Redbeard
On a bright Sunday morning, I woke up to a strange, sound. But, no. It wasn’t strange, it was Redbeard. “Redbeard, is that you?” I murmured, rubbing my eyes. I was over the moon to find Redbeard had returned from the hospital. I was so happy that I threw my blanket off, and hugged him immediately. Mom was standing at the door, looking at the two of us. “Mom, Mom? Did you bring Redbeard back?” I asked her. She nodded with a smile. “Oh. Mom, can I take Redbeard to the park? I promise I’ll finish my homework later.” Mom agreed, “Okay. You can, but first you two will have breakfast.” This came as a surprise, considering how strict she is about my studies. Perhaps, she was also happy that Redbeard had returned.
Standing on my special stool, I brushed my teeth. Redbeard didn’t. Mom does that for him. I feel kinda jealous. With a bowl of cornflakes, a ten-year-old and his mate, were all set to conquer the park. As I opened the door, Redbeard rushed out, running straight into a stack of dry leaves. The grey pavement was littered with brown, autumn leaves now. The birds at the tree were scared when he barked at them. They started running away. I joined him too. Unconcerned about the people walking by, we kept barking at those innocent birds. That was, until we saw Mr. Oldman, the old man who lives next to us, coming out of his house. He looked very angry. All the time. I always wonder why I find him so angry all the time. Maybe Redbeard knows something. I had asked him once. He looked at me with a blank face, and I knew what he meant: he didn’t know it either.
Mr. Oldman is a very lazy fellow. He always stays at home, never goes to office. If you peek through their garden window in the morning, you’ll find him polishing his bald head. Mr. Oldman lives alone here, like Mom. Well, I live with my Mom too. Also, Mom goes to office. Maybe his wife lives elsewhere, like Dad. On my way to school, I often see him gardening. Mom doesn’t have time for that, she spends her mornings in office and evenings doing house chores. I do all my homework myself and behave well in school, because Mom says “I have to be a responsible son.” Ms. Daisy also gives me chocolate for my good behavior.
It was a beautiful morning, when we reached the park, we saw Dad was there too. He was doing his usual jogging and exercise thing. We waved at him. “Hey Dad!” He waved back at us. There was an old woman walking on the dew-laden grass bare feet. Mr. Oldman is only nice to her. There was also this girl who would always come and sit on the bench, and read books. Boring! I and Redbeard chose to play with frisbee, like we always did. I stood at one end and Redbeard on the other. I threw the frisbee in his direction, high up in the air. Redbeard ran for it. And at that instant, instead of making a jump for it, Redbeard fell. A moment of silence occupied the park. I stood there, couldn’t understand what happened. When I saw that he wasn’t getting up, I ran to him. Dad followed. Redbeard just lay there on ground, almost as if he was sleeping. I tried to wake him up, but in vain. “Dad! Dad, please tell Redbeard to get up. He is not getting up.” I called Dad.
I rushed to him and held his hand, pulling him closer to Redbeard, he resisted. “Dad. Dad, tell him. He never disobeys you.” I cried, with tears rolling down my cheeks. “It’s okay, Yello’beard. Let him rest.” the book girl said.
