By Shobha Diwakar

The night was dark; the night was cold, the wind outside howled and whined. Somewhere beyond, the lightning shattered the sky as the moon shivered and shrank while the stars relayed across to find a resting place. The hushed night was suddenly rolled out of slumber as the groaning trees growled  with the thumping of the wild wind that struck at its entrails. It seemed that the night was the darkest night, which Rohit had ever witnessed. He had travelled across the country in all seasons yet had never faced such a horrible weather before.

The banging of the rude clouds distracted Rohit’s cordial sleep into  which he had swooned after a hectic week of running around with growing pressures of business demands that seemed never ending like the long, long winding tail of the enormous anaconda ever ready to devour whatever came its way. Hastily he got up to shut the venetian blind and draw the rusty curtain that appeared to have hung there since eternity. Loaded with dust and mites it tickled his nose that landed him back into bed with a bout of sneezes that drained the tears from his burning eyes due to lack of sleep. ‘Now what?’ He questioned himself although he was aware there would be no answer to his query.

Outside, the weather grew denser and foreboding; a distant away an owl hooted ungraciously while some dogs decided it was time for them to begin wailing. The tiresome weather did not offer any respite as Rohit twisted and turned in his bed to get some sleep. It must have been after midnight that he finally dozed off into a peaceful slumber and dreamt beautiful dreams about his family and friends whom he missed so badly. It was now more than two months he had left home on a business tour and would not be reunited with them for another few months. Many a time he had planned to leave this touring job but the money it brought him pushed the idea away so until he found a better non touring job he would stick to this routine.

A strong gush of wind banged at his window sending goose bumps all over. He woke up with a start drenched in perspiration. He sat up peering into the darkness of the room when he felt a cold shudder run down his spine. He was perplexed was this some foreboding.  No sooner than the thought entered his mind, he brushed it aside and closing his eyes uttered a prayer his mother had taught him as a child. Calmed and settled now he threw the cover over his head and once again fell sound asleep. Before long, a creepy sound aroused him impatiently. He peered into the dark filmed night but relaxed, swooned off again while the thirsty night spread its tentacles ferociously.

Since the moon and its attendant ‘fairy’ stars were hidden from the human eye, the way was paved for characters that did nothing by the day but drowned themselves in un-holy activities and then slept off their guilt. However, their spirits rose high as soon as the dark night crept into the sky to shield the corrupt minds engaged in nefarious activities. Tonight was just such a night when unwary migrants would taste the sour grapes of this back of beyond town. The wild barking of the dogs receded into the background. The wind slowed its pace and the trees sighed softly as the branches hung loose with the settling dew. The night grew darker than usual as though carving the way for miscreants that roamed the streets on a night like this.

Rohit jerked out of his sleep as he felt there was someone in the room. Rubbing his eyes, he peered into the dark but could see no one, yet he was sure the creaky door had wakened him up; hoping against hope that he was probably dreaming he closed his eyes and lay still. This time the creaking sound was louder than before so he immediately threw aside his blanket and armed himself with a hockey stick he kept under the mattress for self- defense and silently crept on tiptoe towards the door. His heart was thumping fast and he could feel the heartbeats racing against each other as if excited to overpower every beat he felt. He must have stood there for a while when he heard that rough creaking sound a bit louder this time. Carefully he opened the door slightly but the gloomy dark grinned at him viciously. He stepped back a little and banged himself with ‘someone’ he could not see. He froze. He could not resist a desperate cry that echoed into his ears. Since the switch- board was within a hand’s reach from where he stood planted he turned on the lights only to find himself alone in the room. Although he heaved a sigh of relief, he was puzzled over the fact that he had banged against someone

Slowly Rohit walked towards his bed and sat down wondering what he would do until morning  in order to find out what was going around in his solitary premises. It was well past midnight and he had not had a wink of sleep. Brooding over this idea, he lay down once again and pretended to close his eyes. Barely had he done so when a loud creaking sound screeched his ears, which irritated his already gnawing nerves; but this time he got up immediately and once again arming himself with the hockey stick crept out silently towards the rear room, (which probably no one ever entered) from where the sound had come. Having reached the dead end of the room he held his breath…there seated before him in a rusty dirty armchair was none other than the landlord’s pet dog Ribbon (called so because she had  natural streaks of red across her body), graciously admiring her litter.

Rohit was dismayed. He did not know whether he should laugh or cry over the sight he beheld. Since he was often on tours he had never entered this room nor was he aware that beyond his own room and the corridor there was a dilapidated room with a worn out termite eaten door that hung loosely upon hinges ready to fall off any moment. Ribbon had probably been hunting for a safe place to litter and when the area was safe had stealthily crept inside to secure this as a compatible maternity home for herself. It was she who made that awful creaking sound heard in an effort to push open the door and perch herself on the chair to cradle her pups.

In the meantime, the property owner (landlord) had lodged a complaint about his missing Ribbon when finally Rohit congratulated him on being the proud owner of Ribbon and her litter that had snatched away his sleep for the past week!

About the Author: Dr. Shobha Diwakar lives in Jabalpur, India and retired as the head of English department at C.P. Mahila Mahavidhyalaya, Jabalpur. She has published many research papers, stories, poems and essays in national, international and online journals. She contributes regularly to writerslifeline and Indian Periodical. Dr Diwakar  servers on the Advisory Board of www.writerslifeline.ca.