Love is a Virtue
Puppy looked at it all the time. From a far, never up close. It was the most beautiful squeaky toy ever. It looked as if it had plenty of ridges for biting into. It was dark green which made it blend in with the healthy grass. Puppy loved grass. He wanted to go up close to the toy so badly, but he was so young and insecure. Could he really handle a toy like this? Yes. He could. You see, one day, Puppy couldn't find his bone. And, he was teething. Puppy needed to chew on a nice object immediately. His eyes darted across his owner's back yard. The beautifully curved squeaky toy was still lying there. Beautiful and vulnerable. "Woof," Puppy thought to himself. "WOOOOOOOF!" He galloped over toward the toy. His jaws bit hard on it. There was no squeak at all. It was made of stone hard material. Puppy wasn't expecting this, and his bite was so aggressive that his teeth went back into his gums a little. He dropped it immediately. All of a sudden, a wrinkly thumb with eyes popped out of the non squeaky toy. It was a turtle! Disgusting! Puppy was about to turn and walk away when the turtle grabbed his attention. "I love you." said Turtle. "What?" said Puppy. "I LOVE you," said Turtle. Turtle continued, "I know you have been watching me. You thought I was something else. But, I knew what you were. A great puppy. I have been watching you too, but I was right with my predictions. You are the same as you are far away as you are up close. You are a true beauty." Puppy missed his bone in that moment. Bone never put Puppy under pressure. Puppy started to reply, "We are from different worlds, friend. You will live to be 100 years old, and I will die in 10. Our families are different. Our bodies are different. Our speed is foreign to one another." "What are we doing right now?" followed Turtle. "What?" said Puppy, a little confused. "We are TALKING," said Turtle. "That's the only thing we NEED to have in common." Puppy considered this. He considered this for several minutes. As Turtle could sense Puppy was considering this, and by this I mean considering love, he asked Puppy to go on a date. Puppy agreed. They went to a restaurant downtown called "Grubbing Buns." All the people stared at them in the restaurant. Because they were fat you see, Puppy and Turtle. The people were all skinny. Turtle ordered a hot dog to be sly and Puppy ordered clams. "I can protect you," said Turtle. "If there ever was a war, you could hide out in my shell." Puppy liked that Turtle used protection. He was slowly becoming drawn to him. And drawn by him. Turtle handed over a sketched drawing of Puppy to Puppy. "It's beautiful!" yelped Puppy. The food had arrived. Turtle was eager for the hot dog and ate it all in one bite. Puppy started eating clams but then felt weird and then died. "Art thou love?" whispered Turtle to himself. Turtle couldn't do it. He couldn't be without Puppy. Just then the waitress came. "Would you like to take this to go?" She pointed to dead Puppy. "No. I am going with it! I'm going to heaven too!" Just then Turtle started running unreasonably fast which is impossible for turtles. He died in the process. Days are blue. Nights are blue. Grass is green. Love is beauty. From two different worlds. Two different families. One heart lives on.