By Fleur Lind
Sam saw it first, so by rights, in the true and correct order of things, it belonged to him.
It was off in the distance, by an old plot in an area that was seldom visited. That corner of the graveyard was a bit neglected with broken head stones and faded fake flowers, so to see this sweet, bright, tasty offering was a nice surprise and a free lunch.
Always cautious of competition or danger, Sam carefully made his way closer to the posy, across the grass and mindful of being watched. His tiny eyes were wide, his ears on alert and his nose twitched.
Safely within a metre of the grave, there was lunch, in all its glory. A bouquet of fresh flowers. How delicious! He relaxed his stance from cautious-hunter-mode to the more relaxed demeanour of ready to nibble and devour. He licked his lips, but his pink tongue froze in motion when he saw trouble on the other side of the plot.
Sam and Stan, arch-rivals of all things tasty in the graveyard, eyeballed each other. Sam was hungry and had no intention of sharing his prize with anyone. Strangely enough, Stan was thinking the very same thing. The two wild, grave-robbing European Hamsters eyeballed each other.
There was only one way to settle this.
With that, they lunged at each other, their high kicks putting even the best moves on the box-office hit ‘Karate Kid’, to shame. They flew hamster-high in the air, their legs spread wide as they twisted to get the best kick. The fight was fierce, neither wanting to stand down.
Sam deployed his killer-kick to Stan’s unmentionables, rendering him unable to reciprocate. Sam regrouped and moved in on his bouquet. Stan limped as he shuffled off, needing to lick his pride, ready to fight another day.
Sam started demolishing the bouquet, much to the annoyance of the graveyard keeper and the grieving family. He then spied candles in coloured glass jars. The candle wax would make for a tasty, fattening dessert. Greedily, he stuck his head in the jar, but his wide cheeks made his exit difficult.
Stan watched on from a distance, eating another tasty offering. He grinned, pleased that Sam had bitten off more than he could chew!
