Old Man And The Dogs

The Old man hated the dogs and the dogs hated the old man. Since the old man had beaten them so badly for stealing fishes from his crate, so they hated him. But old man hated them for their alert ears, sensitive nose and the most of their sound of the bark. 

        In the daytime, No dog could come fifty feet near to his fence but in the night, the whole seashore became dog's den and hell for the old man. "Shut up bastards!" He often shouted in the dark, leaning out of the window. 

 

 When he was young, he came to this desolated coast of the sea for the reason that he could live alone. He loved greens and blues more than smokes and noisy human ghettos. He had a wife, died five years ago, A son, swallowed up by the ocean. Daughter-in-law, who preferred to marry another man leaving her two-year-old son behind. He is the oldest fisherman now and both Ravi, his grandson and he lived under the shades of palm trees. Such a quiet place, he'd call it "Heaven." Yes, if the dogs weren't there.

        The sea swallowed the sun and the dogs began to bark under the stars louder than the cries of the waves against the rocks. Neither he had strength in his knees to pick up the stick and make them all run away nor he could leave his seven-year-old grandson alone who might be writing something in the yellow light of the bulb. 

After many failed attempts of falling asleep. "These bastards dogs! won't let me sleep!" He cried and gave up. "What're you doing ? homework ?"

"No, sketching."

"Good! had you finished the meal ?" He knew the boy was already bored with fried fish and boiled rice.

"Yes grandpa, finished it, also liked the dish, it was yummy fish".

The old man guffawed, he knew, his grandson was, perhaps, the biggest liar he had ever seen. For sure, Ravi hadn't eaten it and thrown it out of the window. This will only invite more dogs in the night and make them fight. More dogs, more barks, Less sleep.

The old man, who quite liked his solitude, relished in his grandchild's company. Last year, he got him admitted to the school. For he could study at nights, he pulled a wire straight from the road light, hanged a bulb under the roof. Bought new uniforms and pencils and today, he bought him a brand new wax-colours. And he was sketching with them.

      The old man lifted himself up and went to the kitchen. The dogs were still barking out there. He slammed the window, "bastards !" and touched the pot in which milk was still warm and poured it in two glasses. The dusty bulb was swinging in the salty breeze and its bright light was stinging in his sleepless old eyes.

"Ravi, take it."

Ravi glared at him for a moment as if he got pulled out from a sweet dream. "I don't like to drink the milk of your goats." He taunted and then lost in the sketch. Rubbing wax-colour-stick and his fingers turned blue too.

The old man placed the glasses, 

"Quite beautiful." He said, ignoring the deafening Noice. "Who's this?

All of a sudden, a wide smile emerged on Ravi's face. "Well, I know, this one is your father, Right ?" Ravi nodded. The old man was looking at the picture of the boat in motion. His grandson would become a great artist someday, He smiled. For a minute, the great silence scattered as though dogs had died altogether. He breathed happily.

But for a minute only...

His wrinkled smile veiled under the high pitched barks again. Now, all the dogs were screaming in rage together. The old man rose up, "Eaten my life away." said, screwed up. If he were still young the first thing he'd do is murdering all the dogs one by one.

When he turned back, the beautiful picture was now covered under skewed black lines. Ravi was rasping black wax on paper as fast as he could. "What are you doing ?" But the old voice faded away under the heavy barks.

"What happened ?" He yelled.

Ravi was starring at grandfather as if he had spoiled the sketch. 

 "Want new colours?"

 Ravi crushed the paper in hands.

"Why are you tearing such a beautiful sketch, son?"

"These bastard dogs !" He shouted so that his voice could be heard. "They already spoiled my four sketches." Before the old man could explain, dogs began to bark again, defeating their senses. Ravi threw the glass of milk away, spreading it the floor and watched the sketch, sobbed as tears rolled down his face.

The old man saw him, Ravi's nature was changing too and now he could see a frustrated old man in Ravi. He must take action. He knew an old trick thus he smiled at him. Wiped his tears."You know, what makes a dog bark ?"

"No !" 

"Wanna know the secret ?"

"What ?"

"Ghosts." The old man declared.

"How ?"

"Whenever the dark silence of the night rise above the sea, the ghosts come and the dog's bark."

"You saw ghosts?" Ravi doubted.

"Hm, once...It's a long story... Will you listen?"

Ravi nodded.

The old man took him in the lap. "Years ago, many monsters came from inside of the water, ripping apart the earth."

"Ripping the Earth?" He wondered.

"Yes, They had long hands, and as soon as they came out, there comes thunder. The waves jumped and fell into the ocean."

"Storm ?"

"Yes! They bring the storm." The old man explained, "When you were so young, I and your father were in a boat, and it was swimming swiftly in the sea, and suddenly the waves began to rise and the boat couldn't stay still. "

"These were ghosts ?"

"Yes the sea-ghosts, those monsters were bringing the storm, our boat was staggering and they want to overturn it. If they have done, they could swallow us alive, their teeth and nails were saw-sharp." The old man exhaled.

Ravi showed his teeth. "They must be looking as dangerous as me." Said Ravi but he looked more an angry cat than a ghost. 

"No son, more than you."

"Did you see them?"

"No, but they were there. Under the boat, and our boat was about to fall. I grasped your father's hand and both of us kept the boat steady for some time but the ghost carried a raging wave and the boat almost flipped, the very next moment your father was hanging from one side of the boat .. I tried to pull him up but..." The old man breathed.

"My hands were strong, but their hands were stronger."

"More than me ?" Ravi asked showing his skinny biceps.

"Stronger than anyone else." His grandfather declared.

"What happened next."

"Then hungry ghosts of the sea pulled your father into deep water and he was screaming loud down there."

"And they ate my father alive ?" Ravi dropped the jaw. "He kept silent for a moment then jumped off. "So Dogs bark to call them?"

"I used to think so, but I was wrong, in fact, the dogs were running them away, they were roaming here and there to keep the ghosts away."

"Are the ghosts afraid of dogs ?" 

"Yes, ghosts are afraid of only dogs. Do you know why the dog's bark ?"

"So they could keep them away," Ravi repeated.

 "Yes, son, so that I and you could live in our home, peacefully and no ghost could kill us and our goats." The old man smiled. "So that your grandfather could catch fishes, fearlessly and you could draw such beautiful sketches."

"Well, they are barking so that the ghost could not spoil my sketch and I was abusing them .. I was so stupid. I always hated them." Ravi lowered his eyes and kicked the table.

The old man pulled out a new blank paper from under the table and placed it. "Dear! Make a beautiful picture of your father and leave those terrible ghosts for the dogs. They will see them."

The next morning, Old man woke up, wiped the saliva from his right cheek and looked around. Light beams were coming in from the holes in the bamboo roof. He couldn't remember how the night went. After a long, He slept with this ease.

He didn't find Ravi in his bed and the door was open. He'd be playing outside. 

When the old man came out, he was stunned by seeing Ravi and dogs jumping around the fence. Two dogs on both sides of him. One was black and another one was dirty yellow gasping, whining and dribbling around. The old man slowly stepped in the sand as he knew that the dogs would run away

Ravi screamed, "Grandpa you were right, they're really good." and threw a piece of fish to them. 

When the old man approached, both the dogs jumped back. Lowering their ears and one of them was showing his 

fangs.

"Grandpa! Take this, feed them, they'll save us from ghosts."

The old man threw it in the sand and the big yellow dog sniffed and took in the mouth and quaffed. He gave another piece to the black dog.

"Scare away the ghosts, we'll feed you fish every day," Ravi shouted.

The old man smiled at him and He watched dogs eating up the fish as he found a new way to spend the rest of his life, peacefully.