The Old Man and the Missing Dog
Short story
After the death of his sister’s husband, which left her quite helpless with three children to take care of, he, her brother, decided to not marry and instead look after her and the children.
Years had gone by. He still lived with his younger sister. Besides his sister and occasional visits from children and grandchildren of his sister, there was someone always with him in the house, it was their dog, Jimy. It mostly stayed in the home and only occasionally used to accompany him or his sister while going to the market.
He had his regular morning bath and offered his gratitude to the eastern sun with his hands held in a prayer posture for some minutes. It was his way of thanking the life source for providing him with ample health for the past 70 years. He had not yet left his work, which he had decided to continue as long as he was in good health.
And on that particular morning, he appeared anxious. Having finished with his morning routines, it was time for him to leave to a distant place for an emergency. As he hurried towards the bus stop, the dog followed him. No matter how hard he tried to make the dog go away back to the home, it stayed with him for the entire long walk towards the bus stop; it sensed something wrong with him.
Both he and the dog reached the bus stop. He was so stressed that he could not do anything to send back the dog. The bus arrived, he had to get into the bus, people rushed to enter the bus; the dog got lost in the back of the crowd as the bus passed.
The dog chased the bus with all its strength. All he could do was to wish that the dog would return back home; it was a crucial day for him in the court regarding the final hearing of a case. But the dog did not return, it kept chasing the bus even when the bus went out of its vicinity. It wanted to find him; it had no clue where it would end up chasing.; it was concerned about him.
That day ended with both good news and bad news. He finally won the long fought case, but lost the dog; it never returned home. It lost its way after a long tiring chase.
After some initial search for Jimy, the dog, he stopped and expected it to come back on its own — or rather he comforted himself that way. Though the victory over the case was a huge relief in his personal life, the loss of the dog had left a scar on his soul.
Days and months had passed. He was in his office. He got outside the office for his regular evening tea from the nearby shop. Suddenly his eyes caught the attention of a rather tired and bruised dog at the opposite end of the busy road. He looked more carefully. “Jimy?” he whispered. The dog saw him. He could see the sadness fading into hope in Jimy’s face. Without any hesitation, it ran towards him through that busy road.
The bus driver tried his best to stop the bus … For everyone around there, it was just a stupid dog creating trouble for the precious humans except for him, the old man at the other end.
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