Friday, November 21, 2014

Tipsy Lit Flash Fiction Contest Entry

                                                         http://tipsylit.com/category/story-contests/


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.



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