Tara – Part 3 (Concluding Part)

17 Mar 2011 7 Comments

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

The story below is continued from here.

That evening after coming home, Tara went out to play with the kittens. Snowy went to sleep in a different place away from the kittens. While playing with the kittens, a plan suddenly struck Tara. She wasn’t sure if it was right and whether her friend, Mira would help or not but decided to discuss it with her the next day.

Tara went to school the next day and was eagerly waiting for the recess. During the recess, she spoke to Mira about her plan who was flabbergasted to hear what Tara had to say. How would Tara do that? And what will she tell her parents? Mira was not sure if they could do this but after a few minutes, she decided to go along with Tara’s idea. After all, she was Tara’s best friend and was willing to do anything for her.

As per the plan, Mira and Tara came home after school that day. They both looked pensive and Tara’s mother was pleasantly surprised to see Mira. She was about to offer her something to eat and drink but Tara refused saying that they were in a hurry. “We are working on a project, don’t disturb us for some time; it’s important,” Tara said. Tara’s mother returned to her chores.

Tara took out her piggybank, smashed it and started counting the coins that she had been saving for months now. When Tara and Mira finished counting, they both looked at each other and smiled. Tara handed over all the money to Mira and went to another room carrying her school bag. She removed all the books from her bag and stacked them neatly in a corner. Tara took the empty bag and they both went outside the house.

Tara went to the usual place where Snowy and the kittens were sleeping. Snowy was about to get up and go to another place after she saw Tara but Tara stopped her. Tara lifted Snowy in her arms, caressed her, hugged her and kissed her as if it were the last time they were seeing each other. She then put her inside her school-bag. Snowy became slightly squirmy and attempted to come out of the bag but Tara used some force. Snowy did not resist it, after all, she trusted Tara.

Tara then picked up her kittens and slowly put them inside her bag. The kittens did not worry about what was happening because they saw their mother and Tara around them. Under their surveillance, they certainly knew that nothing could happen to them. They always behaved like lions not having to worry about anything when Snowy and Tara were around them. They quickly coiled inside the bag around Snowy and went to sleep.

Tara and Mira started walking towards the road while carefully holding the bag. When they reached the main roads, Mira stopped an auto-rickshaw and they both headed to their destination.

The entire ride was bumpy because of the potholes and Snowy and the kittens became restless inside the bag and started to whimper. Tara tried to pacify them and at times they kept quiet but then again started whimpering louder and moved violently inside the bag. Tara and Mira were also getting restless but they knew that it would just be a few more minutes. Finally, they were just a few yards away from their destination and could see Mira’s house at a distance.

As they were moving closer to Mira’s house, Tara saw some people outside Mira’s house talking to each other and it didn’t seem like they would leave anytime soon. They also saw some kids playing around and this posed a challenge to Tara. She could not leave Snowy and the kittens in Mira’s house amidst so many people as they would come to know who brought those cats and might question Mira.

Tara did not want Mira to be in trouble. Their plan was to secretly leave them at Mira’s place because Mira’s parents were also superstitious about cats and so were the other people in the neighborhood. With so many people around, Tara and Mira did not have the gumption to leave the cats there. Tara could not take them back because she feared the stray dogs. The only recourse that Tara had was to leave Snowy and the kittens in Mira’s neighborhood until Tara’s neighborhood was free of dogs or at least until the kittens grew a little older.

The auto-rickshaw was now moving closer to the house and Tara was getting tensed and confused about what to do. Mira knew what her friend was going through and suggested Tara to leave Snowy and the kittens in one of the neighbor’s house instead of her house. Mira assured Tara that she would bring them to her house the next day and they would be safe there.

On the spur of the moment, Tara asked the auto-driver to stop! Tara alighted from the auto, looked at the bag in her hands, looked at the house that was right next to where she was standing and loosened the strings of her school bag…….

Snowy and the kittens leaped from inside the bag and ran in different directions. Tara was shocked! She didn’t expect that Snowy and the kittens would run so haphazardly for rescue. Tara immediately called out their names and was confused whom to follow. They all disappeared within seconds and Tara stood there frozen!

There were tears in her eyes but she stopped them from rolling down her cheeks as Mira’s neighbors were standing at a distance. Mira also got down from the auto, paid the fare and went to Tara. She held Tara’s hand and that touch conveyed that everything will be fine. They both walked towards Mira’s house where Tara wept violently!

“How could I do this? Why didn’t I ask the auto-driver to turn around and take us back to my house when I knew I couldn’t leave my cats here? Will they adapt to the new place? Will they get food? Will they survive on their own or perish? What about Snowy? She was never used to any other place ever since she was a month and a half old. After so many months of living with me, can Snowy live in a wild territory? Would you be able to find them tomorrow?” Tara asked Mira. “I would take them back to my house. I cannot live without them and I am sure they won’t be able to live without me,” Tara told Mira.

Tara had so many questions but no answers. She wept relentlessly, hoping desperately to get them back. It was hard to console her and Mira had tears in her eyes too. She could not see her best friend crying like that. She decided to go out and look for the cats. Tara wanted to come too.

Mira and Tara went to that house again and looked around for Snowy and the kittens but did not find them. It was getting dark and Mira asked Tara to go home as Tara’s parents might be worried. Tara reluctantly went home.

When she reached home, Tara’s parents figured out that something was wrong. They also realized that they hadn’t seen Snowy and the kittens in the last few hours. They asked Tara about it and Tara finally broke down and told them what had happened. Tara’s parents were shocked to hear that Tara took such an extreme step but never discussed it with them. But they also felt sad for what Tara was going through. Though her parents never openly expressed their love for Tara’s fur family, they loved those tiny tots and missed them now! They consoled Tara for what she was going through but that was the least they could do!

Tara sobbed the whole night until she fell asleep. It was seven in the morning and Tara woke up to a new day. “Was it a bad dream?” Tara uttered. She was still half asleep when she ran outside to see if Snowy and the kittens were around. She saw her empty school bag in one corner and it hit her hard again that Snowy and the kittens are no longer with her. It was not her dream; she was the one who abandoned them in Mira’s neighborhood yesterday.

She cried again. She cried on her way to school. She cried during the recess. She cried in the class. She cried on her way back home.

That evening Tara went to Mira’s neighborhood with a grim hope of finding Snowy and the kittens. This time she did not hesitate to ask people in Mira’s neighborhood if they had seen Snowy and her kittens. To her dismay, nobody had seen them.

Tara went there every day for almost a week but she never found them…..