I'm Winning!

What do you do when you are ill and forced to stay in bed? You read, write, catch up with some ‘social networking’ and when you are done with all that and tiresomeness gets the better of you, you stare at the ceiling and wonder why the world is the way it is until you begin your journey into la-la land! No? Well, atleast, that’s what I do! And, if after you are well no one gives you those strange looks, it just means you didn’t let the proverbial cat- out-of-the-bag or give away those secrets through your delirium!

As I go through one such episode, I miss Casper terribly; he was my nurse and brought me back on my feet really quickly with all his positive energy. Now as I reach the stage where I wonder why the ‘world is the way it is’, I wonder if the idea of winning actually makes us want to cheat. 

One of the many games Casper and I played was a modified version of hide-n-seek - I threw ball, he ran to fetch, while he did that I quickly hid, he brought the ball, dropped it off somewhere, began his search for me, found me, we both ran to get the ball, whoever got it first was declared the winner with claps and a bark. Got the rules of play? Now, when Spooky joined us, I taught him much of what I taught Casper; he learnt some of it, some he refused to and some he learnt very differently - he is definitely not as compliant as Casper was! When Casper won, he always ran to a ‘ victory stand’ that he had created to let us all know he had won - the first landing along the flight of stairs. Somehow, winning became a big thing! So,I discover, it is with Spooky.

My not-so-neighbourly neighbours toss their balls generously into my lawns (pun absolutely unintended!); and when Spooky runs out, he heads straight for the lawn to discover a ball or two strewn somewhere on the lawns. He grabs them, sometimes managing two in his mouth, and runs into the house like they were his trophy from a game. Over the months he has managed to collect seventeen such balls. They are all identical and yet he rummages through his toy box to choose a particular one; this absolutely beats me!

So, Spooky and I play the game - our version of hide-n-seek. We go through the drill: I throw the ball, he runs to fetch it, I hide, he gets the ball, drops it off somewhere, begins his search for me, finds me, we both run to get the ball, as I search for it, he quickly goes to his toy box and picks up another from there and declares himself the winner. He barks and I scream ‘CHEATER’! 

To clarify: as his ‘mom’, I haven’t given him those ‘values’. It’s that darned desire to win that has!