Barking Love

There were yells and laughter at home when Tony came back from school. He rushed in to see the commotion. There was a puppy among his cousins.

“A puppy!!! Dada, when did you get this puppy?? Male or female???” Tony asked. His voice was filled with excitement.

“It is a boy. Boys should have boy dogs. Father brought him today.” Adan replied.

Adan was his cousin brother. Tony was nine and he was two years younger than Adan.

“What about the name?”

“He is my puppy. I’ll name whatever I like.”

Tony ran away towards his home.

“Mama…..MAMA” he called out for his mother.

“What is it son? Did something happen at school?”

“Dada Adan has a puppy. I too want a puppy…..a boy puppy. Tell father to buy me one.”

His mother laughed out. “Son, why do we need another? Your dada Adan has already one. You should play with it together.”

Tony did throw a big tantrum about owning one. But, at last, he did agree with his mother on “the playing together” concept.

“Children!” his mother murmured to herself.

Weeks passed.

Tony was back from school. Since the day the puppy arrived, it was Tony’s every day “do” to go to Jacky before even going to his room.

“Jacky! Jacky! Catch it.” Tony threw a ball to Jacky. They played all day long.

Jacky was the name given to the puppy. Yes, Adan named him.

One evening, Tony was all gloomy as he was doing his homework.

His mother came in to call him for dinner. She saw his motionless hand with the pencil and his eyes fixed on the wall. She knew something was not right.

She asked him on the matter.

“Mama, Dada Adan ……why is he like that?” this was all what Tony said.

Later during the dinner, as he sat down, he took a bowl. Before he ate, he took half of everything from his plate and put it in the bowl.

“I’ll be back.”

Saying this, tony took the bowl and ran away from the kitchen.

As he returned back, he was all smiles.

It went on. Many a times her mother would shout from the bathroom for her shampoo. Many a times her father would search for his cologne….only to find Tony grooming Jacky with them.

Sometime that year, Jacky was there at the gate waiting. It was already past the time Tony usually got home. Tony’s mother joined Jacky.

Soon after, Tony’s father shouted from the door “it’s on tv……news…..”

“What news?”

“A bomb blast near Tony’s school.”

              

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I kept waiting for Tony. He didn’t come home that day. Nor the next day and the day next…..he didn’t come.

There was this picture of Tony on the verandah. He looked happy. I sat next to him. I didn’t move any inch away from him. Nobody tried to move me away too. May be everyone knew that Tony would have wanted it that way.

“Tony, don’t close your eyes. Keep smiling. You no longer play with me….the ball you gave me…I play with it all alone” I barked.

I headed back to my bed. The ball was there. I wouldn’t let anyone touch it. Not even Adan.

As I stared at the ball, I could still remember Tony..my Tony.

Tony would hide me when Adan was going to beat me up.

Tony fought with Adan because Adan didn’t care about me.

Tony came to feed me every day.

How I spent those summer days with him, sleeping under the fan.

How he use to play with my tails.

I miss him….his smell…his touch…his love.

But I’ m not going to let him down by sulking around like this. I’ve things to do for Tony.

            

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It has been months since Tony died. Tony’s mother was still overcoming the loss. She was crying again looking at tony’s uniform.

“You are crying again. He was my son too. Lets cherish our moments we had with him. And I bet Jacky is on his way here. He must have sensed your tears” Tony’s father said.

He was right. Jacky came….came to lick off the tears from her face .

Both of them laughed out.

Jacky has always been over protective for the family. No one understood why he was like that. No one was able to explain it. But one thing was sure……they found a new son in Jacky.





thanx to google......i think this pic is lovely for this story!!!