ball, I'm sure I would have remembered someone dressed as a twentieth-century peasant'. Sally was quite offended by this, she wasn't a peasant, but she was too shy to argue and the couple walked on without another word.

Sally walked off the beach and found herself in a wood, she was still smarting about the fox's comment and muttered to herself 'how dare he call me a peasant, he may be very well dressed but he is also very rude'. Then a voice said 'You've been listening to Fahrenheit I assume, you should never take him seriously, that shallow, old fox knows very little about anything. I'm surprised Celsius stays with him, she's far too sophisticated for him and they're totally incompatible'.

Sally looked around unable to see anyone and the voice said 'I'm up here' and when she looked up she saw an owl in one of the trees. 'Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Juno, I'm a philosopher and a sage and if you need to know anything don't hesitate to come to me, I have the wisdom to solve any problem you could possibly have.'

'Well' Sally asked 'as a matter of fact, I was wondering about some of the things around here. Everything seems to be a bit strange to me, and yet everyone acts as if it is all normal'. Juno stood quite still without saying anything for a while and Sally wondered if he had heard her or if he was just ignoring her, but just as she was about to say something he started talking again: 'If everyone is normal and you think they are all strange, perhaps it is you that is different. Have you considered that?'.

Sally thought about this for a few seconds and then said 'But I was completely normal and so was everyone else until I fell into the sea'.

'Ah!' exclaimed Juno 'then it occurs to me that falling into the sea must have had some effect on you, maybe you got water in your ears and you can't hear properly, or perhaps you were slightly concussed after the fall and normal things seems strange to you now. I would recommend that you get some rest and I'm sure you'll feel better in a while'. Then he yawned and said 'If you'll excuse me now, I will get to bed, I am not used to being up this late in the morning, I wish you good luck and I hope you feel well again soon. Good day'.

Sally wasn't sure if there was any wisdom in this. 'Before you go' she said 'may I ask you just one question?'. 'Certainly' replied Juno, 'go ahead'. Sally continued 'Why would a trout who lives in the sea want to learn how to run so that sea gulls can't stand on him?'.

'An interesting question' Juno said and pondered the answer for a few minutes before going on. 'You see, a trout is a fresh-water fish, and he can't spend too long in the sea because the salt gets in his eyes and he has to come out of the water. I can only assume that all his friends live in the sea so he doesn't want to go back and live in a river or lake, so he stays in the sea and wants to learn to run so that he can come and go as he pleases without being worried by the sea gulls. What I don't fully understand is why a sea gull would land on him when he came out of the water'.

'I can tell you that' Sally said feeling rather pleased that she knew something that Juno didn't. 'The sea gulls think he's a perch'.

'Ah, yes' said Juno 'an easy mistake for a sea gull to make, they don't know much about river fish, or anything else, for that matter' and with that the owl flew silently away.