Safari!
Rockingham Remembered
Short Stories
A wealthy old lady decided to go on a photo safari
in Africa.

She took her faithful pet poodle along for company.

One day, the poodle starts chasing butterflies and
before long the poodle discovers that he is lost.
So, wandering about, he notices a leopard heading
rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of
having lunch.


The poodle thinks, "OK, I'm in deep trouble now!
Then he noticed some bones on the ground close
by, and immediately settles down to chew on the
bones with his back to the approaching cat.

Just as the leopard is about to leap, the poodle
exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious
leopard. I wonder if there are any more around
here."


Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in
mid-stride, as a look of terror comes over him,
and slinks away into the trees. "Whew," says the
leopard. "That was close. That poodle nearly had
me."


Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the
whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put
this knowledge to good use and trade it for
protection from the leopard. So, off he goes.


But the poodle saw him heading after the leopard
with great speed, and figured that something must
be up.


The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills
the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the
leopard. The leopard is furious at being made a
fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back
and see what's going to happen to that conniving
canine."


Now the poodle sees the leopard coming with the
monkey on his back, and thinks, "What am I going
to do now?"


But instead of running, the dog sits down with his
back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen
them yet...and just when they get close enough to
hear, the poodle says...

"Where's that darn monkey? I
sent him off half an hour ago to
bring me another leopard!"