Cat and Dog sat out in the park. They were silent for a while, but they were ready to come out again.
“Wow”, said Cat.
“Wow, wow”, said Dog.
They had two quarts of genuine Belizean rum this time.
“Couldn’t come out with less. We might need a third, because this s—t is crazy.”said Dog. “I’ve seen a lot of things, but these guys take the cake.”
“I guess they’re some of the few that can have their cake and eat it too,” Cat seemed a bit distracted by the blackbirds that were just out of his range, so near, so far.
“What a f——g stupid cliché,” Dog growled. “Have your cake and eat it too. Who was the lame brain that came up with that loser? It ain’t their cake; it’s ours that they’re eating. Cat, why are you looking at those damn birds? You never caught one in your life and you probably never will. They got you timed and they’re laughing at you!”
“I’ve seen you chasing them too, Dog. Dogs can’t catch their tail if it was glued to the ground. At least I’ve got a prayer. I’m a cat, remember?”
“Yeah,” replied Dog sarcastically. “I guess the only one who doesn’t have a prayer any more is Belize. By the time the Laawd, the Fonseca’s and Said finish with us, there won’t even be any garbage to eat, not that I eat garbage.”
“Tell me about it,” Cat had a wicked grin on his face. “Didja forget when you said that garbage is better than dry dog food? Besides, even if Said is finished, the Laawd will still be there. He got his hooks into both parties, remember?”
“How can I forget?” groaned Dog. “My cousin called me yesterday, he’s a Belizean-American dog, y’know and he was pissed because KREM was off the Internet.”
“Gimme a break,” howled Cat. “Your cousin can use the Internet and the phone?”
“I tol’ you long time,” Dog was having fun. “Dogs are smarter ‘n Cats.”
“Yeah right.” Cat flexed his claws menacingly. “Anyhow, none of you smart dogs are smart enough to know that KREM is back on the ‘Nnet. Too bad: Laawd. By the way, why didja tell me to meet me in the park instead of by the seawall where we usually meet?”
Dog looked at him and shook his shaggy head. “Are you crazy? We gotta be careful. Do you wanna be kidnapped and held without food or water for days?”
“Cats have lived for over a week without water, unlike your kind,” was the reply. “Besides who would wanna kidnap us?”
Dog looked at his friend and shook his head. “We appear in Amandala, don’t we? Partridge Street and anyone associated with it is a target. It appears that all the so-called ‘rules’ have gone by the board. Everything is ass backwards.”
“I’ll give you that much,” was Cat’s answer. “What Said and his partners in crime are doing is something that some governments do at the beginning of a term in office, when they have maybe three or four years left to recover and to try to make the voters forget, but never less than a year before a general election. What’re they thinking?”
Dog sniffed the air. “I smell rain,” he growled. “Besides, I don’t know that ‘thinking’ is a term that can be applied to those people. Do they actually think that they can win a general election?”
“Sure,” replied Cat. “If they can rig it or buy it. Don’t put anything past them.”
“I don’t anymore,” was Dog’s answer. “Any number can play. Look how clever they tried to be with the Aikman kidnapping. The top cop says he believes it was a hoax. How convenient. Now the cops can give a ‘reason’ as to why they have discontinued their investigation. It wouldn’t do to have to admit that they had something to do with it.”
Dog took a big sip of his rum and coke. Damn, it was disappearing fast.
“Hey,” Cat looked at Dog. “You are one hell of a greedy dog. Save some for me, and, didja see Johnny and Eamon on TV? ‘We are good PUP’s.’ Those two must think that we are all simple. Who wants to hear that crap?”
“Nobody I know,” Dog belched. He had taken too big of a swig. “I also heard the PM say that it’s necessary to lie some of the time. What a bunch we have up there. I can’t recall a politician anywhere openly admitting that he’s a liar. Of course politicians lie, but publicly admitting it, and acting just matter of fact about it? Unreal!”
Cat took his glance off of the blackbirds that he was still watching out of the corner of his eye. Times were getting tough. The cat food dish wasn’t as full as it used to be.
“That sure says something about a man’s character, doesn’t it?”
The two of them were silent for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts. A slight gust of wind brought with it the scent of rain that Dog had picked up on earlier. It also blew around a few pages of a newspaper that some careless litterbug had discarded. Dog put his paw on one page and looked down at it.
"Hey, look at this,” Dog said.
Cat looked at the paper. It was an Amandala editorial dated Wed. June 13th, entitled “The punishment of Mark Espat.” Cat and Dog read the editorial, slowly, very slowly. It was amazing that they could read at all, but it just goes to show that if you want something bad enough………. This time they were silent for even longer.
Dog was the first to speak. “Well who would’ve thunk it?” Being a dog, he wasn’t always grammatically correct, as you have probably noticed. “This English guy has spent the last twenty so years of his life buying a country for himself. Yeah he can throw his weight around in England; all wealthy people have clout somewhere, but I betcha that the kind of stuff he gets away with here wouldn’t be tolerated over there. He doesn’t own the British House of Commons and imagine what would happen to him if he openly disobeyed the English courts! Over here he acts as though he’s judge, jury and executioner. Talk about white supremacy!”
Cat was silent again for a few seconds. Then he slowly said, “Dog, let me tell you something. There are people, and animals, that become too full of themselves. They are used to always getting their own way. They are mean, devious bullies; they throw their weight around at every opportunity and they do a hell of a lot of damage to a hell of a lot of lives, but sooner or later they run into things that they can’t handle. You remember Killer, the huge gray cat that lived down the lane? He used to terrorize the whole neighborhood. When we finally had enough of him, ten of us took him on at once. He was far bigger’n any one of us, but when we all worked together he was cut down to size fast, real fast! That’s what it takes, working together. We may have our differences, but we put them aside to meet the greater threat.”
“I don’t know,” said Dog. “Working together seems to be something that’s extremely hard to do. It sure doesn’t happen often.”
“It’s already happening,” replied Cat. “There are people who are not at all afraid of this guy. Many Belizean Americans are now lining up in defense of their homeland. They have resources and they sure know a white supremacist when they see one. What helped to energize them? Well, when KREM was openly attacked and then cut off the ‘Net, people over there began to wake up. BREDAA was reborn, among other things. It kinda backfired on the Laawd. Mark and Cordel stood up. They have big cojones, serious! Respect! So has the entire Kremandala organization. Sure they took some licks and they will certainly take some more, but the word is out and the Laawd’s days as the untouchable ruler who can snap his fingers and get what he wants, are numbered. So are the days of those who are helping him. Those guys forgot something. The Laawd can stay in England. Think he’s going to help them to settle in a white man’s country? As far as the Laawd is concerned, they are just a bunch of greedy, fawning niggers and spics, to be used to the fullest until it’s time to discard them! Equal partners? What a joke!”
They both sat silently, watching the rain that was coming in from the sea, hoping that it would wash away some of the stench of lies and corruption that permeated the air. The words of the late Sam Cooke could be heard floating in on the rain breeze from a box that was being played somewhere down the block, “It’s been a long time comin’, a long time but I know, I know a change is gonna come. Yes, it will.”