If you were roaming around aimlessly on the streets of the fishing village of Cascais near Lisbon yesterday, you would have seen a strange sight- a man and a bear hugging each other in public.
That’s me, by the way, the big, fat one.
OK OK, I understand, not enough information.
I’m the brown one.
I get it, still not enough info.
OK, so I’m the hairy one.
Oh God, how do I explain
Aah, got it. I am the one wearing the sunglasses. All clear now? Can I please continue? Thank you.
Coming back to my story, the bear in the picture is Bruno, my best friend. And we are not hugging in the picture, I am trying to hold him back, because he is hell-bent on attacking his enemies all on his own.
“Have you gone crazy, Bruno?” I almost shouted at him.
“I’ve never been saner in my life,” he replied in a deep voice, which, to be fair, is his normal voice.
“But you can’t expect to go up against so many of them and win,” I tried again.
“You don’t understand, do you,” he said plaintively, “It’s MY castle, and they took it from me by treachery. I have the blood of generations of martial killing machines in my veins, I can’t let my ancestors down like this. I’m going to reclaim my castle, so what if I am alone.”
“You are not alone my friend ” I said, hugging him again, “we shall do it together.”
And so, together, as one, we ran through the streets of Cascais, crossed the pretty squares…
stopping only to grab some sardines from the table of a hugely-surprised tourist
and finally, found ourselves at the beach.
“Are you sure about this?” Bruno asked me.
“Let’s do it,” I grinned and replied.
And then, taking a few steps back, we ran, and jumped, straight on to the beach, to reclaim Bruno’s sand castle from the kids who had won it from him in a game of cards.
jagahdilmein 