It was Dennis’ birthday. His Dad Tobey took him and his friends down to the river bank for a picnic party. His Mom packed a picnic basket full of things that boys love best – hotdogs, chips, cake, sweets and juice. The boys enjoyed the picnic but soon tummies were full and Tobey was feeling drowsy. The boys asked if they could go for a walk along the path that followed the river and Tobey agreed providing they stayed away from the water’s edge.

The boys walked along, stopping now and again to investigate something or other, now and again running, tumbling and generally just being "boys". They had gone quite far and were feeling rather hot when Graham suggested they sit under a shady tree for a while to cool off.

Then … Dennis had a brain wave – "Oh boy! Why don’t we swim in the river and cool off?"

Graham: "Don’t be silly Dennis, how can we do that? This is not a swimming pool or a beach where they have special areas for swimming. You know you can only swim where there are signs saying you can."

Dennis: "But it’s not a pool or the beach so we can just swim anywhere."

Ivan: "That’s just it, we don’t know these waters and you can’t swim in waters you don’t know. There could be undercurrents or all sorts of other hidden dangers, besides Tobey told us to keep away from the water’s edge."

Dennis: "But I’ve thought of that, there is an overhanging rock we could dive off and then we wouldn’t be disobeying Tobey as we are not at the water’s edge."

Jason: "Dennis, don’t you know anything? You mustn’t dive into water which you do not know and cannot see into. You may hit your head on more rocks below the surface, hurt yourself and maybe even drown."

Dennis: "But, what if one of you accidently on purpose pushed me in and we could tell Tobey that we were running around and I accidently got pushed into the river."

Adrian: "That won’t work Dennis. We know that we’re not allowed to run around or push people into pools of water."

Dennis: "But …. I’m really hot and I want to swim." 3

Derek: "You know Dennis, you really are being rather foolish. You know that you’ve just eaten a big plate of food that Tobey’s wife sent, plus you had three ice cream cones. All that will happen is that you’re going to get a cramp if you swim now."

Dennis: "But …. I wouldn’t swim too far. Just to that island we can see from here."

Basil: "That island may not seem far but remember you still have to come back and we all know that you should get out of the water before you get too tired."

Dennis: "But … Oh I’m tired of arguing with you guys. I’m going to swim anyway."

Richard: "Oh no, we can’t let you do that because it would mean that you will be swimming alone and you know that you have to use the "Buddy" system when you swim. If you got into trouble there is no way in which we could help you and there is nothing around here that we could throw to you to use as a float. I’m sorry Dennis, swimming is out!"

Dennis: Realising just how stupid he had been says "OK guys. I’m sorry for being so stupid, but tell me one thing – what makes you guys so clever?"

Sean: "We’re Cubs! …. Dennis, why don’t you join us at Cubs next week and share in the fun and adventures we have?"