Just a short fiction story for my Creative Writing Class that I did. I Hope you guys enjoy it ! :)
It was a very cold and quiet November night. I sat besides King; hands
clasped around my knees and wrapped up in my
mother’s shawl. The brutal winter wind seeped in through the holes of the
cloth, struck my bones.Everyone else was inside; curled up
next to the fireplace and drinking warm buttered-tea. They told me that he wouldn’t
live for long. “Damn it! Where is your compassion you, Buddhist?” I cursed them
silently in the darkness. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the shawl trying
to keep warm, hoping that my presence would provide King some company, as he awaited death.
I closed my eyes, trying
to gather my memories with King to distract myself from the cold .I remembered
the first time I had seen him. I had returned from my friend’s house one day as
usual, screaming at and kicking my brother that I wanted to stay over her
place. Being a typical 5-year-old kid and the youngest amongst five siblings, I
was very spoilt and stubborn!
“I have a surprise for me.
Believe me! You will kick me later for not telling you this” he said. Grabbing
my hands firmly my brother led me to the backyard. “Shhh…Keep quiet” he told me. Grinningly, my brother pointed his finger towards
my clubhouse, and there he was. With huge brown eyes and majestic fur as dark
as the night, he stood besides my clubhouse. My dad had never approved of my
siblings keeping a dog. But seeing that I was always
alone at home when they were at school, it proved to be an exception. “ It’s a
Himalayan nomad dog used for guarding sheep,” my dad later told me. The dog
stood still and alert as if we were on a top-secret mission or something. The
very idea of such an adventure excited me. My imagination ran wild! I ran
towards him with a huge smile, giggling and gibbering away. “Oo the mountains
we would climb together, the wilderness that we would explore, the creatures we
would fight and the battles we would win!” I thought to myself. But the next
thing I knew, his dagger-like canine teeth found its way into my chubby little
thighs.
“ I want a dog! I
will take care and love him dad. I promise!” my brother imitated me in a
childish squeal while I was being treated in the hospital ward. “ You wanted him in
the first place. Now if you want to have him, feel him. Love is pain!” my
brother mocked me as I screamed at the nurse taking out a huge syringe to
vaccinate me.
That was how I named my first and my last dog
.He had an ego like that of a lion! He didn’t like being touched. He wouldn’t
listen to anyone and kept away from people. As a child I was rather quite bossy
and egoistic myself. I always had to get my way, but I was a nothing compared to
King. I was two inches shorter than him and when he pounced onto my brothers,
it would knock the air out of them! Having personally felt his wrath, I
knew who the boss was. So I called him “king,” my king.
Thus, began my days with King. He was very
reserved at first. “He is a mountain dog. He
guarded sheep and fought with predators. He is not used to affection and people
touching him. Give him some time,” my father told me. King would spend his time, basking in the sun
all day and ignored me! After much peeking through the windows and bribing King
with chunks of meat all the time, he gradually warmed up towards me. My
brothers called us the “ the two ugly doglings” since I got obsessed with King
to the point that I wanted my skin to match his coat. I would sit in the sun for days without
any sun cream and try to darken myself. The consequences were pretty bad. I
would get sunburns all over my face and it would itch a lot. But it wasn’t very
awful compared to the amount of running I had to do, when my mom saw my face
and chased me around the house.
I share memories with King that my family still recalls to this day
and it never fails to put a smile on our faces. Our favorite pastime was playing in the
vegetable garden. We would pretend to be armies at war. I would be crawling on
the ground while he dug humongous holes. I would use these holes as my hiding
place pretending that my enemies were looking for me, who always turns out to be my mother,
pleading me to come inside the house! The aftermaths were tattered clothes, muddy face and dirty
fur. I remembered once when the fur around King’s neck had tangled up. I had
tried cutting off that fur but by the time I realized it I had chopped it off
his neck completely. My brothers mocked me unbearably!
Not a day went without doing something exciting
or mischievous with King. We would be tormenting the kids next door during the
day and passersby at night. No wonder my poor friends stopped visiting my
house! We were kids’ and in fact adults’ worst nightmare!
As I sat there reviving
old memories, a sharp screech brought me back to reality.
“ Ugyen. Come inside and at least give him a peaceful death!”
my sister yelled from inside the house. I moved closer to King because that was
what I was exactly doing. My whole life growing up in a Buddhist society people
talked about karma, staying away from bad deeds, earning merits, the joy of
life and horrors of death. My father once told me “ no one likes being alone
when they die. Everyone likes having their family and friends around them. Some
like having their lamas (root-teacher) with them to find comfort”. And here I
was, a 10-year-old girl lying besides someone who has given meaning to her
childhood. Neither related to him by blood nor through teachings, but a friend.
As king breathed heavily and moaned in
pain, I remembered a belief in my society about rebirth. People said amongst
all animals, dogs were the closest to being reborn as human beings. I thought
it was a lie. But as King’s moans became louder and more excruciating, I knew
that death had arrived to claim him from me. “You will come back again, won’t
you? Please come back to me,” I cried, stroking King’s thick fur that reminded
me of all the times I had leaned onto it during long naps on lazy summer
afternoons. As he breathed for the last time, I could hear nothing except the
echoes of my pleas hovering in the chilly winter breeze.
Very touching!
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