Story so far: After a long argument, Pari and her mother arrive at a solution that suits them both.
In school, Pari told Diya about Puddles. When she say Diya sympathise with Puddles, she thought it would be a good idea to enlist Diya’s help to prove Puddles was a puppy. Diya had two dogs of her own and one of them, Jill, had recently had a litter of three pups. One was yet to be adopted, and was around the same size as Puddles.
So it was decided that Diya would bring Peeps over for a puppy demo that evening. If Puddles and Peeps turned out to be similar, they could prove that Puddles was a dog. Peeps could also teach Puddles to bark.
“What if Jill wants to come too?” asked Diya.
“Jill is welcome to join,” said Pari. “But we will have to be careful. Ma says mother dogs are unpredictable and ferocious when they have puppies to protect.”
“Aunty is right,” said Diya. “Jill growls at strangers who come near her puppies. She also ran behind the car in which the two puppies were taken for adoption.”
Detailed comparisons
That evening, in Pari’s backyard, Peeps and Puddles were placed side by side. Pari had a measuring scale, a notebook and a pencil. She made two columns in the notebook. On the left she wrote Puddles and on the right Peeps. Since both tails were coiled like a jalebis, tails would be measured separately and added to the total.
Peeps was black and Puddles grey and black, with streaks of white. Puddles was fluffy, whilePeeps has a short coat. Both had tails of the same length but Puddles’ was slightly more bushy.
After 10 minutes of detailed comparison, they found the puppies differed only by three inches. That, they figured, was because Peeps was on her mother’s milk. Unlike Puddles who drank milk that came in a tetra pack. That gave them another similarity. Diet. Both drank milk.
By the time they were done, Jill had joined them. “Look at Jill,” said Pari, watching Puddles crawl all over her. “Jill isn’t growling or biting Puddles.” That gave Pari an idea.
“Diya, I’m your best friend, right?” asked Pari.
“Since playschool,” Diya smiled back.
“Will you do a teeny-weeny favour then? Can we exchange puppies for the night?”
“Why?” gasped Diya.
“What if Puddles howls again tonight? Ma will give her away.”
“But what will I do if Puddles howls in my house?” asked Diya.
“Look at Puddles. Don’t you want her to stay?”
“Of course,” replied Diya, hating how Pari always trapped her with a trick question.
To be continued
