A Companion
A Companion
The old man started walking back home trying to carefully balance groceries in his hands. His hands shook, yet he was confident that he would be able to cover 300 yards distance to his home without any accident.
Normally his grocer would deliver groceries home every day or whenever he required them, but today he had expressed his inability. He did not have any manpower. As he needed some things urgently, he had decided to undertake the walk, which at his age was a long journey. He was reasonably sure that he would be able to find his way back to the house. Although nothing is certain at this age as amnesia took hold of his faculties quite frequently. He was more worried about being able to carry things home safely. There is no dearth of diseases at his age. His hands had become unsteady over time. Sometimes he found it difficult to hold a glass of water without spilling some water.
The old man was not always an old man, but all his acquaintances or friendly neighbours called him ‘old man’ (at least behind his back). Even he had to look at his identity card sometimes to get his own name. Since nobody addressed him by name, it had lost significance.
He could have taken obligation from one of his neighbours for getting groceries, but he always avoided taking obligation till the time it became utterly necessary. You never know when you would need urgent help from neighbours at this age.
It was another lifetime when he had a family, but that had vanished long time ago. He was the lucky one or unlucky one to have survived the earthquake. During summers he used to sleep on the roof of the house, but all his family members, being city-bred, could not reconcile to the fact of sleeping in the open.
One fine night when he was asleep, he felt the house shake. Before he could realise that it was earthquake, the roof gave way and he fell down along with the roof. He was lucky to survive with some bruises and some injury to his arm. But his family was not so lucky. He had brought down the roof on them and they had no chance to survive.
Since then he had lived alone. Retirement a few years ago, had not brought much change in his life as he had gotten used to being alone. But as time passed, his faculties also became weak and he stopped venturing outside his house unless utterly necessary.
He could see that he had covered a one-third distance to the house. He dreaded the prospect of more walk, but there was no escape. His eyes searched for a place where he could rest for a while, but he was not in luck. He had to complete the entire journey at one go. He decided to take rest only after reaching back home. Luckily he had not forgotten the route to his house, his amnesia still inactive, fortunately. He knew he was on correct path.
His ears caught a sound as if someone was walking behind him. He turned around and saw a huge black dog walking behind him. As he stopped, the dog also stopped. Perhaps the dog had been following him for some time.
He was scared. But experience had taught him that showing fear to animals was a sure way to invite them to attack you. He knew that such a huge dog will not take much time to maul him. So he turned around and started walking again, making sure that his walking pace remained the same. After some time when he looked over his shoulder, the animal was still coming behind him. To his relief the distance between them had increased somehow.
He heaved a sigh of relief as he espied the gate of his house. He tried to rush to the extent his legs could carry him. The dog was a distant dot, although visible.
He was able to open the gate, albeit with some difficulty. Once inside, he put the groceries on the steps to the house and hurried to close and lock the gate.
It was late afternoon. He went inside, stored the groceries at appropriate places. It was time to rest his tired muscles.
….
It was only next day morning that he went to unlock the gate. His eyes caught sight on something black outside. He opened the gate to look at it from close. He saw that it was the same huge black dog lying outside. He seemed to be tired and hungry. This dog was no danger to anyone. He went to pat it.
The dog suddenly came to life and jumped on him. The dog stood on its hind legs and put his front paws on his shoulders. He immediately realised that it was not attack but show of affection. He patted its neck which made the dog relax.
The dog was already inside the gate. So he closed the gate and indicated for it to follow him inside. He gave some food to him, which he finished immediately. He must have been very hungry. So he put more food in the bowl. Finally its hunger satisfied, it lied on the mat.
Seeing the dog, he could make out it was a pet dog and most probably its owners had abandoned it. But he was not complaining. He had a companion after a long time.