Popsy: the Little Nuisance

My childhood days were full of many momentous and unforgettable incidents that still come into my dreams with renewed vigor and make me feel the existence of those loved ones who made my life so meaningful then. Here I will narrate such an incident which still reminds me of-Popsy-my best friend of yesteryear who left us long ago to rest in the perfect abode of peace.

Popsy was gifted to me and my sister by Uncle Richard one of my fathers friend as a token of love and affection - Uncle Richard was always our favorite one as he was a man of extremely jovial and kind spirit who with all his good jokes and gifts unfailingly used to entertain us since we were a toddler .As he had no children and was a bachelor all his life uncle had developed a special interest in pets of all types. His one storied bungalow just a few miles away from our home ,was a petlovers delight and can be in all right defined as a mini Zoo.-with a small world of dogs,cats,rabbits and birds of different types. Popsy's mother-a German Poodle was one of the member of that mini zoo. When Popsy was 15 days old uncle presented us with this little bundle of joy cozily wrapped up in one small basket Popsy had undoubtedly attracted our attention from the very first moment of his arrival with his striking personality and cute white fluffy body with beady eyes and small bushy tail .Raising Popsy is a mammoth task and needs lot of care and attention. With Popsy being the center of attraction with all our friends and relatives, our house became one of the much talked one in the neighborhood though there were people like uncle Richard who had in their possession a variety of dogs of diverse breeds. But this little nonsense though sometimes proved to be a mini devil by giving his caregivers a taste of his bite with his newly developed teeth, in general proved to win the hearts of many by his innocent looks and charming dispositions.His ingenious tricks and effects, his superb acrobatic performance with all his legs high up in the air ,his soft fluffy body snuggling against our legs , all performed to evoke laughter whenever there was a sad or tensed ambience in our house, strengthened our bonding of love and affection all the more.

Now there was one funny incident which took place when Popsy was 3 months old .One fine morning my father complained of losing his favorite pair of socks which he wore so many times that it lost its color long back but did not lose the color of utility in my father's eyes. Now as typical of him, he raised a huge commotion in the household regarding this loss and in the following days everyone began to miss something or other in a sequence. My mother's brand new lipstick vanished without a trace and then my sisters trouser and next my pink diary.Now this pink diary was considered my special asset as it contained all the darkest secrets of mine-a child of 8 poured her heart out in its every pages and I certainly did not want it to get into anyone's hand. This incident stirred our minds to a considerable extent and made everyone a short term detective in making wild guesses about the invisible thief. We listed out so many possible factors and reasons behind this mystery ,both logical and illogical to soothe our inquisitive minds. Strangely enough after another 2 or 3 similar incidents, the episode came to an abrupt end and so did our initial enthusiasm about finding out the root of this problem ,leaving the mystery unresolved few days passed by then and one fine morning in the breakfast table my father mentioned of my cousin's arrival from London. As we were very close to our cousin me and my sister were overjoyed and started to plan in advance how to give him a warm welcome. Now there was a separate room and an adjacent washroom allotted for the guests which we rarely used and most of the time those remained closed. Now as my brother's arrival day was approaching we thought of giving the last minute touch to those .Accordingly I and my sister planned to coordinate and check the condition of the washroom and the guest room. I decided to check the room first and see if all were right . I hardly took a step in the room when I heard my sister's excited voice calling my name from the washroom. I hurriedly went there to find to my utter surprise and puzzlement at my sisters pointed out place-the bathtub in the right-hand corner of the washroom and gosh, for a moment I could not believe my eyes. There lay in perfect harmony my pink diary ,the missing pair of socks, mamas lipstick ,sister's trouser ,a ballpoint pen and a handkerchief all intact and neatly placed side by side as if someone has put on an exhibition of some sort. After the initial confusion died down and we were thinking to call mom and to give her a surprise, off came the hero of this story silently in calm and composed steps on his 4 legs. The invisible thief was no other than this little nuisance, who sensing his plot exposed, made a peculiar whining sound from his mouth and jumped in the tub and sat on my pink diary as if nothing happened .