Looking Back Detail Page

01 Apr

Michael Haque - Written when in Std VI

Afew years ago we were living in a bungalow which was situated rather deep in its compound, having a fairly long drive leading to it from the road. Our pet at that time was a fine Alsatian, call¬ed Bonis, who had made friends with a stray dog who persisted in coming to our compound, forcing us to adopt her. To us she looked very ugly; that is why we gave her the name Bella, meaning beautiful (by way of a joke). This Bella, in course of time, gave birth to two puppies of whom she was very proud. We used to place the puppies' basket during the day time, in the enclosed verandah in front of the sitting room. The verandah opened into the compound by means of a little gate which was kept folded but not latched.
One summer afternoon when my pa¬rents had gone to rest after lunch, I was sitting alone in the sitting-room, reading a book. Bella as usual was lying before her puppies' basket on the verandah. Suddenly Bella growled, and when look¬ing up, I saw at a distance, coming down our long drive, a strange dog whose way of coming in looked rather queer to me. At that moment Bella pushed through the small gate and like a fury rushed towards the new comer who made ready to attack. Only then I saw, that he was foaming at the mouth. Bella    threw    herself upon him and both dogs were rolling on the ground when suddenly our compound was filled with people brandishing sticks and shouting 'mad dog, mad dog'. The dog managed to get away from Bella, and trying to escape the people, made his way out of the compound. All the people including some of our servants gave chase. All this happened in a few minutes time, and before I had quite understood what had happened, our cook came back saying that in front of our gate the dog had been killed by a man whom it had tried to attack.
Our brave Bella had saved her pup¬pies from a possible attack from the mad dog. I am glad to say that Bella was safe and none the worse for her experience.