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It was one of those summer days
where the sky was gray, clouds hung low, and a fresh breeze blew in from
the sea. Only the hardiest swimmers went to the beach and few, if any of
them were children. Murdoch pulled Norton’s rope, nearly dragging the
donkey onto the sand. "Come on, Norton. There might be one bairn who wants
to have a donkey ride today. It’s not that cold," he grumbled.
Norton didn’t agree. He thought it
was freezing cold. The wind felt like it was blowing straight in from the
Arctic. Sand blew at him, stinging his face like hurling needles. Murdoch
tied him to the pole. Norton plopped himself down in the sand and lowered
his head, trying to protect himself as much as he could from the elements.
Of course, nobody wanted to ride a
donkey on a day like this. What was Murdoch thinking? Norton sighed and
watched the waves roll in. They were black and churning and pounded on the
sand ferociously. After a while, a man and woman came walking by with
their dog. Norton watched as they tossed a stick into the water. Their
black dog ran after it, into the waves and brought the stick back. Norton
shivered just thinking how cold the water must feel on a day like this.
The dog didn’t seem to mind. He ran in and out, in and out, bringing the
stick back to them each time. They finally moved on. "Well, Norton, I’m
off to warm myself up. I’m going for a cup of tea," Murdoch said and
walked away. Norton sat alone on the beach, not a soul in sight.
As the day wore on, it didn’t get
much warmer and there was no sign of Murdoch. Now and then a jogger ran
by, or a few people walked along the beach, picking up seashells. Norton
noticed that it seemed to be getting darker and looked up. Just as he did,
the cloud burst and it poured. Poor Norton was drenched! Raindrops ran
into his eyes, nose and mouth. His tail looked worse than the rope that
tied him to the pole. He stood up and pulled and struggled to loosen the
rope.
"Here, here, what are you doing?"
Murdoch said, running up to him. "You must be fed up sitting here in the
rain. All right, Norton, we’ll call it a day." Norton was relieved.
Murdoch took his rope and walked back to the barn with him. "It’s dry
here. I’ll be back shortly." When Murdoch returned, he was carrying three
pears. "Here you go, Norton. I hope this makes you feel better." Norton
gobbled the crunchy, juicy, green pears down quickly.
He lay in the barn listening to the
rain pouring down and was glad that for the rest of the day he was able to
be somewhere dry and warm. Tomorrow was another day and if it didn’t rain,
he could give some children donkey rides! |
