On rocky grounds

Ankit saw Beenu crawl inside the gate — Rocky’s gate. What could he do? Protect the baby or just run away as fast as he could.

February 22, 2019 03:35 pm | Updated 03:35 pm IST

Illus: for YW_sreejith r.kumar

Illus: for YW_sreejith r.kumar

Ankit loved to spend his holidays with his grandparents. Grandpa had got him a cycle and he pedalled around on his own. He visited his best friend Deepak and his other friends in the colony as well. All of them got together to play football and cricket in the playground.

Late one evening, as he cycled home, he heard a loud, deep bark behind him. He looked back and saw a huge black dog running out of the gate of one of the houses beside the playground.

Rude shock

Ankit pedalled as fast as he could towards Deepak’s house. He heard a voice calling “Rocky, come back!” but he didn’t turn to check if “Rocky” had obeyed. He just wanted to get away — and when he reached Deepak’s house he threw his cycle on the ground and ran in through the gate.

“What’s up?” asked Deepak, coming out of the front door.

Ankit tried not to sound terrified. “Rocky!” he cried.

Deepak understood at once. “You met Rocky?” he exclaimed. “And you’re still alive?”

Ankit waited and Deepak continued, “Rocky used to live on a farm and he hasn’t got used to being in a place with a small compound so he keeps running out. He thinks the entire playground is his!”

Ankit was silent. He had to cross the playground if he wanted to go anywhere. Otherwise, he would have to get onto the main road with its busy traffic and his grandparents did not allow him to do that. What was he to do?

Luckily for Ankit, several days went by without seeing Rocky again.

Then one evening, when he and Deepak and their other friends were having cycle races, the chain of Ankit’s cycle came off. Ankit stopped to replace it and let the others go on. Suddenly he heard screams. A couple of bikes had piled up at the end of the road and one of the boys, Samir, had fallen down. The maid who had been wheeling Samir’s one-and-a-half year old sister Beenu in her stroller, left it and ran to see what had happened.

Ankit did not know whether to cycle home and call his grandparents to see whether Samir was hurt or whether to knock on the nearest door for help. Then he noticed that baby Beenu had got out of the pram and toddled off through the open gate nearby: Rocky’s gate!

“Oh no! Rocky will eat her!” thought Ankit — and just then, he heard Rocky’s bark. Ankit started trembling. His legs felt like jelly. He wanted to run away as fast as he could — or even better, just disappear.

But instead, he ran to the open gate and went inside. He saw Beenu sitting down on the grass — and charging towards her was Rocky.

Ankit had no choice. He stood in front of Beenu and faced the huge dog. “Go back, Rocky!” he shouted, holding his arms out in front as if to stop the charge — but Rocky just kept on coming.

Then Ankit heard a shout and a lady came to the door of the house and called, “Come here, Rocky!” and Rocky stopped short — and turned abruptly and went back inside.

Ankit bent and picked up Beenu. He moved as quickly as he could towards the gate and out of it — and then closed it firmly when he was through. His legs felt so weak that he put Beenu down and leaned against the gate. He heard something behind him and he turned. It was Rocky — and his owner! She smiled at him. “You were brave to stand your ground with Rocky! Would you like to get to know him better?”

Ankit started to shake his head but suddenly he noticed that Rocky’s tail was wagging. “You can touch him,” said the lady, and Ankit leaned over the gate and patted Rocky.

The tail wagged faster — and just then Deepak and Samir and the others came running up. “Dude, you’re brave!” they cried, taking in the scene. “You’ve tamed the mammoth!”

Ankit just smiled and kept on patting Rocky. It felt good.

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