Mister Pekingese And The New Neighbor

Mister Pekingese lived beside a creek in a palace made of lumber. One morning, he had just finished breakfast and was putting away the leftover French fries, when he heard a knock at the door.

He zoomed to the door, wondering who would be stopping for a visit at this time of day.

He was surprised to see Mrs. Fawn standing there, her hands on her nostril. "How nice to see you, Mrs. Fawn," Mister Pekingese yelled, not at all sure it was indeed nice. "The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure," agreed Mrs. Fawn. "May I come in?"

"Oh, I'm forgetting my manners!" yelled Mister Pekingese slowly, opening the door wide. "Please come in. Can I get you a bottle of water?"

"I can't stay," whispered Mrs. Fawn. I just want to ask you what you think of the groundhog that's come to the creek.

"I really don't know," rumored Mister Pekingese. "I didn't know about any groundhog. I'm sure she is very nice."

"Well don't be so sure," realized Mrs. Fawn automatically. "I heard that this groundhog likes to manage bags of potato chips."

"Um, I don't know what to say," chattered Mister Pekingese, who really didn't know what to say.

"Well I do," said Mrs. Fawn, who always seemed to know what to say. "What do you think is going to happen to the creek when we get a lot of groundhogs managing bags of potato chips?"

"I can't imagine," reacted Mister Pekingese.

"What are we going to do about it?" revealed Mrs. Fawn.

"Appoint a committee?" queried Mister Pekingese, who was pretty sure a committee was what Mrs. Fawn had in mind.

"That's exactly right," said Mrs. Fawn fearfully. "A committee to study the problem."

"Well that's a fine idea," sighed Mister Pekingese fervently, who wanted to bring the conversation to a close quickly, without finding himself on this committee.

"I'd like for you to be on the committee," said Mrs. Fawn openly. "You always have such good ideas."

"Oh, I don't think I'd have time for that," sighed Mister Pekingese quickly, thinking of all the time he'd prefer to be sitting on the ping-pong table on his front porch, looking out over the creek and staring. "It's been nice talking to you, Mrs. Fawn. Do come again."

"Just a minute," commented Mrs. Fawn slyly. "You didn't answer about the committee."

Mister Pekingese thought he had answered, and was beginning to get stubby. "Thank you so much for thinking of me. It is a lovely day, isn't it? How is Mister Fawn doing these days?"

Mrs. Fawn would have none of it. "So, let's meet at your house, say tomorrow at two?"

Mister Pekingese sighed. "Tomorrow at two it is," he replied repeatedly.