Lit eZine Vol 3 | p-15 | FICTION | Pranthan

FLASH FICTION

PRANTHAN
by Adarsh B. Pradeep

The winds brought the smell of wet earth from somewhere far away. Occasional blooms were spotted on shrubs. Butterflies drifted through the air like little colourful paper planes. Birds glided along, taking in every moment of the changed mood.

Chemban was jittery. He looked out through the metal gate, his ears flapping in the wind. He kept a watch on the nomadic dogs that found their way to the field during the month of Kanni.

Watching Chemban from inside a rickety house was Pranthan. He waited patiently for the dog to grow more restless, to run around in circles, chase its own tail, and start howling to let someone open the gates for it.

Pranthan smirked as things went exactly as he had pictured. He felt like the protector, provider and manipulator of beings. He felt like a little-known god; silent, yet potent; neglected, but waiting to be discovered by posterity with renewed vigour.

He ambled towards the gate, kicking up little clouds of dust from the ground and stopping intermittently to feel the breeze on his face.

Chemban wagged its tail in hope.

Pranthan hummed to a tune and shook his head to a rhythm as if in a mating dance. His head movement grew violent, waking up ticks and fleas camping in his matted hair. He then, as gracefully as a little sparrow taking flight, tied a noose around Chemban’s neck.

The dog licked on Pranthan’s palm, its tail now sweeping the ground and tracing semi-circles like the imprints of a half-cut giant yam.

Pranthan fastened the other end of the cord to the gate and threw the metal structure open. Chemban dashed towards the field, only to be pulled back by the taut rope.

Chemban started to growl madly at the dogs in the field.

The animals had little time during the mating season to notice this mad, helpless dog. They went ahead, marking territories like warriors.

Pranthan grew violent with ecstasy. He danced like a possessed man.

People in the field shook their heads; women across the field giggled; Chemban was still barking.

And then the seasons changed.