Fishel and Faivish Friedman were walking home from school, in the middle of yet another argument. This time, it was about which could fly faster, birds or bees.

“It’s birds, dummy!” declared Fishel rudely.

“It’s bees, and you’re the dummy!” Faivish shot back.

“Birds are twice as fast as bees!”

“You mean birds are twice as slow as bees. Actually, make that ten times as slow. Actually, make that a hundred.”

They paused just then to greet Moishy Morris, who was walking past with his little sister Miriam on the way to Gavriel’s Grocery Store.

“Hey, Moishy!” chirped Fishel.

“Hi, Moishy!” echoed Feivish.

“Hello,” Moishy responded. Miriam offered up a shy, dimpled smile, but Fishel and Faivish ignored the little girl altogether, not deeming her worthy of their notice.

The brothers had walked on, and were ready to resume their fight, when they encountered rather an unpleasant surprise. It was by the cat shelter, where an elderly woman kept dozens of yowling cats. In the front yard, a new structure had been added that looked awfully like a dog kennel. And as they drew closer, they realized that not only did it look like a dog kennel, it was a dog kennel. And to make things worse, prowling back and forth in front of it was a black dog.

Curiously, the cats didn’t seem to mind; they and the dog ignored each other. But Fishel and Faivish were convinced the dog was looking at them threateningly. And when he started to make a move in their direction, Fishel and Faivish simply turned and fled.

The dog immediately gave chase.

“Help! He’s coming after us!”

“Yikes! What a great, big brute!”

Unfortunately, at that moment both brothers turned around — at exactly the same time — to see how close the dog was.

Crash! They collided with each other, and fell down in a jumble of hands and legs.

“Get off me!” yelled Fishel at his brother.

“You’ve gotta get off me first!” roared Faivish.

They nervously checked to see where the dog was, heaving a huge sigh of relief at seeing that he was in the yard.

Fishel and Faivish dusted themselves off as best they could. They barely noticed Moishy and Miriam walking back from the store. But a few seconds later Fishel turned to his brother.

“Hey! We should warn them about the dog!”

“That terrible monster, you mean,” Faivish corrected him.

They looked around for the Morrises, only to be met with an astonishing sight.

Moishy and Miriam were standing outside the cat shelter, looking perfectly calm.

“I remember what Jolly Solly said,” declared Miriam. “If we see a dog, we shouldn’t run away.”

“Well done,” Moishy praised her. “He told us to stand and look away, turning our faces and bodies away.”

Fishel and Faivish stared openmouthed as Moishy and Miriam did just that. The “great, big brute” simply retreated, and sat itself down on its haunches with a bored expression.

“How did you get him to back off?” called Fishel, scared to come closer.

“He tried to kill us before,” added Faivish.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 730)