Christmas Tale

Once upon a time in a small village in Sierra Nevada in Andalusia, there was a charming little house in which lived happily Floppy and his playmate, Ginger the cat, aged three months.

A few metres from there, on the hillside, was another house, where a Brazilian woman Andrea and her Belgian husband Johnny lived... from time to time Floppy would come to visit these charming neighbours, perhaps intrigued by the music which was escaping out from the house... he liked this music, it seemed to him as if Andrea were saying:
- Johnny, please put on a Samba again?it was a Samba?such spirit, such rhythm... Floppy adored Andrea..
- Elkle danced to the music, danced and danced...
- One day, Andrea was alone in the garden when she suddenly saw Floppy coming carrying Ginger in his mouth Ginger. Intrigued, she called her husband:
- Johnny, Johnny come and see who is visiting us. Just at this very moment, Floppy put down his precious cargo, sat down, stirred up his small stubby tail and jumped on Andrea, giving her a large kiss, then two...
- Intrigued by such goings-on, Andrea and Johnny went up to their neighbours, to a house in the typically small and pretty Andalusian style, which has a cheerful red tiled roof... the door was closed, closed shutters, more pieces of car, even pieces of garden furniture, which had also disappeared....
- ?Oh?, exclaimed Johnny, ?these cowards have gone and abandoned their animals...what a shame... and at Christmas, of all times?.
- Floppy suspected that something terrible had happened, he knew that their masters had themselves escaped early in the morning, but how could he explain?... then he began to bark and yelp whilst running towards the road... yes they have tied us up with leashes he seemed to say, please keep us... in my despair I remembered you, the gaiety of your house, your tenderness... keep us..
- - Floppy now (since 18th December) lives the dela Higuera life; a German woman, with tears in her eyes wanted to adopt little Ginger... Floppy did not want to let him leave, he jumped, jumped onto the German lady in order to get his friend back.
- - I wanted to tell you the story of Floppy as I think it?s a nice tale... the affection a dog has for a cat, the love Floppy had for Andrea....
- It?s the love of puppy, very cheerful and very playful. The first night, he couldn?t sleep; he was lying with his head on my hand and I could hear his little moans and whines. I would stroke him and he licked my hand.

Julie, 19th December 2004.