Sunny side of Life

On my way to work.. some months back.. I used to intently scan this heartless gloomy garage filled with metal scraps and old dusty vehicles. I looked for my motivator. The happiest dog in the whole wide world, who'd cheerfully greet his masters skipping on just 3 legs. He peacefully slept outdoors, went for morning walks.. somewhat far from the garage. He was carefree and high spirited despite that conspicuously painful handicap.

For the 2011 CSS contest, I made him my protagonist. I continued to look for him daily, in the same gloomy garage, for months on end.. until about 4 months back I noticed him always sleeping in his favorite spot. The next month.. he was not there.. and the next... and the next.. until it occurred to me... I'll never see my motivator again.

And so.. this is my story which I wrote when he was still alive.

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In the wee hours of morning when the world was sound asleep, old Simon started sweeping.

Shhh, shhhh, shhhh...

The sound of his jagged ekel broom echoed throughout the empty road and the Children’s park. Suddenly he heard a loud screeching noise from the bend and a sleek white car zoomed past him. Simon stared at it and slowly bent to pick up a rotten leaf.

Just then he heard a low groan, coming from the middle of the road. Simon closed in. The sight was so shocking that he collapsed on to the ground. Curling himself up he cried, for the sake of the creature that lay before him.

The skinny dog breathed heavily. Its front right leg was bathed in blood. It wriggled in pain.

Simon wiped his eyes and stood up. He ran into the park and returned with a worn gunny sack. Then he carefully placed the dog on it. While carrying it like a baby, Simon rushed to the nearby three wheeler park.

He shook the red tuk tuk and woke the lad who was dozing on the back seat. The lad grumbled but after hearing the painful groans, he agreed at once.

“Gramps, I know a vet nearby. Let’s go see him.”

The tuk tuk raced to the house of Dr. Jerald, a famous old veterinarian who lived in this suburb. As soon as the vet took the dog in, the lad waved at Simon and left.

Despite his age, Dr. Jerald was swift with his treatments and soon the dog stopped groaning. When Simon peeped over, he saw the skinny brown dog sound asleep. The injured leg didn’t bother it anymore, for it had been removed... completely.

After he freshened up Dr. Jerald offered Simon a warm cup of tea. Then they had a hearty chat. Old Simon painfully smiled, showing his brown teeth. After a while he got up to leave.

“The dog’s going to be fine.” said Dr. Jerald with a bright smile. “He’ll come see you soon.”

Four weeks quickly passed. On one sunny morning, old Simon sat on a bench in the corner of the park. A sleek white car pulled over and a young man in a fine suit walked up to Simon. He then placed a rich fat rice packet on Simon’s hand. It was full of tempting aromas.

“Today’s my dad’s first month alms giving.” said the young man, forcing a smile. “You know he had a stroke that day. I... had to race my car to the hospital... and on the way I think I hit a dog... right around this park. Ugh... felt so bad... had no way of stopping... my dad was unconscious and...”

“Young master,” interrupted old Simon. “Look over there.”

The young man was surprised, but instead of asking why, he turned around. Not too far from them were a bunch of kids happily running about. The boys were throwing a frisbee in turns, throwing it high up and far away. Whenever they threw a frisbee, everyone screamed in chorus,

“Browny fetch!”

Three excited woofs and a dog dived out of no where, almost flying after the speeding frisbee.

“Browny, come here!” shouted Simon with a chuckle.

The dog rushed to old Simon, skipping on its three legs while gripping the frisbee tightly in its mouth. Simon emptied half of the rice packet to a tin plate on the ground. Browny sniffed it excitedly, tossed the frisbee away and chomped up while wagging its tail.

“See that young master, isn’t he doing great?”