When Jake and a Joe opened their eyes they saw the bright blue creature was holding them, and the pole had fallen into the hole.

“Maybe this is a trap and this creature is going to eat us up!” cried Joe.

“Shno! I wouldn’t do that, and I couldn’t do that because I signed the Agreement of the Pond,” said the creature. At Ponderings Pond there is an agreement among many of the critters that they will not do such a thing to each other. The agreement, part of the Law of the Pond, was written by the Keeper of the Pond.

“You signed the agreement?” asked Jake as the bright blue creature laid them gently on the ground.

“Yesh,” said the critter.

“Uh, well, uh welcome to the Pond. I am Snake Jake and this is my friend, Snake Joe,” said Jake.

“My name is Shnertz,” said the creature.

“Shnertz?” said both snakes.

“Uh, Shnertz, I, uh, want to say I, uh, am sorry for making fun of you the other day,” said Jake.

“Me too. I’m so sorry,” said Joe.

“That’s ok guys, I forgive you,” said Shnertz.

“It was that, well, er, we have never seen a creature like you before. You are not a bird, fish, donkey or snake. What are you?” asked Jake.

“I am a shnozzlelaramus from Paramus,” said Shnertz.

Jake and Joe never saw a shnozzlelaramus before, and they had never heard of Paramus.

“What’s Paramus?” asked Joe.

“A place in New Jersey. They have many big stores there. I have a lot of stuff from Paramus. Wait, let me show you,” said Shnertz and darted under the shed. In just a few seconds, he came out with a couple of toy cars.

“Hey those are neat,” said Joe.

“And you know what we can do with them?” asked Shnertz. Both snakes said they did not know.

“We can use this big pole that has fallen as a ramp for toy car races,” explained Shertz.

Jake and Joe now realized that the creature they had made fun of was going to be a pretty good friend. He was big but fast, and seemed to be quite smart too.

So they played with cars, racing them down the pole, and there was laughter again. But, this time they were all laughing together, and everyone felt really good inside.