GIANT FRIENDS Tolerance (Chapter 7)

                                                              TOLERANCE

 Chapter 7 


The next morning when Shoebill entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast for Zenix and their guest, he noticed something strange outside the window on the ground. He was shocked to see that it was Victor surrounded by small heaps of dirt. He hurried outside.

“Wake-up, wake up, Victor. What are you doing out here on the ground? How did all this dirt get here?”

“Oh, good morning Shoebill. I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t sure where to sleep so I dug myself a bed out here.”

“But I gave you a bed in the house. – A nice soft bed – where you’d be safe. Didn’t you like the bed I gave you?”

 “Well, actually, I sleep in a hollow in the ground, Shoebill. That’s why I dug this one out here. It was a long way to walk down to the forest where the ants are, and I was hungry for ants. That’s what we aadvaark’s do. This big long snout I have is special for digging. We go out in the night and sleep all day. I’d just dozed off when you work me.”

 “Oh, sorry…”

 Shoebill felt a little embarrassed.

Victor slept soundly all day. Shoebill heard him snoring and grunting in his sleep while he worked around the mansion.

 Once again dinnertime became discussion time.

 “What am I going to do with him, Zenix?“ Shoebill asked his master.

“You know, ShoebillI, I’ve been thinking... Not everybody lives the same way; not everybody needs the same things or likes the same things, even the same food. Perhaps we need to ask Victor if he really thinks our home is convenient enough for him.  He could visit our home whenever he wishes. Perhaps I’ll go and speak with him.”

 So Zenix went out to talk to Victor. “What are you going to do about eating dinner, my friend?”

The sun was just fading in the west as the day was nearly over, and Victor was rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up. “Oh sorry Zenix, what a lovely sleep I had. No no, don’t worry about dinner for me thank you very much. I will get breakfast when I get to the forest. I hope Shoebill is not too upset about me not using his bed, but I was so longing for a sleep in a cool burrow. We nocturnal animals all have the same problem. We are awake when the rest of the world is asleep.”

Zenix thought about things for a few minutes, then he suggested, “Yes, I can see you have quite a dilemma. But this doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Shoebill and I would like you to visit us when ever you can even if you don’t stay here. Would you prefer to live near the lagoon in your own burrow?”

“Oh, you mean you wouldn’t mind if I lived on my own? But I could still come to visit you? Whenever I wanted? Really?”

“Of course! Of course!” Zenix reassured him. “You are welcome to live wherever you are most comfortable, and come to visit any time the whim takes you.”

To the surprise of Zenix, Victor jumped up out of his burrow and rubbed himself on Zenix’s legs. “You two are really something,” he said. “I’m almost a stranger still, and you have been so friendly to me. When I arrived I was so lost and alone. The storm left me almost unable to breathe for a short time. But now I’m so happy. I have found new friends in a new land, and everybody has been so kind. I’ve never seen such tolerance. You are all wonderful!.”

Victor looked up at Zenix with a big smile, then he shook himself and declared, “Man, am I hungry for a few ants. I’d better get going because I’ve got such a lot of work to do. Not only do I have to feed myself, but I’ve grown bigger since I got here and I must dig myself a new burrow near the lagoon. Do you want me to fill this one in before I go, Zenix?”

“No no, good friend. You have a long way to go and much work to be done. Go safely and remember to visit whenever you can, preferably for breakfast.”

Zenix shared the good news with Shoebill.

“Well, Shoebill, looks like we have a hole in the ground to fill in in the morning, and I suspect we’ll have a visitor for breakfast.”