With You By My Side

On her way to school, a feeble whimper, “Yip ... Yip ...” stopped Poorvi.

- Sarvamitra

She looked around. Two brown eyes stared at her from behind a bush. “Hello, Stranger. Where did you come from?” Poorvi squatted and held out her hand. “Come here ...”

Hesitantly, the newcomer, a dog with floppy white ears, stepped out. Poorvi pulled out her snack box. “Here.” She offered some of the biscuits she had. The dog gobbled the biscuits and wagged its tail. “I am off to school now. See you in the evening.” Poorvi picked up her bag and hurried to school.

“Bye,” Poorvi bade her school friend goodbye and rounded the corner to turn into her street.

SCREEECHH!

The deafening sound of a bike suddenly hitting its brakes reverberated through the air. Poorvi looked up to find herself just inches away from a monstrous bike. And sandwiched between her and the bike was the stray dog she had been offering biscuits to for a few days now. Both of them could have been run down by the bike.

Did the dog run across the road to save her? As Poorvi wondered, the bike rider told her to move out of the road. She moved to the side and noticed that the dog was still with her. Calming her racing heart, she stuck to the footpath until she reached home. The dog accompanied her all the way home before heading back.

Later, Poorvi changed her uniform and gulped her milk and was out of the house in no time, bouncing her football. She found her friends waiting for her at the playground. Their game of football was interrupted when the ball flew over the compound wall and fell into a drain. Poorvi and her friends ran out in search of the ball.

“Eeww …” They plugged their noses as soon as they neared the drain. It was stinky and filled with garbage of all sorts.