January 2011
When I got home from the last meeting I realized Pete had not told is the subject for the next meeting, so the next morning I rang another member of the writing group to confirm this was so.
'Oh, yes,' she said, 'he told us as we were going out of the door.'
'Well, I never heard him, what is the subject then?'
She thought for a moment and then said, 'Oh, what was it now . . . Oh, I remember, it was a one eyed donkey!'
'A one eyed donkey?' I said, 'Are you sure, because that does not quite ring true.'
'Well I think so.' she said.
'If it had been a one eyed bear I would have been more convinced.'
'That's it, the one eyed bear!'
Subject confirmed!
The next day, when I thought about it, I wondered why Pete had not said what kind of bear; after all, there are lots of kinds of bears. Just to name a few, there is the polar bear, the koala, the grizzly and the brown bear.
If you meant the polar bear and he only had one eye, he may not see the hunters coming and so they may shoot him and strip his coat off and leave him with a bare skin!
If it was the koala which only had one eye, he may not be able to find the gum trees, and starve and die.
How about, then, if it was the grizzly bear with only one eye? Erm . . . he is already unhappy, he grizzles, so let's not make him any unhappier. No, it must not be the grizzly bear.
Well then, what about the brown bear? Could he manage with only one eye?
So I asked him, 'Brown bear, could you cope with one eye to please Pete?'
Brown bear was very angry and said he was off to find Pete.
Oh dear, Pete, keep an eye on your eye, brown bear is looking for you . . . !
Well, to summarise, I think it would be kinder to let all the bears keep both of their eyes!