The Sound of Silence

A Story by hari

Words are often unnecessary to express one's feelings

...He used to ignore me initially, and I thought he was downright arrogant. As a matter of fact, one day he even shouted at me when I backed the car a bit too close to him. Living in my premises and still having the cheek to shout at me?

I tried guessing his age and family background. Anyway, at least he had a sober name...'Jimmy' - neither as conservative as 'Bruno, Rommel, Kaiser or Ceaser' nor as ultra-modern & revolting as 'Peekoo, Teeko or Cheekoo'. I guess he was around 10 -12 years old, handsome in his own way, with a worldly-wise, weary look. I strongly feel he was the product of a brief liaison between one of the local beauties and a visiting aristocrat, perhaps of German lineage..

Our maid Bindu, though fully pre-occupied with her own set of unique problems, took good care of Jimmy, often pampering him with homemade delicacies. On his side, Jimmy considered the entire bungalow and the property as his own, choosing the lawn, front portico or the sit out area as per his convenience to spend his leisure time. At times, he used to stamp his authority and ownership by shouting at the potential trespassers to the property. Once or twice, even some of our guests were politely turned away by Jimmy, as he considered them unworthy of entering the house..

Over a period of time, Jimmy and me developed a graceful equation.....and he gradually started to acknowledge my presence, sometimes by the subtle movement of his languid eyes, or by shifting himself slightly to let me through when he blocked the front entrance. Even I started smiling at him and always wished him when we crossed each other. Mostly, he responded, but there were times when would just look through me as though I did not exist. One of 'those' days, I guess.. Oh, there were also occasions when he would'nt even look at me when he was involved in some romantic discussions with some of his voluptuous lady friends. But then, whenever he was with his male friends from neighboring houses, he always made it a point to flaunt my presence, as though I were some VIP..

But off late, actually since around three or four months, I had noticed that he was looking a bit drawn and tired. I even asked Priya to check with Bindu if all was well with Jimmy. Apparently, she had not seen any abnormality...perhaps her own issues masking her observatory skills. Anyway, I soon forgot about it.

Yesterday Priya had not joined me for our regular evening walk. As I was just leaving the house, I saw our friend Jimmy relaxing in the recently trimmed lawn area, and as usual, we nodded and smiled at each other. But when I stepped on to the footpath, I noticed Jimmy right behind me. He then crossed me, and started jogging ahead. This was the first time I had seen him in such an active mode, and I certainly was pleasantly surprised. He soon stopped, raised one of his thin rear legs and marked his presence on a recently painted lamp post next to the foot path. I continued walking, only to find Jimmy, having successfully completed his mission, jogging again, crossing me and moving ahead. The process was repeated and he made it a point to systematically tag every lamp post that came in our way, actually six of them. He also made an unscheduled stop to ogle at a well endowed lady who was chatting with her spouse - I think it was Mr & Mrs Kaiser from Jagbir's house. His spell was broken when Kaiser barked his displeasure and Jimmy ran on, giving him a smug smile.

By then we had almost covered a mile and reached the first traffic circle. Though Jimmy was keeping pace, I saw that he was panting, a steady dribble oozing down his chin. Tired he was...poor old guy, I thought. I also wanted to start my run, but was hesitant to do so, for I knew that the proud & stubborn Jimmy might join me though he looked dead tired. I also noticed that he was looking at me apologetically, wagging his tail (an unusual gesture) perhaps for slowing me down? I then turned towards right from the circle and when I looked back, I found that Jimmy had not joined me. He was sitting down, his bony chest heaving, still looking at me..

I started running and soon forgot about Jimmy. It was getting dark and I wanted get back home soon. Almost 40 - 45 minutes later, on my way back, I reached the same traffic circle. Then I saw a small crowd ahead and stopped, sure something was amiss. There he was....Jimmy, lying in a little puddle of blood, few onlookers curiously looking at him, doing nothing to help him. I think, the tough guy he was, Jimmy tried to follow me on my run, and unable to cross the road on time..got hit by a passing car.

When I got close to Jimmy, I could see that he still had that apologetic look on his face...for again slowing me down?? When he looked up, tears in his eyes, and saw the shock on my face (and perhaps the guilt), he smiled reassuringly - a weak yet reaching smile - that made us friends forever.. Tired, injured as well and bleeding, he still limped along happily with me back home....both of us chatting away silently....

(Only the last two paragraphs are fiction! And, I just didn't have the heart to kill him..)