Back and back and further back still, there lived a puppy, Enzo by name. Now Enzo was not your average puppy. He was very energetic and liked to bound about like other puppies, it’s true. But Enzo was also a very tubby puppy. So much so that when he curled up, he looked as round as a ball.
Enzo lived in Bree. His poppa was ranger of the nearby woods. Every morning, Enzo would trot alongside his poppa as he set out on patrol. And every night he would curl up, looking as round as a ball, to listen to his poppa as he shared the details of his day.
“Someday, you’ll be a ranger too, Enzo…” his poppa would tell him.
“Oh yes, poppa! I’m gonna be the bestest ranger ever!” Enzo would answer.
Sometimes, Enzo would go into the woods to play. He had a favorite tree on a hill that he would go to. There, he’d pretend he was a ranger like his poppa and that the tree was his territory to protect.
One day, as Enzo was standing guard over his tree, a wolf passed by.
Enzo bounded out in front of the wolf, “No one may pass Ranger Enzo!”
But the wolf simply batted Enzo away with a paw, causing the poor puppy to tumble and fall rolling down the hill. The wolf laughed and went on his way.
And so it would happen again and again. Enzo would run out to block a passer-by only to get knocked down the hill and get dizzy from all the rolling.
But there was one fur who did not push poor Enzo: a handsome cat with blue eyes who liked to hunt for bits of string and shinies.
“Hold your ground, kitty!” the puppy told the cat.
“Surely I would, my roly-poly little friend,” the cat answered, “Only my paws are all wet and slippery. Were I to hold the ground, I most certainly would drop it!”
Enzo blinked, “That makes no sense!”
The cat grinned, “I suppose it doesn’t.”
“You can’t pass through here,” the would-be ranger told the cat.
“Are you sure? That path says different.”
Enzo looked down the path that lay ahead of them, “Okay…you *CAN* pass through here, but only if *I* give you permission!”
The cat nodded, looking very serious, “And do you give me permission?”
Enzo thought about it for a second. The cat seemed friendly enough. He hadn’t pushed Enzo down the hill like all the others. “You can pass!” he told the cat solemnly.
“Excellent! I’d hate to have had to turn back after coming all this way! Truly, you are a kind and noble ranger!” The cat gave the puppy a little bow.
The little dog puffed his chest out with pride, “My name is Enzo!”
“Pleased to meet you, Enzo!” the cat said with a smile. “My name is Pepetus, but you can call me Pepe. All my friends do!” For Pepe the king of cats it was, only this was in the days before he had a crown to be recognized by.
“Okay Pepe!” Enzo said happily, wagging his tail. “Where are you going?”
“Here, there and anywhere…” Pepe answered, “But mostly I’m going where my paws carry me.”
“Why?”
The cat scritched his ear, thinking, “Well, I suppose it’s because I never learned how to fly!”
Enzo laughed. Pepe was so silly! “Cats can’t fly!” he told the cat.
Pepe grinned, “I guess that explains why I never learned how!”
Enzo and Pepe continued to talk for a long time. Enzo laughed a lot at the silly things Pepe would say and Pepe seemed pleased to say silly things for Pepe to laugh at. But then, as with all good things that must come to an end, it was time for Pepe to carry on his way.
“It was nice talking to you, Enzo, but I have to go. Since I can’t fly, I have to walk and it’s ever so much slower.”
Enzo was sad to see his new friend go, but it was getting late and he had to go home as well. “Okay,” he said sadly. “Do you think you might come back here again, some day?”
Pepe smiled, “Well, I never know where my paws will carry me until I get there. Chances are though, that eventually they’ll have to step some of the same steps they’ve stepped before. And since *these* are steps I’ve stepped before there’s always a chance I’ll step them again.”
Enzo was satisfied with that answer, “Okay! Take care Pepe!”
“And you, Sir Enzo, noblest of the roly-poly puppies!” And with that, the cat was on his way.
Many years passed, and through them all Enzo fondly remembered the fine afternoon he’d had with the silly cat.
As he predicted, Pepe’s paws did come to step the same steps he’d stepped before and some of those steps did lead him back to Bree. And this time he did have a crown to recognize him by.
Enzo was all grown up and not nearly as roly-poly. He was a ranger for real now with a family of his own and many responsibilities. Still, seeing Pepe walk up the path made him smile. Enzo didn’t even need the crown to recognize him.
He went out to meet his friend, “Hello Pepe! I’d like for you to meet my son!” And thus began another fine afternoon…
