Short story for Rosie and Dug

A Little Story About Two Splendid Folk

In the mouth of the river tyne, that sways through the North of England, there is a town, a grand little town. And in that town lives a most charming couple of characters, and they are called Rose and Duggy. They struggle through the cold, for it is said that the wind in The North can chill a man’s very soul. Yet they are strong, for in their breasts rest two hearts, pure and bold, that neither cold nor adversity can set into despair.
There are some fine folk there, some they have met and some they are yet to meet. But in The North (as in all places in the big wide world) some bastards lurk. They lurk everywhere, for when they see a decent soul they glow green with envy, and grind their teeth. Over time, these bastards try and grind people down, for bastards like nothing but to see a brave spirit broken. They would work on Rose and Duggy over time, as they would with many of their chums, making them feel bad, making them doubt in themselves and in people. People can be good, when in a mood for sharing and kindness people can be very good. But people can be mean and cruel and selfish, and when that sort of a mood they can be very mean, very cruel, and very selfish. The bastards have forgotten what it is to be kind and to see how good people can be, and they bully and they enslave until the humble folk are sad and don’t know what to do. The bastards will only be happy until we live in a world of bastards, where no-one can trust another person or love them because everyone is nasty and life is empty. One day, Rose and Duggy made a decision. They would make a house together, and it would be a fortress against the bastards, and it would be a haven from the noise and the business and confusion of modern life. It would be a happy place for them, where they can return from a day in the muddle, wearing the armour of hope, and sit and dream. And there they live, in this haven, and their dreams are rainbows that sing with the sunrise, and their dreams are bridges to the future, and their future is the song.