You’re My Hero

Heads would turn as she walked down the street. Gentle breeze would flow through her silky hair and feel mesmerized. Her walk comprised the majesty of the royals. She possessed a flawlessly toned body; his desire and her envy. Seeing her eyes, twinkling stars would blaze of jealousy. She resembled a princess from the fairy land.

No one wondered why she had won The Most Gorgeous Dog of the Year award at the National Dog Show year after year. She was beauty personified in the body of a Golden Retriever! She precisely signified her name, Daisy.

But, there was a ‘but’. All of this would turn into a reason for her to be scared every night. Tonight was no different.

With shivering legs, walking close up to her dog-walker, she turned towards the street she feared. She wanted to ignore them, but she could not. She walked with her head down. She avoided looking straight at him. Alas, it was not good enough to stop his voice from crashing onto her eardrums.

“Hello beautiful, pity me with a glance. Why such ignorance? Why do you break my heart every night? Why? Why? Why!!! Be mine for the heaven’s sake; be mine! I have got my heart on my palm for you, sweetheart.” Jackson said and followed the drama of his phony love with a sinister laugh. Three toadies followed the laughter with fawning grins. Jackson was the grubbiest stain on the entire stray dogs’ community.

“Boss, you rock. You are the man!” One of the toadies said to inch above the rest in the boss’s good books.

The boss smirked. Meanwhile, Daisy walked as fast as she could to disappear out of their sight.

As every day, a lowly pariah dog – Mario, watched from far down the street. He wanted to do so much. He could not. He could not gather enough courage to confront the mighty boss, Jackson. He scratched the ground hard in helplessness. Aggravation rose within him, night after night.

***

It was a full moon night. It was routine as Daisy entered the panic street. Her horror rose every night along the lines of Jackson’s guts. Just as she started walking swiftly, her neck strained.

“Daisy, walk alongside me. Don’t rush.” Shirley, the cute dog walker, said and pulled the belt tied around Daisy’s neck.

Gasping her fright, Daisy slowed down. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Jackson and his gang all set to Eve-tease her with a higher degree of cheapness. Jackson waited with the high swinging tail and spit filled tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Just as Daisy moved past them, he said, “Hey sweetheart, come on. Let your walker go back home. Just you and me, let’s go on a date? I will drop you home in the morning. I will make sure you will never forget the night.” he winked with baleful smile. Standing behind him, the flatterers chuckled. Daisy overlooked.

Mario, like every night, waited at the end of the street in despair for the moment to pass. His agony – the result of witnessing the abuse and being unable to fix it – was evidently perceptible in his intense barks to himself. He vented his anguish by fiercely scratching the ground with his front legs. His tail pattered ferociously.

Out of the blue, a young – twentyish- man came following Shirley, the dog walker. He came closer to her and whistled impishly.

Shirley ignored him and started walking faster. He came in front to block her way.

“Move aside, let me go.” Shirley said terrifyingly. Daisy barked at the top of her voice to caution him but she was too sweet of a dog to be intimidating.

Jackson watched the happenings from a distance and smirked.

“What is the hurry, beautiful? Give me a taste of your sweetness.” The man said as he grabbed Shirley’s wrist.

Before he could advance, like a hero in a movie, Mario ran, pounced and gripped the guy’s arm with his brawny jaws.

The flirty guy cried in pain. He left Shirley’s arm in a jiffy and dropped down on his knees. He tried to kick Mario to get out of the brutal grip, but failed. He invited more pain instead; Mario freed the wrist and clutched his thigh. The guy tried to crawl away; Mario still hung on to his target. Mario had mercilessly put all his aggravation into it. The guy screamed his head off.

After a couple of minutes into the unruly battle, Mario judged it as enough and unleashed the flirt. Soaked in dust, sweat, tears and pain, with a leg and an arm wounded, the poor guy limped into the dark far away taking a lesson for life along.

Mario turned to Shirley. With moist eyes, she sat down and hugged him.

“I cannot thank you enough. You saved me. I don’t know what could have happened to me tonight had it not been for you. You are a brave dog.” She said.

Mario’s rage had burst like red hot lava from a century old volcano. He had leaped the last mile. His nerve had crossed the line of apprehension to tackle the boss. With blood dripping from his teeth, Mario turned to Jackson with a dominant walk.

“So… you were saying?” He asked.

Jackson tried to ignore him, but could not.

Mario continued, “I have breaking news for you. You are not a real man. We, the dogs, are hailed as the good guys amongst all the breeds of animals. And you tainted our community. What you do to Daisy is what humans do to their women. You decreased to their level. I pity you for what you are. And I did not do anything special there. This is what real men would, and should, do.”

Jackson had nothing to say in his defense except for a silent sorry to Mario and Daisy. With his head down in embarrassment, he walked away. His followers tagged along yapping.

Mario shook to get dust off his body with the glory of a king. Daisy walked up to him with her enchanting walk.

“You’re my hero.” She blushed.

Mario, who had demonstrated his gallant persona for the last few minutes, suddenly turned into a bashful guy in love.

She fluttered her eyes. He wagged his tail. Cuddles followed.

Two red hearts elevated in the air and fused into each other; cupid aimed his arrow.

__END__