Of Dogs And Men

There was this ancient mansion in the middle of a colony of concrete bunkers of contemporary design where lived people with ordinary pursuits. Everyone looked at this magnificent old tiled house, of black polished granite floors, sleek teak ceiling, beautiful patio and garden, with sighs mixed with more envy than joy. In this mansion lived an old lady with her son and daughter… and a dog.

Time came for this matriarch to eventually die as all humans do and she bequeathed the house to the son working in another city. The daughter lived on in the house with her small family… and the dog.

One day, the son paid a visit and demanded that the sister shift house so that he could sell it and invest the money in the city. His business was floundering and he needed more money. No amount of pleading would change his heart. The sister continued to stay there with her family… and the dog.

Another day, the son returned with labourers and started demolishing the house. The sister had to quickly find a rented space to stay and she cleared out in a day or two. The son supervised the demolition of the old mansion to bare stones. He sold off all the wood in the house as scrap and returned to the city as a satisfied man.

The dog put up with the rented house for a few days. Then, he started howling day and night. His pitiful cries did not let anyone sleep in the neighborhood. To pacify him, the daughter took him out for a walk in the morning. When they reached the place where the old house used to be, the dog ran into the compound yelping with joy and started rolling about the ground and running all around where the house used to be. He refused to go back with her. She went back in the evening to fetch him. He went calmly with her as a happy and contended animal.

This became a routine. Nothing made the dog happier than being in that empty vacant space with no plants or trees or doors or ledges or footfalls of people, with nothing but memories imprinted in his brain.

The son could not sell the plot for some reason. He returned one day, diagnosed with a terminal illness of some sort and stayed with his sister, in that small rented place, the same sister he had turned out of the old house before razing it to the ground. Chemotherapy soon caused his hair to fall off and he looked a ghost of his old self.

One day, when the daughter went to fetch the dog, she found him sleeping where the kitchen used to be. He did not wake up. He was buried in that same spot. His happy bones soon became one with the foundation stones of that old magnificent house that was no more.