Just at that moment the moose lights up a cigar and offers one to the zebra. "No thanks fella. I quit last month. You oughta quit too.Those cigars will kill you one day."

"Don't be such a whiner! I like a good cigar on a cold winter's day like this, don't you?"

"Why don't you ask the mouse if he wants a cigar? I bet it won't fit in his little mouth. I would laugh myself silly if I saw a mouse smoking
a cigar!"

"Hey, you, Zebra! I hear what you say. I don't smoke cigars. I bet on the horses and if my wife finds out, it's the dog house for me!"

"Now, that's funny! A mouse that gambles! How do you pay for your gambling habit. With cheese?"

"Nah! Sometimes I find money laying around the houses and I pocket it. If humans are dumb enough to leave money around, then it is good enough for me."

"You can't go around stealing money from humans. One of these days you will be feeling the cold steel of a mouse trap snap over your neck and it will be curtains for you."

"Oh, Mr. Zebra, you are so dramatic. If you are so smart, what are you doing in the middle of the arctic circle with no coat or mittens?"

"Ermm...I don't know how to reply to that. Let me get back to you after I ponder that question for about six months. I assure you I willreturn with a profound answer!"

"Yeah, I'll just hold my breath and wait for your genius, Zebra."

Moose interrupts their conversation with a puff of smoke.

"Do you have to smoke that dirty cigar around me, Moose?"

"Yep. I am bigger than you are so I can do what I want. Besides this is my habitat. I have been here for years and survived cold, wind and hunger. What have you done in your life that is important,Zebra?"

"My habitat is the jungle. I have stripes to camouflage myself
from predators. I blend in with my surroundings and think lofty
thoughtsthat I write about in my daily diary. Some of my words are very deep and they make me cry."

Moose lets out a bellowing laugh, takes another puff of his cigar and blows it in Zebra's face.

"Big deal. Camouflage. I'd like to see you camouflage yourself
here,Zebra."

"Get me outta here. You animals are wierd. Can't we talk about something intelligent, Moose?"

The mouse interrupts."Hey, Moose, you wanna give me another fifty to bet on Lucky Lindy in the fifth?"

"Sorry, Mouse, I have no pocket money for you and besides gambling is a bad habit. Shame on you!"

"Rats!", said the mouse, stomping his foot on the ground.

"Zebra, can you loan me a fifty?"

"No! Get a life, Mouse. Try reading and thinking like I do. It makes you profound and popular at parties. We had some lovely parties back at the jungle but when the lions showed up they usually broke up the partyand ate all the refreshments. If we didn't get out fast enough, Lion would eat us too!"

Moose and Mouse are rolling on the ground laughing at the Zebra.

"You are too funny. A party in the jungle."

"It was a good party. Better than living here in the snow, ice andwind. Don't knock it until try it, Mouse.

"Yah. Yah. Cry me a river and read me a bedtime story."

"No thanks. Zebra. Your profound thoughts need to be locked up in that nutty brain of yours. Please don't release them to the world.Such wisdom needs to be released on a mountain top or kept in a time capsule for ages."

"You shall never understand me, Mouse. I am only trying to help you. I need time to think the right thoughts and to arrive at the correct conclusions about life itself. My life is grand. If only I could get back to it again. I am so sad here, Mouse."

"There. There. Zebra. Get a hold of yourself. If you would just
be yourself and not put on such an egotistical act, animals would cometo you. Don't put on such airs, it makes you seem silly. I like youjust the way you are."

"Me too," said the Moose, still puffing away."

"You still smoking that stinking cigar? Get rid of it!"

"Hell, no! Zebra. I will get rid of my cigar if you say please."

"Okay, please get rid of your cigar. "

"Can I have an ice cream?"

"You want an ice cream in the middle of the Arctic Circle?" Just where am I going to get an ice cream?"

"Ben and Jerry's around the corner and up the hill and fifty
miles across the tundra by dogsled."

"Oh, that close?"

"Yep. I want some Mocha Macadamia Ice Cream and I want
it now. I have a dollar in my pocket. Can I have some? Can I?

Moose jumps up and down and the ice starts to break up.

"Calm down, Moose or we'll have an avalanche come down on us."

"I'm calm. I'm telling you. Calm!"

"Moose, you told me you don't have any money when I asked you for a fifty to gamble on the horses. Rats!"

"So, I'm a liar, Mouse. How many mooses does it take to squish a mousie?"

"One. Squishhh!!"

"Eewwwww... all that blood and guts everywhere. Why did you squash Mousie? That wasn't nice Moosie."

"He was getting on my nerves always begging for money to race horses that never win. He never picks the good ones. Always the last one across the finish line. He isn't even a good gambler and he spent his last hundred on a nag that lost in the second race. His wife hit him over the head with a rolling pin and he landed in the emergencyroom and had to have ten stitches."

"Good for her!"

"I don't know how she put up with Mouse. He was lazy and self-centered.I think he needed a good swift kick in the pants."

"Well, Moose, right now Mouse needs to be buried. Don't you think you ought to tell his wife you squished him with your hoof?"

"Nah... If I do that, she will call the cops. I will be sent into
exile on the lonely iceberg in the middle of the Artic Circle. Nobody comes back from the lonely iceberg!"

"How do you know that?"

"The last animal to be sent to the lonely iceberg was a skunk and did he make a big stink about it. He sprayed everyone!"

"They would take away my comic books and my cigars! I would die of boredom and nicotine withdrawal. What humans do to animals is terrible no matter where you live. We must bury Mouse and say a kind prayerand think good thoughts. We must learn to get along no matter where weare from and what we have done in the past. It is now that matters."

Moose snuffed out his cigar and Zebra put up a hoof and they
shook hands.

"Friends again?"

"Sure."

"Hey, Zebra. When the hell are you going to answer that letter to the Editor?"

"Well, I need time to ponder all the possibilities!"

"Oh you!"

"Yeah, ain't I just a nasty one!"

"You bet you are but you are my friend now!"

"God help you, Moose!"

~~~~

An alarm clock goes off.

That is when the camel yawned and stretched. Opening his eyes, he stretches and yells loudly, "Will somebody please turn off that blasted alarm clock! I was out late last night and I have exams at ten this morning. Can't you be considerate? Damn!!"

The camel hits the snooze button.

"Who the hell is this clown? Have you been letting strays in the
back door again, Moose?", Mouse grumbles.

Moose looks at the camel, shrugs his shoulders and lights up
another cigar.

Camel turns over and goes back to sleep ....