"So we'll build a drawbridge, and a moat, and castle spikes-"

"And then try to cross the lillypads after."

"Exactly."

Cindy the Dalmatian and Tammy the Fox were both playing in the sandbox at the pool. Both girls loved swimming- in fact, that was how they had met! They had both just finished kindergarten, and they were doing so well in summer swim class that they didn't need floaties anymore! That made them feel very proud of themselves.

Then, two other cubs came up to the sandbox, a skunk and a pony. "Can we use the sandbox too?" the skunk said.

"Sure! We're working on making a sandcastle if you wanna help," Cindy said.

Tammy felt skeptical. It wasn't that she didn't want new friends, so much as she wasn't sure about sharing her best friend. "How about after we finish building, you can go swimming- with us," she added quickly.

"That sounds mighty nice," said the horse. "I don' reckon we've introduced ourselves- my name's Sherry, and this here's Samantha. We've been taking swimming classes here."

Now Tammy was interested. AS everyone sat down, she asked "Then how come I've never seen you?"

Sherry said "Oh, because we have the mornin'. We're here for fun today."

Well, Tammy thought, this wasn't so bad. They only had to wait until the sandcastle was done, and then they could all go do their own thing.

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Samantha asked Cindy.

Cindy rolled her eyes. "No, just the one cousin. He's a total dumb-cluck! Says he wants to be a cop when he grows up. I don't like that; I don't like people who tell others what to do, do you?"

"Uh...well, maybe, maybe no..." Samantha mumbled. She hadn't wanted the conversation to go that way.

It was getting to be an awkward first playdate. Tammy decided to break the silence by asking Cindy "How do you think we get across the lillypads?"

Cindy replied "I dunno. Its not easy to stand up on 'em without falling in the water."

"I have an idea for how to get across," said Sherry.

"How?" Tammy asked.

"If you can stand up on the lilly, I can tow you to the next one and you can take it. Then I tow you to the next one, and the next one- like that."

Tammy hadn't thought of it that way! "Are you sure? 'Cause Cindy tried it once, and it was too heavy."

"My daddy says I'm real strong. I got to pull the whole canoe back home when it sprung a leak once."

Why not? The swim coach always had said a winning game was a team effort, after all. "It can't hurt to try!"

"Well, mighty kind of ya! We'll try it when we're done here, okay?"

"I think we can try this later, actually," Cindy said. "These castle spikes won't stay on right. Let's go now!"

Maybe, Tammy thought as they all sprinted for the pool, ignoring the lifeguard's whistle, sharing old friends with new ones wouldn't be so bad after all.


A long, long overdue trade and story for  TheHotrodHero I'm sorry for putting you off for so long, mate. Not very charitable of me.

Pool Pals belong to  TheHotrodHero and can be found here- http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14693183/