Ruff and Me

Ruff and I absolutely love it at the park. So when I have the time I take him there in the evenings. “A little exercise like that is exactly what the two of you need”, my doctor tells me. But I think he’s read too much into the annual med test reports. But then things like chasing down the Ice-cream Man and putting his face through the park fence trying to reach out at a ball on the other side really gives him a kick. I don’t mind letting him act once in a while, in the way he used to when I brought him home with me. As I sit on the bench pretending to read the paper, I actually watch him be his inquisitive self. I think he knows that. Sometimes, I think he knows more about me than I know about him.

Usually, we find a lot of children playing around in the park in the evenings. I guess, the two of us just love sitting there watching the kids play. A lot of them bring their Frisbees. They are usually of bright colours. Some are conventionally beautiful and some exotically so. I think he likes the Frisbees more than the kids. I’ve often seen him watching the Frisbees fly past him, even as he sits without a wag in his tail or a rub on his belly (the two things he does best). I sometimes wonder, “What is this guy so thoughtful about?” when he’s busy watching the kids play. That he’s never chased down a Frisbee, is rather strange. Back home if I were to show you one piece of furniture which did not have the impressions of his teeth, I would fail miserably. So, it came as quite a surprise when he finally did what I had thought he’d never do.

It was one of those beautiful evenings in spring, a couple of years back. We had just settled down on our usual bench when I noticed this group of kids playing with a Frisbee. And, this dark blue plastic thing reflected the setting sun’s rays, off it, every time they threw it around. It was simple yet enigmatically beautiful. More importantly, it had taken Ruff's fancy. It had started to make him edgy as I could tell form the way he had started breathing now. I knew exactly what he was thinking. I knew him too well for that. “I have got to re-hook the chain to his collar”, I thought. Even as I groped around for his chain I could see the nervous energy in him reach threshold.

But, before I could even shout out his name, he had turned his head around. My orders never mattered, but tonight I didn’t want to give him one anyway. And, in any case it was too late. A smile escaped me as he leaped to his feet, sprinted right at the object of his desire, dodged the bewildered 6 year old in the way, jumped, caught it right out of the air and crashed.

The sun’s rays continued to hit my eyes off the Frisbee, now held tightly between his teeth.

His droopy little eyes assured me “... we are fine ... ” … I didn’t doubt him. Never have.