Two Friends (short story)

TWO FRIENDS
A Short Story by Tadam
“Komu!”
“Komu! Komu! Where are you? Come baby,
come!”
Little Yaji called out to her pet—her best friend.
She wanted to go for
their regular evening walk a little earlier than
usual that day.
“Come soon, baby! We’re going to have lots of
fun today!”
Komu heard Yaji and came rushing out of the
house. He looked as excited as
Yaji was. He ran towards her and began licking
her outstretched hands, like
a child licks his favorite ice-cream. Yaji patted
him on his head and
scratched his neck—dogs love that, she knew.
Then, the two friends set off
down the road into the jungle.
*
Yaji was the only daughter of the headman of the
village. Tapin—that was
the name of the village—was nestled in a narrow
valley surrounded by
thickly-forested hills. It was a beautiful little
village, with lots of
greenery around and a river flowing nearby. Big
banana trees grew in the
fields that surrounded the village—that was what
Tapin was specially known
for.
Yaji thought Tapin was the best place in this
world.
*
Yaji was as sweet as the bananas of Tapin. Yet—
or maybe because of that—she
didn’t have many friends. The other village
children were just too busy
hunting dragonflies and climbing trees, looking for
eggs in mynahs’ nests
to eat (which she found horribly cruel), to bother
about her—and thankfully
so. Yaji would spend hours sitting by the river or
deep in the forest,
spellbound by the beauty of the nature around
her. The other kids found
that a waste of time, and so left her alone.
*
One day, while Yaji was ambling through the
forest collecting wild berries,
she befriended a dog, which followed her home.
Almost at once, she and Komu
accepted each other as best friends. From that
day on, they did almost
everything together. Every evening, they went
together into the jungle for
a walk, the highpoint of their day.
*
It had been three months since Komu had arrived
in Yaji’s life.
That day, Yaji was very excited. Her father had
bought her a new,
peacock-blue frock. She wanted to celebrate the
occasion with Komu, having
fun.
It was amazing how many fruits grew in the
forest! In just a short while,
Yaji’s little basket was overflowing with the fat,
red-hued berries that
she loved. Komu loved them, too.
“Komu, Komu! Papa’s so kind!” chuckled Yaji as
she popped a berry into her
mouth. “He bought me this wonderful frock today!
I always wanted one like
this but never asked him. So kind of him, na? I’m
so happy!”
“Here, have another berry,” she chirped as she
tossed a berry into Komu’s
mouth, which he quickly gobbled up.
As Yaji walked ahead, she flung berries high into
the air while Komu leapt
up and caught them, without missing a single
one!
You should have seen the two friends that day.
How very happy they were!
*
“Let’s rest for a while under that cotton tree,
Komu,” Yaji said after a
while. She was tired. “We better return soon.
Papa always tells me that we
should not go too far into the jungle.”
The two friends squatted in the generous shade
of the giant tree. Komu
jumped into Yaji’s lap and curled up into a ball—
he loved doing that. Yaji
looked on lovingly at this magnificent creature of
God, so full of love.
“Thank you Lord for giving me such a loving
friend,” she whispered.
*
The early evening sun was slipping down the sky,
spreading its magnificent
orange rays. A gentle breeze broke the stillness of
the forest, patiently
caressing the two friends as they lay hugging
each other, completely
oblivious to the world around them. The soft
whistle of the breeze as it
made its way through the trees sounded as if it
was humming a ballad in
celebration of their love.
It didn’t take long for Yaji to fall asleep. She
woke up—it was more than
an hour later—only when she heard Komu
frantically yelping. She couldn’t
believe her eyes as she quickly scampered to her
feet. In front of her were
three burly men, struggling to tie Komu up with a
thick iron chain. Komu
was screeching desperately, calling out to Yaji to
rescue him.
“Stop that! Stop that at once! Who on earth are
you?” Yaji screamed. “Don’t
do that to Komu!”
One of the men turned towards Yaji and barked.
“Ey girl, watch your words.
He isn’t yours. He belongs to us. We’re taking
him back come with us.”
“But he wants to be with me. Ask him and he’ll
tell you,” Yaji protested
innocently as she lunged forward to help her
friend. “What proof do you
have that you aren’t lying?”
“We don’t need to answer you, girl,” the man
snapped back, “but just to
satisfy your curiosity, you see that collar around
his neck with the number
1003 written on it? ...Well, that’s his ID number
that shows he belongs to
us. All our dogs have a number. This one escaped
three months ago and we’ve
been searching for him since then.”
Yaji didn’t doubt what the man said, but, still, she
just could not allow
Komu to be torn apart from her, especially not by
these gruff men. Goodness
knows how they would treat him! It must be
terrible living with them, or
else Komu would not have ever fled from them,
she thought.
Just then, Yaji thought of her father, the village
headman. Surely, he
wouldn’t allow the men to drag Komu off like
that. And so, she suddenly
bounced on her little feet and began racing
through the forest towards her
village. Seeing her, Komu gave one fierce jerk and
managed to loosen
himself from the grip of the man who was
holding him with the iron chain.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, till he
caught up with Yaji.
In a short while, they rushed into their home.
*
Taji, Yaji’s father, was sitting on the floor of the
verandah, weaving a
bamboo basket when the two friends darted
inside the compound.
“Ey child, what’s the matter!’ he cried out. “What
happened?”
“Papa! Papa! Help! Papa” Yaji wailed.
“Those...men...they are trying to
take poor Komu away!”
Yaji managed to regain her breath and explained
to her father what had
happened.
“Relax, relax my dear,” said Taji as he handed her
a glass of water to
drink. “We’ll handle the matter when the men
come.”
No sooner had Taji said this than the men
appeared at the entrance of the
compound, looking fierce and angry.
Taji had no idea how he was going to handle the
situation. On the one hand,
the dog ‘belonged’, as it were, to these men. But
he just couldn’t bear
letting Komu go with them. He had already grown
fond of Komu, but, more
than that, he knew Yaji would be devastated if
the men made off with him.
The men hollered at Taji. “Give back our dog, if
you know what’s good for
you.”
Taji thought it best not to antagonize them. He
knew what they were capable
of doing.
“My dear,” he turned to Yaji and said, “Remember
I told you a tale once,
that those who come to this world must one day
leave? I know you love Komu,
but he isn’t ours to keep. He belongs to those
people. And so we must
return him to them. He has to spend his rest of
his life with them. That’s
his fate. You are my sweetest dear, na? You’ll
listen to me, na? Return
Komu to them, dear, won’t you?”
Hearing her father speak like this, little Yaji burst
out crying, burying
her head in Komu’s neck, as if trying to take him
into her body.
The sight was so pathetic that Taji, who prided
himself on being a tough
man, was moved to tears.
“Papa,” Yaji managed to say between her sobs
after a while, “don’t you keep
reminding me that we all are children of the God
and that all of God’s
creatures have the right to live the life they like?
Komu doesn’t like
their company. Why don’t you understand that?
That’s why he escaped from
them. If he liked being with them, he wouldn’t
have come here. He doesn't
like to live with them. Please, I beg you, let him
be with us. Tell these
men off. Please, please, please!”
“I understand all that my dear,” Taji replied, “but
there is little we can
do. We must return him to them. And you won’t
deny my words, will you,
dear? You are such a lovely child.”
Yaji slowly lifted up her tear-soaked head.
“No, father, I won’t deny your words,” she
mumbled as she faced the
prospect of her best friend being torn apart from
her forever. She knew she
her father could not dare to antagonize the men.
She turned to Komu and kissed him on the
forehead.
“I shall love you till I die,” she whispered.
*
Taji lifted Komu in his arms and walked towards
the entrance of the
compound, where the men were waiting.
“I am sorry, sirs,” he said as he approached
them. “My daughter loves
animals very much and so she kept your dog,
unaware that it belongs to you.
Please take him. Here....”
Taji passed Komu to one of the men.
The man stretched his hands to take Komu. But
then, at that moment, his
eyes fell on Yaji, who was sitting a short distance
away. And, all at once,
his heart melted. It was such a heart-rending
sight, that little innocent
child and her tear-stained face.
“No uncle,” the man stuttered. ‘I just can’t! This
dog belongs to your
daughter now!”
Then, taking Komu in his arms, he marched
towards Yaji and placed him in
her lap.
“You both belong to each other,” he said, a
generous smile spreading across
his face as he patted Komu on her head. “I’ve
never seen such love before.
A fine lesson you have taught us today!”
THE END