Short story:

A stolen gift

by Nayomi Gunasekara

Having sensed a good smell of frying sprats from the kitchen, he, who was lying down in front of a fairly large verandah of an old house that was built closer to the sea at the time of the Dutch, raised his head slowly. The evening seemed to be very calm and quiet.

"Ah... I hate these coconut fibres" having noted a small coconut fibre on his fur, he murmured to himself while removing it tenderly. He again got straightened and looked over the fence of the small garden that was at the other side of the house.

"Brownie... Where are you?" The loud voice of his little mistress broke the reverie abruptly.

"There, she is screaming again....Hmm...Isn't it great to be all alone sometimes?" Brownie thought to himself, but he reluctantly stood up to go in still looking at the garden.

Voice

All of a sudden, he noticed that something was moving right behind the rose bush and wondered if it was a big, white cotton ball. But, the two small blackish starry eyes on it that were suddenly flashed towards Brownie indicated that it was something alive.

Brownie found himself frozen at once, unable to move anywhere when the whole thing came out of the bush.

That was the prettiest creature he had ever seen! He wagged his puffy tail in pleasure and an unknown warm feeling started to tickle the deepest end of his heart.

"Oh wow...! There you are my little one." Brownie got startled by the dearly voice he heard close by. That was his little mistress, Tania.

"Are you feeling la...zy my dear? Tania came, knelt down and cuddled Brownie.

"Meow" Brownie meowed sweetly as usual and looked at her innocently.

"Why Meow?" Tania whispered in to his ears rubbing its' back gently.

Brownie turned the head to see if that cutest princess he had ever seen was to be visible. To his utmost pleasure, she was still there.

"Hmm... It is a pity that I should go now, Isn't it?" Brownie was talking to her with his eyes.

Cuddling Brownie tightly to her chest, Tania went in. The stranger heaved a deep sigh and kept looking at that direction as if she was going to wait there till the next day dawns.

"Mom...Look! Rossy has come down to our place!" The little boy of the house yelled out overjoyed, scattering her day dream.

Allergic

"Putha, Don't you remember that cat's fur is allergic for you? You will catch the wheeze..." A woman who was seemed to be in her late thirties said rushing to the place.

"Shooo... Go... Get out of the garden before I beat you up... Get out at once..." said the woman grabbing a stick and Rossy ran away in a panic.

The next day dawned and Brownie got up early. Then he went down to a water puddle closeby and examined his reflection on the water. Brownie tossed his head a bit and smiled proudly at his reflection on the water.

"Ha... The boy is very handsome," he muttered proudly. Then he strolled down the road humming a melodious tune.

After getting to Rossy's place, his eyes were busy searching the snowy princess who had stolen his heart, but nobody was around to be seen.

Suddenly, he sniffed a fish curry from the kitchen and his mouth was watering automatically. The smell grew stronger where he found himself was being dragging towards the kitchen by his legs and in the next moment, he was watching at the clay pot with cooked fish which was placed on a table.

After making it clear that nobody was watching over him, he crept through the opened window like a thief and jumped on to the wooden table where the pot was kept. Then he approached the pot and peeped into it. Pieces of freshly cooked fish were visible in the pot amid juicy gravy and it was steaming yet.

Behaviour

"It seems that I can grab a few pieces, though this is little bit hot. Wow... What a smell!" Brownie tried to turn the clay pot towards him, with his left, front paw. But his panicky behaviour created a big commotion when the clay pot fell from the wooden table and broke into fragments.

Without any second thought, Brownie leapt down from the table and grabbed a big piece of fish in his mouth and was about to vanish away. But at the same time, a dark, stump woman rushed into the kitchen and her mouth opened widely, seeing what has happened.

"Oh.. shoo..Ayyo.. The fish curry is done! What have you done bloody donkey? Shoo.." The woman screamed in anger and her face was like a demon's.

Brownie's heart thumped louder as if it was thundering in the sky and he dashed out of the window in a flash. The woman snatched the broomstick and rushed towards the opened door and threw it harshly towards the cat. When it struck against Brownie's back, he saw evening stars due to the pain. But still twisting with the pain he ran away straightening his puffy tail.

"See... What this cat has done! Ayyo... I told umpteen times to my man to keep his eye on this, but he has gone somewhere leaving all this behind...Come home, I will get you...Errr" Brownie plainly heard the woman yelling out clenching her teeth. Upon hearing the shouting, Rossy hurried to the verandah and saw Brownie running maniacally out of the garden and she was watching it open mouthed.

Shady tree

Brownie was panting heavily when he put down the piece of fish under a shady tree, which he didn't let go off his mouth until now. He threw himself down under the tree almost unconsciously and he knew he had a very narrow escape.

After about ten minutes, Brownie settled off and got back to his normal condition.

All of a sudden, he saw someone was strolling towards him. He stood up from where he was lying down as if he had been spell bound since that was none, but the one who stole his heart on the first day itself.

"Meow... Are you all right?" She asked gently. Her eyes were filled with compassion and love.

"Meow...Eh... Yes..... I'm all right... Eh.. I was just lying down under this tree," Brownie stammered.

Having sniffed the nice smell, Rossy looked around and saw a piece of fish little further away.

"Er...I... actually wanted to meet you, so just grabbed this piece of fish for you as a present and was planning to pay you a visit... But...yeah...It is really good to see you here." Brownie hardly found any words to utter.

"Thank you..." Rossy sat down with a sweet smile and had a one mouthful of fish.

"This is very tasty. Where did you get this from?" She asked. For that Brownie was speechless for a moment. How could he tell that he stole it from her house and got beaten with a broom stick for the deed?

"Err...My mistress gave it to me for the breakfast, so thought of sharing it" Brownie didn't know how those words came to his lips.

Picturing the way he ran away from the garden straightening his tail, a slight smile blossomed all over Rossy's face.

"Why?" Brownie asked inquisitively.

"No... Nothing... This is superb... The best piece of fish I ever tasted," she said trying another mouthful and Brownie's heart got filled with a pride of a triumphant young lover.