Mini's mom's pet

“

Adi, catch” said Mini’s mother as she flung a biscuit in the air. Adonis (adoringly called Adi) watched like a real goof as the cookie crumbled into pieces on the floor.
“Look at the little twerp”, wailed Mini’s mom, picking up the broken pieces and putting them in Adi’s bowl. “He doesn’t even try….my Spiky used to catch so beautifully.”

 “Don’t you insult my darling dog”, Mini said looking hurt. “By the way, who’s Spiky- the bowlegged mongrel you told us about, the other day?” she asked.
 “That he was,” agreed Mini’s mother, “but I loved him as much as you love your pom.”

 Mini begged mom to tell her more about Spiky and the story went this way……
 Mother had brought Spiky from a friend’s house when he was barely a month old. He was not quite bowlegged then but had become so due to constant carrying. He was dark (not to say black) and, in striking contrast, had a long white patch on his forehead that looked like a ‘tilak’. His brown mournful eyes were enough to melt anybody’s heart and his long black ears twitched at the slightest sound. How he loved to nibble at the mosquito net when he slept on the bed with Mini’s mom and her sister. And his favorite game was running away with their slippers!

 He was very well mannered and never touched as much as a biscuit unless it was given to him. Spiky was everyone’s sweetie pie until they moved to a flat. Spiky had to be tied up. He missed running about freely in open spaces. He was not used to this treatment and frustration led to ferociousness. Snap! He bit the watchman of the building. The maid cried in pain as he sunk his teeth into her leg and he growled savagely at anyone he saw until people stopped coming to their house. The worst tragedy occurred when he bit a neighbour’s child badly. Spiky had become a terror!!! He had to be sent away, he how he was missed……..

 Seven years of smooth uneventful life passed. Mini’s mother took up a job as a teacher in a school, in the other side of the city. The very first day she noticed a number of mongrels roaming around- one particularly dirty specimen, with a torn ear and dripping mouth, following her a short distance. Terrified she sprinted a flight of steps. The dog stood looking up at her for a while and went its way.

The next few days were nearly the same. This disreputable mongrel seemed to wait for her, follow her…no, dog her steps up to the school gates.

 Then one morning Mini’s mother decided to take a firm stand. Just as the dog got up to follow her, she picked up a stone. It stood then, uncertainly, tail waving ever so slightly. Suddenly Mini’s mother saw something she had not noticed all these days- the bowlegs!” Spiky?” she called out softly, not believing. The creature needed no urging. It sprang on her and she hugged it, ignoring the filth on the dog and the strange looks of the people around.

 From that day, it was a common sight for the students and teachers of that school to see Mini’s mother sharing her lunch with Spiky who, in turn would guard her till the end of the day.