Snoopy's Tale
On early Sunday morning, Snoopy strolled out of his kennel, rummaging
for smell that his nostrils caught on to. Though he had come across many smells
from malodorous ones to savories, this one seemed different.
Master! He thought,
he needs to get back before master wakes up to take him out for a walk. Through
that missing piece of fence, he crossed the boundaries, as he had done many
times.The smell trailed off to the barren field behind a huge house. He
followed his sixth sense unhesitatingly. Right in front of him, was a huge
stretch of fields, with wild grass. He stood few feet away and barked.
No answer.
He walked to and fro in anxiousness. Something moved!
His tail upright, his muscles flexed his adrenalin all ready
to pump in another shot in a response of fight or flight. The smell seemed to
intensify every moment.
He barked louder, his body was quivering now. It was dark
but he could still smell the presence coming closer to him. Something made its
way from the lands of grass. Petite and frail, dark with no fur on him, walking
on two paws like master’s kind that was something Snoopy hadn't seen before. As
this thing came near Snoopy, instead of getting alarmed he became unexpectedly calm
and studied the strange creature.
There was no snout, but it had a tail, that wagged to and
fro. Snoopy responded positively. It brought its hand and rubbed under his
neck. Snoopy didn't refrain. The touch was not meant to harm, the stranger had
conveyed him.
The first touch was
gentle and he loved the rub and pamper. He licked it back, thanking it for showing
care and not harming him. A silent conversation commenced between them. He told
it about the day when master hit him with a stick, the fight with Boxy and the painful
wound on his snout. He even told about his puppy days comforting around his
mommy’s tummy, suckling and calling for attention and the lovely random licking,
his mommy would do. He described his day of the separation from his mother and
being given to his master who didn't care for him. He told it about the times
he starved and had to wander off at night for food. He expressed his grief on how
he was just another show-toy for his master.
Apart from that the stranger also got to know about his
skills, his ancestors and how his breed was not a pure race but a mix of many
mongrels. Snoopy in turn got to know about the stranger, the place where it
came from, its world, its colony and its life. The strangers became
friends over that brief conversation.
He followed it into the grass field, as the stranger turned
around to leave.
Snoopy didn't return to his master since that day. He had
completed his days on earth and now he freely wandered somewhere in the sky
with his new found friend.
