It was the middle of summer in New Haven, Connecticut; and even on this day the sun wasn’t that hot due to how far north the state was. But certain animals were still keen for a cooling sensation:

 

At the river near Snob Hill, Tramp and Scamp were swimming. Tramp had just exited from the water and shook his fur dry, and then Scamp emerged from the water and gasped loudly due to lack of air because he had been under for too long. He slowly crept out of the river and also shook his fur dry, practically identical to how his father did; just like how they both scratched the same way. Scamp had grown to about the same size and height as his father, so the time that Tramp used to look down at his son was over. Tramp was now looking exactly straight ahead at his son.

 

“Ohh, that feels so good!” Scamp said in delight of refreshment. “We should do this more often, dad.”

 

“I know.” Tramp replied. “You just can’t get enough of it in summertime.”

 

“And it isn’t actually a bad way to take a bath. I guess I was wrong about that.” Scamp remembered how much he hated having baths, but this swimming was different because it actually felt good on the fur.

 

“Trust me, son; that is probably the best way to take a bath.” Tramp replied. “That is how I managed to keep myself good while I was out on the streets.”

 

“Well, I’ll take your word for it. I wish that I could bathe like this all the time without being scrubbed with shampoo and conditioner. It takes too long.”

 

“Gotta get used to it, Scamp. I’m sure you will.”

 

“I can’t promise that.” Scamp replied in a slightly disgruntled chuckle.

 

They then started to walk back to their home, which didn’t take very long at all.

 

*

 

When they got there, Lady, Annette, Collete and Danielle were lying in the living room sleeping. Scamp’s three sisters had all grown almost as large as their mother, signifying that their teen years had arrived. They were immediately woken up by the pair as they walked in.

 

“Ahhhh.” Lady yawned as she woke up. “Hello boys. How was your swim?”

 

“So refreshing.” Scamp replied.

 

“Yeah, you should all try it some time.” Tramp added.

 

“Ah, I don’t think so, dad!” Danielle snapped. “It’ll ruin the smooth feeling of my fur.”

 

“Not my cup of tea, thank you.” Annette said with a cold stare.

 

“We have our own private bath here, and that’s the way we like it.” Collette finished.

 

Lady just smiled at them and she kind of shared the thought in silence. Hand-bathing was her thing as well.

 

“Suit yourself, but you don’t know what you’re missing out on!” Scamp said to them. “That is the real way to take a bath.”

 

“But that’s not going to stop you from doing the same, Scamp.” Tramp said with a semi-serious look on his face in half-amusement. “You get the real clean in here.”

 

“Oh, please don’t mention it!” Scamp replied. He still didn’t like indoor bathing by the hands of Jim Dear, but he did promise that he would try.

 

“Ha-ha-ha! Scamp hates a bath! Scamp hates a bath! Scamp hates a bath!” The girls chanted in a ribbing manner.

 

“Alright, alright, cool it my girls!” Lady half yelled to quiet them down.

 

“Don’t worry, just teasing.” Collette said.

 

Scamp then went to turn on the TV to see what was on. The Browns had digital and so they could view any channel relating to news, documentaries, entertainment, sport, movies, and music. After flicking through a few channels, Scamp came across a sport that was currently being played on one of the sport channels. It was a football sport played on a 100 yard-plus length field; but it wasn’t like NFL, or gridiron, that usually appeared. This sport was played with 15 men per team who had no helmets and no shoulder or knee pads; but with shorts, long socks, tight jerseys, boots, and the odd guard or strapping tape on their heads. They played with an oval-shaped synthetic ball with no laces, and it was being thrown from player to player backwards, and whoever was running with the ball was constantly getting tackled. The players would then pile up on each other like a dog pile and try to get possession of the ball. The ball was also constantly getting kicked by both teams to gain metres and put pressure on each other. The referee would often blow his whistle and award penalties to each team at certain times.

 

Scamp became interested in this sport and watched it for a couple of minutes when his father spoke.

 

“What are you watching, son?”

 

“I don’t know, dad. Maybe you could tell me.”

 

Tramp looked at the sport on the TV and became curious himself, but also started getting addicted. He swore that he had heard of this sport before, but it had been so long since his last viewing.

 

It wasn’t until the whistle blew for half time that the commentators spoke the name of the sport:

 

“And that is half time here at Stade de France for this 2007 Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. South Africa appear to be holding on by the look of the stats but England are not giving up yet. We shall return to the breakdown of the match so far after the commercial break, so stay with us.”

 

Tramp’s eyes then lightened up at the mention of the sport, and he remembered.

 

“Yes, I can tell you, my boy. This sport is called rugby. I know about this sport because I actually watched it myself when I traveled to the southern districts of the city. They play it a lot down there at the collages.”

 

“Rugby? Is this a popular sport in the country?” Scamp asked.

 

“Not really, but it still gets played at a lot of collages across the country. The USA is renowned for baseball, basketball, hockey, gridiron, and high speed car racing. I know about this because a lot of the strays who I used to know told me about it when I went to spectate with them.”

 

“Well, it still looks like the USA could use a sport like this, because it really has some action. I am starting to get addicted to it big time.”

 

“You like it, do you?”

 

“Yeah. Let’s watch the rest of this game.”

 

As they watched the second half, they got it that this was a replay of the 2007 World Cup Final between England in the white and red, and South Africa in the green and gold. South Africa got on top of England, but England would have come closer if a convincing try in the corner had not been disallowed. Either way, South Africa played better and ended up winning the match. Shortly after they hoisted the gold Webb-Ellis trophy in victory celebration, the telecast ended.

 

“That was actually pretty exciting to watch.” Scamp said after it was over.

 

“I quite enjoyed it myself.” Tramp replied. “If there was ever such a thing as canine rugby, I would try it out myself.”

 

“You have the street experience, Tramp; I’m sure you would do well if you tried.” Lady said to them. “You might even do fine yourself, Scamp.”

 

“Yeah, you proved that you got the moves and the style, so go and put it into practice.” They all looked up at the voice from that comment and Angel walked downstairs from where she had been at the higher elevation.

 

“Hey, Angel.” Scamp remarked, pleasantly surprised.

 

“Hey, Tenderfoot.” Angel called Scamp, referring to his street name.

 

“Didn’t wake you, did we? Sorry if we did.” Lady said to her politely.

 

“No, I was just upstairs reading the papers left behind from Jim Dear and Darling this morning. I heard you watching the rugby, and it’s funny that you two should be talking about it, because coincidently I just found an ad in the paper that you might be interested in.”

 

“What’s that?” Tramp and Scamp said at the same time, looking at each other with a chuckle when they did.

 

“I’ll bring the paper down and you can read it yourselves.” So Angel went back upstairs and then came back with the newspaper. She laid it out and showed an ad in the sport section about state/college rugby for canines:

The rugby season is not far away, and we are looking for recruits to play for Amity Regional Rugby Club in the Canine North-East College/State Rugby competition. If you think you have got what it takes, please send your application to our email below expressing why you would like to play. Alternatively you can just turn up to the Amity Oval and sign up while on the run. Dogs of all ages are welcome to play. Pre-season training starts on February 4 and the season kicks off on March 8. Training will be on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6:00 p.m.

 

Email: [email protected]

 

“Canine State rugby!?” Scamp exclaimed, sounding more excited than ever. “Slick move! Dad, can I try out for them?”

 

“Wow!” Tramp was stoked as he read the ad. “Speak of the

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