One Good Turn
by Marvin Pinkis
Augustus
Maximus Smith went for a stroll along a dusty
Roman road, whistling a tune from a new musical
at the Forum, with “All’s well with the
world” written all over his puss.
Rounding a
bend in his path, Augie was taken aback to sight
a lion, sprawled on the ground groaning like you
never heard a lion groan before. The beast
didn’t appear threatening so our man
gingerly approached.
“What’s
wrong, big fella?” The lion stuck out his
paw which revealed a protruding thorn of a large
dimension.
“I see.
You got an owie. We better do something about
that.” Having said that, Aug deftly pulled
out the irritant after which the lion roared in
great relief.
The lion spoke.
“You came to my rescue, you wonderful man,
you. How can I ever repay you?”
The man
replied, “Well, let’s see. You can buy
a box of my daughter’s Girl Scout cookies.”
“Are they
expensive? I don’t have much money on me.”
So they parted
and both felt a bond had evolved.
It so happened
later in a scene at the Colisseum, two ferocious
lions awaited the entrance into the arena of
several soon to be tasty morsels to the delight
of a packed house.
As the humans
entered, a lion turned to the other and said,
“Hey, Leo, isn’t that dude on the left
the guy who removed the thorn from your paw?
Should he be spared?”
“Hell no.
I missed breakfast and lunch. I’m starved.”
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