My new pet

It is about a young boy who acquires a pet. Touching story about a bonding between an innocuous animal and a young boy

My New Pet
Children are generally fond of pets, may be a small, sweet looking puppy or a new-found adorable kitten. Puppies or kittens or any other pet can be our good mates or pals. They can comprehend our language better than humans, at least I feel that.
Pets can deprive us of monotony or boredom. Playing with it all day long, feeding it with our own hands, talking to it without getting ignored- all these can be very refreshing. However, not everyone is lucky enough to enjoy the company of pets. I am one such unlucky fellow. I never had the bliss of having a pet in my house thanks to my mother. She never liked pets. She made it very clear to us one sunny morning:
“You are too irresponsible to look after pets at all. I know, the whole responsibility will fall on my shoulders and I am no more as energetic as I used to be. So I won’t allow any pets unless you decide to take care of them.”
Her sharp words intimidated me as well as my father. But what she said was absolutely true. I remain busy with my studies and father goes to work. So we decided not to argue further. My long wish of keeping a puppy had to be kept under suppression. Though I had a faint idea that father would say in my favour but in vain. Mother had the final word in the house. I knew it but today I witnessed it.
All my school friends had pets. Rakesh, Rajnish, Hemant- each owned a cat or a dog or a colourful bird. Only I was not allowed this luxury. I could do nothing but mourn over this loss. I knew mother would never say yes to my desire.
However, destiny had some other plans in store for me it seemed. Today when I came back from my school early, I decided to sit in my balcony and enjoy the drizzle outside. I had a cup of coffee with me. I took my seat and started sipping it. Soon, I dozed off. A faint bark interrupted my light sleep. I found a tiny, mongrel puppy sitting at my feet and looking at me with wide, innocent eyes. He was wet as well as wounded with scabs all over his body. He looked puzzled and afraid. He thought perhaps I would shoo him away. They can never trust human intentions.
I bent down and picked him up. He let out a little whimper and clasped my little finger with his tiny, hedgehog paws as a form of security. I was struck by his innocuous face and beguiling eyes. He wanted love and care. He didn’t want to be thrown away. I noticed his fur. There was nothing velvety in it. His fur remained stuck to his skin as he was completely wet because of the rain.
His sores were miserable- swollen and must be painful. He showed his willingness to go with me and for a moment, I forgot my mother’s aversion to any kind of pets. I scurried away to upstairs lest I should be seen by mother. I quickly entered my small room overlooking the winding old school road to my locality and placed him on my little bed. I ran downstairs for some essential things like a towel, a bowl, some warm milk and a napkin. Thankfully, some neighbourhood aunties had crowded our house for some religious purpose and I availed of the opportunity to gather up all that I needed and slip out just in time.
I came back to my room and offered him the bowl containing warm milk. He frowned and sniffed it for some time but made no effort to drink from it. I waited for some minutes but no advancement from his side made me puzzled. I succeeded in my mission when I tried with a spoon. He gulped down all the milk from the spoon. I towel-dried him and covered him up with a napkin. He shining eyes made it clear that he liked the welcome I gave him. Rest of the day, he snuggled down at the corner of the couch, sometimes waking up and examining the room and then going back to sleep again.
Mother didn’t get time to clean my room as she was busy in her religious work and that added to my advantage. Days began to fly. I enjoyed staying at home more than going to school. I directly went upstairs without greeting anyone and closed the door lest my crime of hiding a puppy was discovered. He had grown quite fond of me. He stayed right by my side when I sat working at my desk or on the couch. He never barked loudly. Perhaps he too, understood the seriousness of the situation. Right from the start, he took a great interest in my work. He would diffidently examine my stationary things, project files, copies and books with his wet, pitch black, tiny nose. His face always reflected a sense of ecstasy and elation particularly on seeing a bowl of hot milk which he soon finished with an increasing relish.
He chewed my books and copies out of his childlike curiosity. Sometimes I scolded him but couldn’t be so harsh. I had grown a sense of attachment with him totally forgetting the future consequences of my intimacy.
I thought of giving him a name but couldn’t come up with anything special. I thought to ask my friends. They were over excited when they heard of my endeavour to keep a puppy hiding in my room. They accompanied me after school to my home. Mother was surprised to see them.
“Aunty, we have come to do our projects together”, they reasoned before mother could ask them anything.
“That is well-appreciated boys. Where will you all settle?” she enquired.
“Of course upstairs aunty”, Hemant answered failing to suppress the thrill in his voice.
“If you want, you can settle here too”, she replied back.
They began to nudge each other since sitting downstairs means they cannot meet my new friend.
Sensing this I tackled the situation by saying: “No let them go upstairs. All our project files are there. It will be troublesome to bring everything here.”
“Okay”, she replied and retired back to her bedroom.
We hurried upstairs and entered my room. However, to my amazement I couldn’t find my new friend there. We searched everywhere- bed, couch, all the corners. Even the bathroom was not spared. It was a mixed feeling of sorrow and fear. Sorrow because I thought I’d lost him forever and fear because of the unpredictability of my mother’s actions on discovering my attempt of saving this little refugee.
Suddenly I could hear a faint whimper coming from outside my room, from the rooftop. I hastened towards it. I found him nibbling a small red flower from the pot. Being unaware of my friends’ intention of visiting him, my new friend staggered back a little nevertheless, he kept on wagging his tail and letting out small harmless barks. I quickly grabbed him and hushed his barking but in vain. He continued to whine for some time before he quietened. My four-legged furry friend quickly won their heart by licking their feet, stretching and circling round each one of them at a time. He even raised his delicate paw to caress Rakesh.
“Have you noticed you puppy has spots all over his body?”, Rakesh asked.
“Yes, I did”.
“Then, let’s name him Spotty”, they said in a chorus.
“Spotty? Will it sound good?”, I questioned.
Okay, then may be Goofy, Hemant suggested.
“No, I thought to name him Napolean”, I confessed.
Needless to say, they laughed at my intention. They couldn’t find any of the characteristics of the great Emperor in this four-legged animal.
They didn’t object to my suggestion and in this way the naming ceremony was done.
“Napolean, I called out to him. He snorted happily and advanced forward proving that he quite liked the name given to him.
Good days are short-numbered. Next day I came back early from my school only to find me guilty of hiding Napolean in my room without revealing anything to anyone.
Mother had this habit of cleaning my room and she discovered my discreet activity in no time. As soon as opened the door, she slipped on the wet floor and fell down. Napolean watched her from above and jumped on her straight. She was not prepared for this unexpected attack. She let out a scream and our maid came to her rescue.
Both Napoleon and I stood side by side, bowing our heads as the most dangerous criminals of the world. She began:
“Now what? What do you expect me to do?”
My silence proved my resignation. I could only look up and stare at her blankly.
Sensing the helplessness in my eyes, she further added:
“Your dog is doing the same, see”.
I looked at Napoleaon only to find him blankly staring at us, dividing his attention between me and her.
“Will you be responsible enough?”
The optimism in her tone excited me and I almost blurted out:
“Yes, I will be. Please allow me to keep Napoleaon.”
“Oh! He already has a name?”
“Yes, he has.”
She couldn’t hold back her smile. I went and hugged her quickly. Father patted my back and said:
“Finally you own a pet now”
Even before I could answer back, Napoleon gave a lazy, yawning bark “woof! Woof!”.
“Yes, finally.”

Reviews

[Nidhi]

really seems great work..keep it up👍👍👍👍👍👍👍