Traitor

I had not imagined that he would turn out to be a traitor.

I was walking in our neighbourhood park when he quietly started following me. It was early winter and morning was slightly foggy. Sun was yet to wake up. There were few walkers. But that did not bother me. I like walking by myself, setting my own pace. If I come across any acquaintance, I dispose him off with a casual nod. I dislike companions while walking for I believe that there can be no better companion than the fresh and beautiful morning itself; anyone else is just a distraction.

For quite some time I was not even aware that he had tagged along me. It was only when I sensed his heavy breathing that I noticed him. I tried but vainly to shake him off.  He looked at me piteously when I said that I disliked his company.

He followed me to my home. He started strutting around like a rooster in a hen house. I live alone and he tried to show that he was doing me a favour by choosing me, and not any other morning walker, as his host. With some reluctance, I assumed the role of a decent host.

Days began to pass quickly, till he vanished without any forewarning. Even though I was unwilling to accept, it hurt me for I did not expect him to be that disloyal.

Or perhaps he could not be disloyal to someone else, for next morning I saw that beagle playing happily with a family.  I later learnt that that family had shifted away from our neighbourhood. They had lost their beagle while they were busy shifting and settling in their new house. They had all been feeling miserable without him.

‘No, he is not a traitor; he is where he ought to be,’ it was me telling myself.

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A post for A to Z April (2015) Challenge

Letter T for Traitor

You may like to read my earlier posts

                S for Scream

                R for Rebellion

                Q for Quagmire