Let’s meet the outdoors – but who’s gonna drive me home?

In the last few weeks Charley the chameleon has been nagging his friends to go on a hike with him. Blake and Benjamin the bulldogs insisted on staying on their skateboards the whole way.

‘No, that’s too dangerous,’ Charley told them.

‘It’s not. We are like pros, we are literally grown together with our board,’ Blake tried to convince him.

‘Our boards are like legs to us,’ Benjamin added. ‘And you promised we could go on skateboards, remember?

Charley had no choice, but to agree. A promise is a promise, after all. He also invited Delilah and Dylan the dachshunds, because he was worried about their fitness, as they always drove everywhere. ’You have to come and meet the outdoors,’ Charley said.

’We are outdoors all the time,’ Delilah replied, ’we drive everywhere in our convertible.’

’You can’t call that outdoors,’ Charley said.

Delilah looked at Dylan for support, but he actually liked the idea of not speeding, but walking for a change. ‘This way we could spend time with our friends,’ he told her, ‘and at the end of the hike, I’m sure we can all have some ice cream in our favorite parlor’ he added.

‘Well, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, all that sugar…,’ Charley started, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw the disappointed look on Dylan’s face. ‘…is actually useful after a nice walk,’ he finished the sentence, smiling.

The little group met on a sunny Saturday and headed to the nearby hills. Charley kept looking back over his shoulder to check that the bulldogs are doing fine, but to his great surprise, they managed to keep up with the others on their skateboards. Everyone was having an amazing time. Around noon they sat down on a clearing and shared food from their lunchboxes, just like on a picnic. When they turned around and headed back, Dylan suddenly said to Blake: ‘Can I try skateboarding? It’s downhill from here on and I’ve done it many times before in the park.’

‘Sure, why not?’ Blake agreed.

Charley was not keen on the idea, he was afraid that Dylan is not as experienced as the bulldogs, but Delilah reassured him, ‘Don’t worry, he’s really talented at sports. He isn’t like me at all.’ Dylan smiled at her and kissed her, then stepped on the skateboard with Benjamin by his side for support. They stayed at the back while the others walked at the front. The little group progressed fast, as the route downhill was much easier. Everyone was chatting cheerfully, when they suddenly heard a scream and a thud from behind.

‘Aah! My ankle!’ Dylan yelled. Everyone ran back and saw Dylan lying on his side and holding his ankle with a painful expression on his face. Delilah started crying.

‘I think you’ve sprained your ankle,’ Blake said, ‘mine looked exactly the same when I sprained it. It’s going to turn blue and get swollen very soon.’ His twin brother looked at him, shook his head and mouthed ‘Don’t’.

‘But don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it looks. It won’t hurt that much. It won’t even need to be put in a cast,’ Blake corrected himself.

Charley was really worried. ‘What are we going to do? He can’t walk like this. How are we going to get down the hill?’

‘We can carry him,’ Benjamin offered. The two bulldogs gave their skateboards to Charley and Delilah and picked Dylan up. They were walking slowly and carefully, but after a few minutes they were panting so hard that they had to stop.

‘How can you be so heavy, Dylan?’ Blake asked.

‘Well, I guess I must have eaten a lot of sausages lately,’ Dylan said apologetically.

‘OK, we can’t go on like this. We can’t get off the hill fast enough and it’s going to get dark soon,’ Benjamin said.

‘Oh, no! I knew it! We shouldn’t have let him skateboard,’ Charley cried.

‘Man, calm down! We’ll solve it,” Benjamin tried to reassure him. The boys were thinking hard when Delilah said quietly, ‘I know what we should do. Actually, I have a confession to make.’ Everyone looked at her questioningly. ‘I wasn’t sure that we can do this hiking thing and thought we would get exhausted, so yesterday I parked the convertible behind the bushes next to the road, halfway up the hill.’

Blake burst out laughing, ‘Hilarious! Delilah, you’re amazing!’

‘You shouldn’t have underestimated yourselves and to be honest, I’m a bit disappointed, but now it comes in handy,’ Charley said. Everyone agreed. Delilah left quickly to get the car. When she got back, the bulldogs placed Dylan carefully on the back seat.

‘Let’s meet at the ice cream parlor,’ Delilah said. ‘We deserve a treat after this ordeal.’

‘It was just a hike, not an ordeal,’ Charley said sulkily.

‘Never mind,’ Benjamin patted his shoulder. ‘We had a great time and ice cream is always a fantastic idea.’ So the little group headed to the ice cream place. Dylan got a pack of ice to put on his ankle and when he got his bowl of chocolate and strawberry flavor, he was feeling much better already. The friends laughed a lot and agreed that the hike turned out to be a cool adventure. Even Charley smiled when he found out that the parlor had sugar and fat-free desserts.