FLOYD THE DOG

My life started in a place called Africa. It wasn't all stunning sunsets, wild forests or harsh desserts as you might imagine. The new world, to which I was being introduced, was a strangely wonderful place of wide open grassy plains and groups of long limbed trees as well as rocky outcrops. It took some days for my eyes to open properly, and for me to appreciate the wild and lovely summer days out on the beautiful veldt.

I was an only cub, and my Mum, an African Leopard, spoilt me rotten. She let me feed any time I wanted to, and constantly licked me all over to keep me cool through the long, hot days. At the same time Mum was teaching me some of the things an African Leopard had to know, like diet, and how not to accidentally fall out of the tree you had climbed to go to sleep in. She was at pains to teach me about our worst enemies, two legged animals called ‘hunters’ who pointed sticks called ‘guns’ or set traps for us. A young cub has to learn quickly because his lair is the only place where he is really safe, and you cannot stay at home all the time.

When I was only a few weeks old, Mum made sure that I was safely hidden in the back of our rocky lair, and then went off to hunt for some food. She seemed to have been gone rather a long time, and I was getting hungry. I missed my lunch. I missed my tea. I even missed my dinner. Where was my Mum? Was she hiding from me? I started to cry for her. “Come home, Mum. I miss you. I want you.”

There was no reply. I cried myself asleep. Someone must have heard my whimpers. I had not been asleep very long when I was grabbed by the scruff, and hoisted up into the air. I hissed and I clawed, but it was no use, my claws met only empty space. I was unable to either run or to fight as a strange creature held me high.

I was carried to a truck. Inside the truck I saw my Mum - asleep! Fine thing when she should be awake and defending me! I was put inside a cage, and into the truck. Then a very weird thing happened, the veldt started to move! It was frightening I can tell you, sitting still next to my sleeping Mum while the world moved alongside us.

It was a long time before the world stopped moving. Then I suddenly felt sleepy, and just could not stay awake, despite all the things which were happening. When I woke up the truck had gone, but Mum was stretched out on the ground beside me.

I was feeling a little dizzy, and I was thirsty. Luckily there was a small pool of water close by, and by the time I had a drink Mum was waking up as well. She was a bit groggy and had grown something new around her neck. I told her she had changed. She inspected me closely and told me that I had something new around my neck too. She tried to bite it off, but it hurt her teeth. In the end we decided to ignore it.

Mum was now fully awake. She looked around suspiciously and sniffed the air carefully. “Everything smells and looks alright,” she said. “Just the same be extra careful. Stay by me unless I tell you to run.”

Bit by bit we explored the new territory together. We made a home in a cave on a hillside, with a couple of nice trees in front to shade it and to hide the entrance from anybody passing by. There was a small pool in front with plenty of good water to drink. Most of the time there was no sign of any humans, but every now and then we did see the truck. The truck sometimes left fresh meat when if left. That somehow happened after we had not found any for ourselves for a few days, so we began to think of it as friend rather than foe.

After a good feed I would usually climb up one of our trees, stretch out along a branch, and fall asleep. One day I woke from my tree snooze to find a dog just calmly sitting at the base of the tree looking up at me, with a smile on his face. Dogs are supposed to be scared of us, and I was just about to jump on him when he started speaking to me. To my astonishment he spoke in Cat, the language of Leopards!

“Hello!” he said. “My name is Floyd.. I am here on a visit with my Boss. I would like to be friends with you.”

I had just had a good meal, which was just as well, so I felt more surprised and suspicious than aggressive. I replied with a barrage of questions. “What’s a ‘Boss’? Where is it? How come you speak Cat? What do you think you are doing here? You look like a dog to me.”

“Please be patient. Ask just one question at a time, if you please. First of all, the ‘Boss’ is my special human. He looks after me, gives me food, shelter, protection and affection. At the moment, I think, he is at the lodge, talking about ‘Leopard Conservation’ with a lot of other humans. I am indeed a dog. I am here on a Diplomatic Mission to meet more animals and learn about them. Oh, yes, I nearly forgot one of your questions. It was my very good friend Pussy Possum who taught me how to speak Cat after I rescued her from a hole in a wall in which she had been stuck when she was a young kitten.

“I think I have answered all your questions for now. Would you like to come down here? It would make chatting with you so much easier. I am beginning to get a pain in my neck from looking up at you all the time.”

I am rather pleased to be able to report that curiosity got the better of my baser instincts. I jumped down from the tree, which did not faze Floyd the Dog one little bit, and began to enjoy quite a long conversation with this extraordinary fellow.

He asked me what my name was. “Name? What is that?” I asked him.

“What does your Mother call to you when she wants to you go to her?”

I told him.

“Hmm ... that is rather difficult for a mere Dog to say, even in his very best Cat voice. May I suggest that I call you Sparky? That is about as close as I can get to it!”

“Sparky!” I repeated, and rather liked the sound of it. So Sparky I became. Even Mum calls me that now. I asked him to tell me more about himself, and what he was doing so far from home.

“Well, Sparky. I did tell you that I was on a Diplomatic Mission. You see, I am a Diplomatic Dog.”

“And what is a Diplomatic Dog, if I may asked,” I said, settling myself more comfortably.

“Diplomats are rather special. We are not allowed to harm anybody, and, in return, nobody is supposed to harm us. Our job is to keep the peace between humans and animals as best as we are able.”

“How does that work?” I asked. “I remember that my Mum told me to keep away from humans because the hunters, with their guns and traps, were bad for us.”

Floyd answered me quite calmly. “Some humans are like that. Your Mum was quite right. Mums usually are. That sort of human is best avoided. Others are quite different, and are trying to help and protect you. You may remember that you came here in a truck. The Leopard Conservation people moved you, while you were asleep, into this place, called a Reserve. The Reserve is quite big. It is surrounded by a fence which the hunters are not allowed to pass through. You are now ‘protected’ to make sure that you are not disturbed and have plenty to eat and drink. I was sent to tell you that we hope that you and your Mum will now know that you able to live here in peace and comfort.”

Now I understood everything that had happened, it was such a relief. I was glad I had not jumped down to attack this rather nice Diplomatic Dog called Floyd. In fact, the more I found out about him, the more I came to like him. He told me what it was like living in a place called Europe with his family and friends, and I told him about Africa, the veldt and the animals I that knew.

When Mum got back from work, I was able to introduce them to each other. She knew about Diplomats, but still she was quite impressed by his polite charm.

“The humans are not trying to change your spots,” he told her. “They just want to be sure that you can keep them longer. They specially asked me to stress that they wanted you to know that there were some humans who cared about you and were trying to care for you.”

We parted as the sun was beginning to set. Floyd went back to find his Boss, and Mum and I had a mutual wash and brush up in what we now knew to be our safe and secure new and forever home.