The Mind Creative - NOVEMBER 2013 NOVEMBER 2013 | Page 48

The Mind Creative Nov 2013

I hung around the traffic lights for a long time, but there was no
smell or sign of them. I came back home only to find that my
food and water had disappeared and my kennel was broken into
by other dogs. I was very hungry and thirsty, but I wanted to
wait for Riya to come and feed me. I missed my bed and comfort
but more than that, I missed my hugs and kisses from Riya.
It has been almost a year now since my family departed. I sleep
outside the garden gate and the new occupants of the house feed
me at times. My new home is now in an abandoned drainage
pipe. I don’t like playing with stray dogs, I have no friends and
life is very lonely. Nobody has given me a bath since a year. I do
get wet in the rain but then I feel really cold. I sometimes sleep
under the traffic lights where the yellow car disappeared but
there is still no trace of my family. I just cannot understand what
happened. I never did anything wrong; I never misbehaved and
Mom always said that I was a good boy. Why did they abandon
me then?
Today I am not feeling well and I have an acute pain in my
stomach since the morning. I don’t feel like eating the food that
the new home owners have dropped off outside. I am still waiting
for Riya to feed me. The pain is getting progressively worse and
I am curled up in the shade to escape from the harsh heat of the
sun. My breath is slowing down and I think that something is
killing me. I am feeling a little scared.
I remember a few months before my family left, I had felt a
similar pain and Dad had taken me to the hospital. I had hated
it but the nice doctor had given me an injection that had made
me feel better immediately. I had slept very peacefully that night
by Riya’s side after a dinner of rice and yogurt. I miss Dad today.
He could have taken me to the doctor. They might still return and
heal me. I do not want to go outside my sordid home; it makes
me feel so much be