Playing Fetch By The Beach

Lying down on a soft bed and staring into the smooth rock ceiling of what was now her room, Avril was lost in thought. Her conversation with Dakar during the afternoon was still playing through her head.

So he was trapped on the island, cursed. And hoping she would break him out somehow. She had asked him how she was going to break his curse and he said he too was clueless. She had to figure that out on her own. In order words, they both were stuck on the island until she liberated them.

“This is sick” she muttered and turned over on the bed, lying facedown.

Soon she drifted off into the land of sleep and only work up hours later when she heard tappings on her door. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the open window, it was already dark. She stepped down from the bed and walked to the door. She opened it and stared at Dakar questioningly.

“Sorry to disturb your rest but it's time for dinner. After that, we're gonna take a stroll to the beach and meet the dolphins. What do you think?” he asked and she just nodded. She was too tired to speak.

After a heartwarming dinner, she hopped on his furry back and they walked into the starlit night slowly. They passed the trees, the gardens, the now sparkling waterfall and reached the hill they had come in through.

“How are we going to climb up there?” Avril asked as they approached it

“How about walking round it” he replied

“Now I'm wondering why you made me climb up there this morning”

“Come on, it was fun!”

And so they trailed by the flowing stream and appeared in front of the rock. They continued walking for half an hour with Dakar doing most of the talking and Avril doing most of the pointing. They finally got to the sandy beach. Avril jumped down from Dakar's back and walked on foot beside him towards the ocean.

“They are latecomers so we better do something to while away time while we wait for them” he opined

“Like what?” she asked, not really in the mood to do anything

“Fetch?” he asked and tilted his head to the left

“You're not a dog”

“Doesn't matter”

“And what are you going to fetch?”

“A tree branch” he said and ran off to cut one.

He came back with a slim and light branch in his mouth. Avril reluctantly took it and swung it around her fingers.

“Rules number one—”

“—Aww! I hate rules”

Avril ignored his wine “Rule number one, you fetch with your mouth and not your legs or hands limbs, whatever it is they are”

“And what's rule number two?”

“If you don't catch it in a minute, you loose one point. And if I mistakenly throw it into water,you gain one point. How's that?”

“Sounds fun. Let's begin!”

Avril launched the stick into the air and it flew far and landed. Dakar ran and picked it in seconds. He was too fast and wasn't loosing any points. Avril got frustrated when the stick kept touching water and giving him points

“You know what, I'll throw it into the forest and you'd have to find it by sniffing it. You have to be back in a minute” she said and they played it that way. It was more fun because he lost points more often than the first play.

Avril soon lost all her grumpiness and became hyperactive, she even began to do the fetching and lost almost all her points. They had to start playing it on the beach only.

The dolphins arrived and squeaked loudly, Avril started and almost lost balance as she ran.

“Oh, here they are. An hour late” Dakar said and walked to the front of the ocean but careful not to let the water touch him.

“It was a hard job. We were almost caught” came a voice, Avril couldn't see who spoke. But she guessed the mermen were there too.

“She is the pretty girl, huh?” came another masculine voice

“Well, here's your package. Bye, we need to get back” and there was a loud splash, followed by another then the dolphins dived in and out and were gone too

“Why couldn't I see them?”

“The mermen? Yeah, they blend with the atmosphere. That's how they get things for me” Dakar replied and held the box in his right paw up.

“Let's get going. It's getting really chilly” Avril stated and rubbed her arms.

They began to walk away silently, with only the sound of waves and the wind moving the tress. They reached the edge of the forest leading the mountain and Avril hopped on Dakar's back. She was now holding the box that looked so small in his paw but was quite big. He ran fast through the trees and past the hill, waterfall, gardens and reached the mountain. Avril wanted to come down but he conveniently took her up.

“Would you like something to drink? I still have fruit juice” he asked immediately they got to the living room

“Yeah. Sure” she mumbled and sat down

“Everything in that box is yours. And this time, they bought them for real. Not stolen” he cooed and left. Avril stared at the box before opening it. There were books in it, and biscuits and candy. And underneath it, there was a black shirt, black trousers and black boots. She liked them immediately.

Dakar returned with two cups and gave her one. Avril chuckled and took it.

“You are waiting to see me drink, right?” he said with an amusing face.

“Come on, drink up” Avril laughed and laughed even more when he opened his mouth and brought the cup up then poured in a small quantity of juice. He had no lips and couldn't hold the cup with them and sip. Avril found it highly humorous to see an animal drinking from a cup.