This is the second part of the fiction. You can read part one by clicking here Part one
Mr Abed made us some tea. Then he said 'I will tell you my story. Somehow I have a feeling that I should tell you.'
'Why do you feel like that ?'
'You are a man of science. Maybe you can give me some explanation after listening. Though I don't care for explanation anymore. There is no reason to have an explanation for every event. We still don't know where did we came from or where will we go after the end of our life. What do you say? '
If it were with other people, I wouldn't care that much. But with someone who has a collection of more than thousands books, it is not easy to ignore him. Only for this reason, I listened to his story with deep concentration. I am trying to tell the story exactly how he told me. I wouldn't give an explanation of my own.
He started his story like this... ''There are some people who love the animal more than anything. You may have noticed for animals like dog, cat or even cow, they have endless love. They wouldn't care that much if a beggar is hungry. But if they notice a cat or dog is hungry or suffering, they would do their best to help them. I might tell you at the beginning that I am not a big lover of the animal.
Anyway, let s go back to the main story. It was a long time ago. I was in the first year of university studying. I was coming back to home in the evening. It was bit cold evening if I remember correctly. When I came to my neighbourhood, I noticed 4/5 young boys were collecting some dry paper, wood to make fire. One of these boys was holding a dog pub around his arm. The pub was covered with a blanket. Only it's head was visible.
I went to these boys and asked, 'Hey, what is going on here?'
One of them was laughing and another one said pointing at the first boy,' It's very cold and that's why he covered the pub with the blanket ' Then everyone in the group started to laugh. I noticed all the boys are between 10-12 years old. Kids in that age always find fun in everything.
We, the human being has a natural instinct to join in any kind of fun with others. I walked towards them and I noticed with bit surprised none of them liked my approach. They were looking at each other. Maybe they didn't want someone adult like me to join them while they were having fun.
While I was standing near them, I could smell Kerosene. Maybe they brought Kerosene from house to make fire.
'Did you bring Kerosene?' I asked.
None of replied immediately. I couldn't understand anything. One of them said me strictly,'Please, go!'. With careful observation, I noticed that the dog pub was covered with a wet blanket. I was in real shock. Did they wet the blanket with Kerosene? Was it a new type of game? Would they throw the pub into the fire? Young kids sometimes involve themselves in a cruel game.
'Did you wet the blanket with Kerosene and covered the pub with that? ' I asked them with a strict voice.
'So what ?' one of them replied with anger.
'Why would you do that with a helpless pub? '
One of them explained they would throw the dog in the fire. They put some kind ring in its neck. When the pub would be burning, it would run faster. If it ran faster, the sound generated by ring will be louder. That's the fun.
I was speechless for sometimes. What are they saying? Before I understood anything, one of them threw the pub in the fire. The pub didn't move at all. It might have been surprised by the cruelty of human being.
I jumped into the fire to save the pub. It was devasting fire, but I didn't care anything. My only thought was I had to save it from the fire. ''
'Could you save the pub' I asked Mr Abed.
'No, I couldn't. When I went out with it from fire, it was dead. Even I was burnt in the fire. I had to stay in hospital more than two months. At some point, doctors thought I wouldn't survive.'
'You are a kind-hearted person'
'Not really. You can say I am a fool. I was almost about to die only for a pub. A human life is much more valuable than a dog pub. Anyway, I came back to home from the hospital. I was very weak then. Doctors suggested me to rest as much as possible. On a moonlight night, suddenly I woke up from sleep. When I look at outside from my window, I noticed the strangest event in my life. A big group of dogs were present in front of my house.All of them were sitting with deep silently. I was really scared. What is happening? I had never seen so many dogs at a time in a single place.While I was looking at them, they also looked at me. After some time, they started to go away one by one. As if they completed some secret rituals. The same incident used to occur almost once or twice in every month. One year later, I moved to a new city far from the last one. With total surprised, I noticed the same event occurred. Where ever I went, I felt somehow they knew. I even felt while I am walking outside, one or two dogs always accompany me.
I am sixty-two years old now. Dog gathering doesn't occur as often as it used to be.Now it occurs once in six months or even more. If I could speak with them, I would have asked them what do they want and why are they doing this.'
'You don't like this event ?'
'No, I don't. If it was one or two times, I would have liked. But it is going on day after day.'
'Do you think it will occur in recent future?'
'Yeah. It can even happen tonight. Would you like to see ?'
'You are very upset with this event. There is nothing to be upset. Animals can show their gratitude. They have that right. Don't be angry with them.'
'It is not about gratitude. It is some kind of ghostly. Some kind of supernatural event.'
'Why do you think it is supernatural ?'
'I didn't tell you. Every time when dogs gather in front of my house, I can see that dog pub whom I tried to save. Its whole body is burnt and so scary to see.And also it has a ring around its neck. When it moves its head, I can hear the sound of the ring. '
'Is there anyone else who can see the dog pub beside you ?'
'No, people see the dog-gathering. Only I can see the pub. I wasn't a student of science. But I have never accepted something unscientific. Yet, I have been living most of my life with this supernatural event. '
'Would you please kindly inform me, If it occurs again ?'
He didn't reply anything. I came back home. After five months around 2 am in the night that gentleman called me again. He said with a scary voice, 'They come again. Will you come to my house?'
It was a stormy night.It was heavily raining. I didn't see any reason to go out in that situation. SoI went back to bed and slept.