On a hot July afternoon, the neighborhood dogs headed over to Dogwood Beach to enjoy a day at the beach. Rookie, Nora, and Dozier loved splashing in the ocean water year round, but especially on hot summer days. While Rookie grabbed a cool drink, Nora and Dozier played catch with a tennis ball at the water’s edge. The conditions were perfect – sunny skies, nice ocean breeze, and best friends at the beach.
Rookie was not only good at catching tennis balls, frisbees, and other flying objects. He was a great passer as well. “Hey Dozier, see if can catch this sky ball,” barked Rookie. Rookie tossed the tennis ball high in the air as Nora watched from the shoreline. Dozier, up to the task, jumped straight up and snagged the tennis ball in the air. “Hey, we need to get a contract with the Raiders,” yelped Rookie. The dog friends were having a blast.
Dozier, a great catcher but not the best passer, wound up and threw one way over Nora’s head, way over Rookie’s head, and out into the incoming waves of Dogwood Beach. The current was strong and the ball started to drift out further than the dogs would have liked to have gone. “Ahhh, sorry fellas, I guess I don’t know my own strength,” barked an apologetic Dozier. “That’s okay, Dozier, I’m not afraid of waves,” barked Rookie, “I’ll get it right quick.”
Rookie set out to recover the now drifting tennis ball. The waves were short and Rookie was a good swimmer. Rookie made it out to where he thought he spotted the tennis ball, but it was gone. He treaded water for a moment, spinning around in a circular motion. He looked to the shore and Dozier and Nora were pointed behind him. Much to Rookie’s surprise and wonder was a playful dolphin. And it had the tennis ball on its nose.
The playful and curious dolphin, it turns out, was watching the neighborhood dogs play catch on the beach and waited until it was its turn to play. The dolphin swam the tennis ball in and flipped it over to Nora, as Rookie swam in the dolphin’s wake. The crowd of beachgoers watched as Nora caught the dolphin’s tennis ball toss in her mouth. “Wow, Nora,” barked a now exhausted and panting Rookie after swimming to shore, “that was an awesome catch. Where did you learn that?” Nora joked back, “from watching you all these years.”
Well, the dolphin, after making a splash with his new neighborhood dog friends and the beachgoers at Dogwood Beach, did a few flips out of the water for his fans before returning to his school. The neighborhood dog friends sat at the water’s edge and waved to their new tennis ball fetching friend. Rookie, tennis ball in his mouth, barked to his two dog friends, “okay who is ready for Round 2, go long Nora!!!”
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