Destructive Distillation

I was in a different world, totally engrossed in my thoughts and actions. I was bustling by and dancing to the tunes of celebrated artistes. I was an odd piece of the puzzle and dint care about where I fit in. Suddenly I stumble upon on another piece walking the same path as I did. There was confusion and we almost trample one another. I halt and with a smile let him move on first and solve the mix up. Gracefully he walks away and I continue too. We were strangers sharing a walk and with each of us maintaining a similar pace, we struck a conversation of sorts. There was no obligation in the relationship, sometimes I moved ahead and more often he did.

As the time passed we began to walk in stride and an understanding had formed. Sometimes he got stuck behind due to other people and vehicles on the walk and more often due to his odd footing. Whenever we moved out of stride due to obstacles on the path, adjustments were made and the routine resumed. Soon the gap between our trails narrowed and he began performing new actions. He sometimes used to slow down or stop for a moment while I pressed on as I always did. Sometimes he used to go ahead and check out the ground we walked on. Sometimes he used to switch sides and move from left to right and vice versa. Why did I feel like he was on a look out for miscreants and in a protective mode? I dint ask for it. Sometimes he used to stop and scratch his head, take a break. What he did during these times I never knew completely for I had only seen him scratch on the occasions I looked behind out of inquisitiveness. After a while, he began stopping and scratching in my view; i.e. when he had to stop and do so when he was ahead. I just kept on walking as always. The companionship was accidental and not really riveting.

But soon something didn’t feel right and it was not the people gaping. The something was the disparity between the kind of life we lead or type of people we were. The differences became too obvious and soon very inconvenient. Frankly he was itchy, grumpy and too different for my liking. It might sound cruel after all the camaraderie we shared but I couldn’t adjust into being a friend. We were two odd pieces in the puzzle but that doesn’t endorse a friendship or any other similarities in the type of people we were. We were two different odd pieces which don’t pair.

It was time to move on from the paired walking. I gave subtle references to the dog to let me alone. It could have been to refined for a canine brain to process. I stopped, he stopped; I ran and he ran too. I began devising plans to cut the cord. Should I enter the supermarket and leave him stranded outside? It wouldn’t work because eventually I had to come out and he would be waiting. I kept on walking and scheming, dismissing a few options and weighing the others. He was persistent and kept thwarting all my plans and also drew closer to me. Shadows of fear began to creep in. He had lost all respect I had.

In another attempt to get rid of him, I quickly crossed the road and turned around to see where the bloody hound was. I couldn’t see it but I wasn’t relieved. My instincts told me it was somewhere around. I scanned and found it standing right beside me breathing hard with its tongue out. That was it, I shall abandon all subtlety and let it know that it was uninvited. I contorted my face with anger and raised a hand showing it a sign that I am capable of violence. It winced for a moment but then started following me again with dogged determination. It was time to play the dirtiest trick. I planned to take advantage of its weakness, any dog’s weakness, tackling traffic. I saw a slew of oncoming vehicles, quickly crossed the road and ran hard trying to escape the line of sight. While doing so I turned and saw its longing looks. It behaved is if it was the victim. Its antics raised questions in my mind as to integrity of my actions and who the victim was. Running the sequence of events in my head which led to this situation helped me justify myself.

I kept running and from time to time looking behind. After I entered a dark lane I slowed down and confirmed that I finally lost contact. Relieved I continued walking. The thought that it still followed me kept playing in my head. Suddenly I found something creeping up from behind. I panicked. When I realised that it was only a bicycle and not the dog, I calmed down and took the last leg home. Even when I finally closed my gates I had doubts if the dog ever stopped following me. Did it become discreet now and turn to vengeance? Does it know where I live?