The Contest

It was an unequal contest, 
beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Although they were friends, 
age- and (almost) size-matched
and both given to mischief
and an excess of enthusiasm
as the young in the bliss of
energy to spare are wont to
display, things got somewhat
out of hand. Teasing and bullying,
size and agility differentials
and character all playing their
inevitable part to disillusion one
and validate to the other that
aggression really does the trick.
That lesson played out as the
game of possession of a prized
object passed from one to the
other. With a sense of somewhat
outraged reluctance on the part
of the small Lab, to a countering
aura of victory on the acute
consciousness of the Malamute.