Homecoming.

"Oh I just love this heavenly aroma", Garima murmured to herself as the rain drops pittered and pattered on the hard ground. The smell of the first rain of the season meant respite from the sweltering heat that had been pestering the city for months now. Back from college after a busy day of lectures and labs and assignments, she nestled herself in her favorite spot by the window of her room from where she could see the neighborhood park. As she sipped her cup of steaming hot coffee, she noticed a tiny little puppy dripping  wet and shivering, trying to shelter itself under the slide in the children's play area. Wait a minute!!  Was it Snowy, her Snowy that was out there in the cold? No, it couldn't be... How she wished it was... 

It was during the summer vacations years ago that a game of hide and seek resulted in the Garima and her friends finding a litter of puppies in the backyard of the dilapidated house they had nicknamed the "Haunted home". While some of those tiny bundles of joy found love in her friends' homes, not everyone was lucky. Some of them had to put up their pups for adoption after being denied permission to keep a pet. Garima was thrilled when her parents let her keep the white little pup that she had brought home. Of course the permission came with a list of do's and dont's regarding the pet-care and house-rules. Garima and her kid brother Karan were excited about having their own pet and didn't mind abiding by the new rules. With soft white fur, the tiny little pup found itself answering to calls of Snowy. Even their mother grew fond of the cute little pup and would unfailingly put in extra milk into Snowy's bowl every morning. Soon Snowy became an integral part of the family and a vigilant guardian of the house. Evenings had a "Play with Snowy only after completing homework" rule. In fact the "Snowy" card worked like a charm, Garima and Karan would finish up all their tasks without a whine. The weekends meant Garima, Karan and Snowy were lost in their own magical world. 

Two summers after that, Divya Aunty and her baby stayed with them for a couple of weeks and for the first time Snowy was locked up in Garima's room for the benefit of the baby. Snowy was very understanding, not barking much and forgoing his usual fun games in the living room. Garima and Karan did play with Snowy but only in the confines of Garima's room. Snowy longed for a good game of chase in the park. And when they returned home after having dropped off Divya Aunty and her baby at the station, an excited Karan let out Snowy from the room. Within moments, Snowy sprinted out of the house, on to the street where a rash driver trampled her adorable little Snowy under the wheels of his monstrous SUV. She remembered how heartbroken she was that fateful day 10 years ago, just a helpless spectator. Karan and she had buried Snowy in the park wrapped in Snowy's favorite purple colored patch quilt. They had never spoken of another pet after that. And today as she saw that tiny puppy, memories of Snowy came back and she just rushed out of her room to knock at Karan's room. Both of them rushed out of the house into the downpour like kids who had just finished their last day of school. Snowy was coming back home...

This post is shared with 3WW and the words for this week are Helpless, Trample and Vigilant

Picture is from Google images