Smart or Dumb?

“Smart or Dumb?” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Tan Khai Lok, Malaysia.

Smart or Dumb?

Trever the trout lived in the South Lake across the countryside. He was very good in catching cray fish. However he was not that smart, or you may call it naïve. His brother, Toby on the other hand was as cunning as a fox and as lazy as a toad. Toby has tricked Trever many times before. This made Trever very upset and furious. But since he was naïve, he forgot easily. One sunny afternoon, Toby was very hungry. He decided to come out with a plan to trick Trever to look for food. After careful planning, Toby came up with a plan. He said to Trever “If you catch me a cray fish, I will build you a stone castle.” “But I want a stone palace!” exclaimed Trever. Toby was annoyed. “It is the same thing!” yelled Toby.

So they swam to North Lake as there were a lot of cray fish hiding in between the big rocks there. On the way there, they met Andrew the trout bully. “Where do you think you are going?” snarled Andrew. “What do you want from us?” asked Trever, curiously. “I can help you.” “Help? Are you sure you can help me?” asked Andrew grinning. “Would you just leave us alone?” said Toby. “I don’t think we can help you with anything”. “I shall……..eat both of you for dinner,” laughed Andrew as he charged towards both of them. (Bigger trout sometimes eat smaller trout for food.) Both of them dodged it. “I love to eat trout fins as they are a delicacy,” said Andrew as he charged to Trever. Trever slammed himself against Andrew. Andrew hit the wall. Some rocks fell and cut his fins. “There, you have got fins to eat now. So eat them.” The two quickly swam away from the mad Andrew. “Wow Trever, that was a brave act!” said Toby, impressed. “I actually slammed into him because I thought he was going to give me a hug,” said Trever.

They swam on north. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed Trever. “Hooray, I got a new friend, and he is holding me!” “Oh no!” yelled Toby as Trever was pulled out from the stream. Toby cried for a few minutes. “I will always be hungry and I will have no one to play tricks on.” Suddenly, he saw Trever in front of his very eyes, laughing. “Do you really care about me? asked Trever. Toby was flabbergasted. “How did you make it out alive? asked Toby. “Well, at first I felt fine. Then I feel something squeezed on my body tightly, so I bit the hand with all my might and in seconds the hand let go. He must be a child I think for he looked pretty small sized and young. I hope I didn’t hurt him though, said Trever, worried. “Nah, so long you are fine!” said Toby. “Trever, I need to tell you something. Are you smart or dumb?” First, you beat Andrew, the big bully. Then you freed yourself from being captured by the child. I will never ever trick you again.” Well, let’s hope that Toby keeps his words.