Not even old Hjunt could remember a summer this hot. It had warmed up two degrees in his cellar and he was already looking for a pair of scissors to give his coat a summer haircut. But what were we, who live on the top floor of a block of flats, to say?
My beloved friends had gone to the countryside with their parents, Mrs. Simon had taken a vacation and gone somewhere in the mountains, and Mr. Carlos had bought ice cream, which Sneak had stolen and eaten, so Mr. Carlos had to go and buy a new one.
It was so crowded and hot in the building that we didn’t sleep well at night.
“How about we go to the water too?” …I thought one afternoon, as Sneak was rollíng around in his bed, panting from the heat.
“Sneaks from the block of flats don’t travel from their block of flats as a matter of principle,” I quoted a lesson from school.
“I didn’t say we were going anywhere. We’re not leaving the block. There is sea in Mrs. Simon’s apartment, and I think it’s time to go on a little vacation.”
“The sea? How could she have the sea in her apartment?” I was confused.
But Sneak smiled, filled with pride (or ice cream?), and told me to follow him.
We zigzagged through the hallways to Mrs. Simon’s apartment. He led the way expertly and soon we found ourselves by the sea. But it was so square, it looked a little different in the books.
“I’m going to make a leap with my paws, watch this,” Sneak proudly puffed up with pride, climbed up on the cabinet, stood on the edge of the transparent water box and made a graceful leap.
With a splash, Sneak landed in the water until a little water spilled over the edge and the carpet was soaked in water.
“Come on, let’s see what the water’s like,” he called to me as he swam in the strange pool.
So I climbed up too and carefully dipped one paw in the water.
“It’s wet,” I said. “But nice.”
“Come on, follow me.”
He panted, held his breath, and sank in. He disappeared somewhere beneath the surface among the green plants and pebbles.
I dove in. Splash! Wow, that felt good. Immediately, Sneak and I started chasing each other, splashing water all over each other, when suddenly something brushed against me.
“What was that?”
“Probably a flower,” Sneak waved his hand over it.
“It wasn’t a flower, it was red.”
“A fish, I guess. Those are in the sea too.”
I swam to the edge of the squarish sea. I looked to see if I could see the fish there. But Sneak made waves so I could hardly see the bottom. Suddenly, however, Sneak shouted.
“Ow! Something bit my tail!”
In a moment he was on the cabinet beside the sea, spinning around, trying to reach his tail. He had an orange-red fish bitten into it.
“Hold on, I’ll get it off you.”
I quickly walked over to him and caught the fish in my teeth. It was wet and salty, yuck. I immediately spit it back into the sea.
“Are you all right?”
Sneak took another look at his tail, then shook his head.
“That’s a shame. The old hag must have gotten piranhas. Swimming is over.”
“Too bad. It was quite refreshing,” I agreed, watching as the school of biting fish joined together and bared their teeth at us.
“There is no one else here in this prefab who has an fishbowl,” Sneak said sadly.
“A fishbowl? What’s that?”
“It’s our sea, you simpleton. Come on, let’s go chill in the fridge.”
And so we chilled in the fridge. It wasn’t bad, but I have to admit, it was better when we were in Mr. Carlos’ fridge. He had lots of goodies in there. With a full belly, we rolled off to our bed where we slept very nicely.
The next day the temperature dropped sharply and the heat was over. Mrs. Simon returned from her vacation and loudly scolded her fish for splashing while she was away and spilling half the fish tank on the carpet, which she can now just as easily throw away. Mr. Carlos willingly came to help her roll up the carpet and take it out.
But the big temperature drop caused the temperature in the basement to drop five degrees from normal, so our old Hjunt was shaking like a leaf. He’d already cut his hair. And he’d gone a bit overboard, looking like one of those dogs without fur.
To keep him from getting cold, we went up to the attic with Sneak, dug out an old puppy sweater with pictures of reindeer, trees and snowflakes and dress Hjunt in it. I wish you could have seen him, he looked like a wide-eyed cat under the Christmas tree. We were laughing for a long time in our beds.
Well, good night, kids, and don’t swim in the fishbowl. Or find out what kind of fish live in there before you do, so you don’t end up like Sneak.