Tara

15 Mar 2011 6 Comments

by Sonali Joshi-Bhatt in General Tags: Characters of the story - Tara and Snowy

Tara was only fourteen but a mother of three. She was neither their biological mother nor their step-mother. She was their makeshift mother if one can say so. She would take care of them when their biological mother would go out but she was much more than a nanny.

She doted on them just like any mother dotes on her kids. She would let them play in the garden but would also keep an eye on them to keep them from dangers. Though their biological mother never explicitly asked Tara to take responsibility of them, they had a tacit understanding between each other. Every time the mother would go out, she would go to Tara, touch her and look at her for few seconds and then leave.

Tara would immediately understand that it was time for her role-playing. She would play with them, take responsibility for cleaning their poop, caress them and put them to sleep and above all, protect them from enemies in the absence of their mom. Tara simply loved her cat and her three kittens which lived outside Tara’s house.

Tara’s parents were superstitious about cats and so were the neighbors. Tara’s parents never wanted Tara to have that cat who came to their house almost a year and half ago. She was so tiny and young at that time that Tara immediately fell in love with her. That was the first time she had experienced motherhood. She named her cute little cat Snowy. Tara wanted to have Snowy and promised her parents that she would never get her inside the house.

Only after a lot of pleading, did Tara’s parents agree for it but they strictly restricted Snowy from entering the house. For the first few months, Tara hid some food and milk from her parents and gave it to Snowy who ate it as stealthily as it was brought. Tara and Snowy were partners in crime. However, as Snowy was growing up, she learned to hunt for her own food. This made things easier for the two.

On the days when Tara knew Snowy was unsuccessful in her hunt, she would give her share of milk to Snowy. Tara and Snowy were the best of friends and Snowy knew that Tara was making sacrifices to keep that friendship blossoming. Though Snowy and Tara did not share the same language, they always expressed their love to each other through their eyes and soft touch.

Almost a month and a half ago, Snowy gave birth to her first born who are triplets. In a way, Tara was experiencing motherhood again. In fact, she was more like a grandmother doting on her grand children and always biased towards them even when she knew that they were troubling Snowy.

Tara knew that Snowy was enjoying her motherhood but she also saw her getting tired due to the additional responsibilities like taking care of her children and feeding them. In unspoken words, Tara conveyed Snowy to go and rest somewhere away from the kids and that she would take care of them while she is gone. Snowy would be gone for two to three hours every evening after Tara came back from school.

Tara would work on her homework while the kittens would play in the garden. She would sit on the stairs outside and keep an eye on them. Every time they would go out of her sight, she would call out their names in a peculiar tone and they would come back quickly and play in her vicinity. They also liked playing with Tara and so they would sit over her books in an attempt to attract her attention and not let her study. Tara would simply slide them down but they would come back again. Sometimes Tara would let them win and start playing with them. Other times, she would stare at them and shoo them away. Tara would however spend at least some part of her time with them. She adored those tiny tots and all their mischievous acts!

One day when Tara was on her way back home from school, she saw half carcass of a kitten lying on the roadside. Tara was terrified and ran home in tears to see if it was one of her kittens. As soon as she reached home, she saw Snowy playing with her three kids. Tara sighed and ran towards them and hugged each one of them. She thanked God but also felt sorry for the dead kitten she saw on her way.

Tara was now worried about her kittens. She knew that Snowy was strong and fast enough to protect herself from the enemies but what about the kittens? They were very young and Snowy cannot protect all of them even if she tried too. The enemy was much stronger and if there were three or more dogs approaching them, it will be highly impossible for Snowy to defend them. Tara cannot be there for them all the time and she feared that the stray dogs near her locality would attack Snowy and the kittens.

After a few days, Tara forgot about the whole thing and did not heed to her concern until one night when………….

To be Contd…..