Doug and the Fox

By Max Halim, Grade 8

It was a cold afternoon as the animals went one-by-one into the garden to pick food. The friendly farmer had opened his garden to the animals for that day only so no creature would go hungry over the long winter. At the end of the long line was Fox. It had been a long day for him, and his wife had sent him to run a few errands before it got too dark.

 “Let's just get this over with. I can almost smell the rotisserie chicke– I mean steamed vegetables from here.”

A chicken looked at him funny. 

As the line grew shorter and shorter, the fox started to get more impatient. “Why is the line so long?”

Fifteen minutes passed and Fox started to get worried. The garden closed in an hour and if he came home empty-handed, his wife would not be happy.

Unfortunately, in that line was Doug the Sloth. Now Doug was not the sharpest tool in the shed, and was known to make really, really, long decisions. And, unfortunately for Fox, today was just one of those days. Doug first took a good 15 minutes to get a good look at all his choices, and another 15 trying to decide whether he wanted tomatoes or cucumbers in his salad. Fox was having none of this.

After another 10 minutes of time wasting, Fox went up to Doug and started to chew him out for being so slow.

 “People have things to do, man, and waiting in line is not one of those things!” Fox exclaimed.

“Errrrrrm, it's not my fault you guys came so late,” Doug droned. The crowd started rioting.

Just then, the farmer came out. 

“What is all this ruckus?”

“Doug here takes so damn long to decide that none of us get anything,” Fox explained.

“Is this true?” The Farmer asked Doug.

“Uhhh, I don’t know, man.”

“If you can’t make a decision, then I’ll make it for you.”

The Farmer gave Doug a moldy carrot and kicked him out.

So, the moral of the story is to not take too long to make decisions. If you already do, I hope you have a miserable life.