Chapter: SHORT STORIES FOR CHILDREN kids

Simon Says

I begin to get the feeling that Christmas is around the corner when Ma starts making the sweets and the smell of burnt sugar and baking fills the house. The countdown begins and, every day there is some new activity-the lights of the Christmas tree to be checked out, the wiring for the star to be fixed, the thatch of the stable for the nativity scene to be mended, last minute chopping of the dry fruits to be done... Then, before we know what is happening, we start our rounds of carol singing, meet old friends and make new ones... Oh, the entire month is fun.

Simon Says

Cheryl Rao

what is happening, we start our rounds of carol singing, meet old friends and make new ones... Oh, the entire month is fun.

This year, however, the first of December announced itself with an early morning phone call. Ma shook me awake and I looked at her with bleary eyes. "I have to go to the hospital, Reeta," she said worriedly. "Grandpa has met with an accident." That made me jump up.

Grandpa is my favourite person in the world after my friend Latika. I can tell him anything, even grumble when I think his daughter, Ma, is being unfair to me. Because Grandpa cannot see, he is never distracted when I talk and I feel that he is the only person who gives me full attention. Simon does too, but that is different.

When Grandpa began to lose his eyesight some years ago, he got himself a trained German shepherd, a guide dog, and named him Simon. "Because I have to do what Simon says," he joked, telling me how he used to play 'Simon Says' when he was a boy. Because of Simon, Grandpa could manage to live on his own. He could go for walks; he could even do some shopping now and then when he wanted to surprise us with gifts.

"I am coming too," I said, jumping out of the bed and pulling on a sweater.

"You had better stay at home, Reeta. See that Jay has his breakfast and gets to the bus stop on time. And you can't miss the biology test."

"The test isn't important, Ma..." I cried, but she had already left.

It was tough to concentrate on the questions on the blackboard and I did badly, I think. But biology was the last thing on my mind. I kept wondering how Grandpa was. When Jay and I burst into the house after school, Ma was back from the hospital. She tried to smile at us and talk normally, yet I knew that the news was not good. "Simon took Grandpa straight into the path of a car and he was injured badly. He was awake for a while when I went, but with all the drugs and painkillers, he fell asleep again. All he could say was 'Simon'."

We brought Simon back to our place but he moped around the house, barely eating, almost as if he knew that he was responsible for Grandpa's condition. He could not sleep at night and walked about the house, which was strange to him, making an annoying clicking noise with his claws on the polished floor. I was in charge of Simon and we went for long walks. I tried talking to him and telling him that I was praying for Grandpa to get better, but he did not pay any attention to me. I thought he was just depressed and missing Grandpa, but when I came home from school and he sat in kingly splendour in front of the mesh door and did not respond to the sound of the rickshaw or my voice but continued to stare straight ahead at Ma who was in the kitchen, I realized that Simon was almost deaf.

"Simon! Simon!" I called loudly, and at last he turned, then rose and came trotting to me with his tail wagging and that special look on his face, which I had learnt was a doggie smile. "He is deaf, Ma," I said. "That was why he led Grandpa into the path of the vehicle. He could not have heard it approaching."

Ma began to calculate. "Well, Simon is now ten years old, so I guess it is quite likely that he is going deaf."

Simon looked at our faces in that intelligent knowing way, and guessing that we were talking about Grandpa, he put his head down and went into a corner of the room. That was his moping place. He refused to eat his food that day. The next morning, when I took him for a walk, his legs gave way beneath him and he sat down heavily on the grass.

"Ma! Ma!" I yelled, after I had tried to lift Simon up and failed. "Ma, something has happened to Simon! He cannot walk!" At last, with Jay's help, we managed to carry Simon to the car and take him to the vet. Simon was running a fever and was severely dehydrated. Immediately he was put on a drip. I stayed with him through all that, and for the next few days spent all my time at the vet's battling for Simon's life because he seemed to have given up the struggle for himself.

It was a week before I could visit Grandpa, and I was shocked at the way he looked. He lay with a tube in his nose, bandages all over, and he was so still that I thought attention to me. I thought he was just depressed and missing Grandpa, but when I came home from school and he sat in kingly splendour in front of the mesh door and did not respond to the sound of the rickshaw or my voice but continued to stare straight ahead at Ma who was in the kitchen, I realized that Simon was almost deaf.

Ma began to calculate. "Well, Simon is now ten years old, so I guess it is quite likely that he is going deaf."

It was a week before I could visit Grandpa, and I was shocked at the way he looked. He lay with a tube in his nose, bandages all over, and he was so still that I thought he was dead. Then I noticed that his eyes were open and he tried to smile when he heard my voice. "We are pals, aren't we?" he whispered hoarsely as I held his hand. "Get me out of here."

It seemed that he was after Ma for the same thing. "How is Simon?" he asked.

I muttered something, hating to have to tell him that Simon looked weaker than he did. But he seemed to read my mind, for he said, "He will feel good if he sees me. He must be thinking I have deserted him." Then he added, "I don't want to die in the hospital. Take me home and let me go with some dignity, without all these tubes stuck in me."

It took Ma two weeks to be convinced and to work on the doctors, and at last, Grandpa was brought home in an ambulance. Simon rose shakily to his feet when he realized that Grandpa was back. He began to bark and almost dance around, coming under our feet as we tried to get Grandpa in. The attendant who was helping to carry Grandpa told me brusquely, "Keep the dog away; he will jump on the old man and hurt him!" But Grandpa put up his hand and said hoarsely, "Simon is too smart to do that," and I smiled.

Just because Grandpa is blind, people think that he cannot hear or speak and they talk over him, as if he isn't there. Anyway, right then, I was actually happy that

Grandpa could not see how thin and ill Simon looked and that Simon was a dog and did not realize just how weak Grandpa was.

There were just a few days left for Christmas and we now had two patients to look after. I was so scared that Grandpa would die in his sleep that I took to creeping into his room early in the morning to check if he was still breathing. And after Simon's collapse, I thought it was just a matter of ime for him as well.

I told you that Grandpa did not really need his sight to be aware of what was going on. He knew there was something wrong with Simon just by patting his head when the dog lay beside his bed. On Christmas Eve, I found Grandpa clicking off the cellphone. "I thought you were my pal," he whispered to me. "Why didn't you tell me just how ill Simon is?"

I was speechless. It was obvious that Grandpa had managed to contact the vet. I was scared by the look on Grandpa's face. Would he be able to take the loss of Simon?

The next morning, when I sneaked into the room bright and early to check on them and to bring the gifts I had picked up from below the tree we had hastily decorated the previous night, I found Grandpa's bed empty and Simon nowhere in sight. What had happened while I was asleep? I was rushing out of the room to alert Ma when Grandpa walked in unsteadily from the verandah with Simon leading him as he always did.

"Grandpa!" I exclaimed, running to him and hugging him. "You are able to walk!" and I added, "Merry Christmas!" as an afterthought.

"And to you too," said Grandpa, sitting down with Simon beside him.

"How, Grandpa?" I asked. "How did you do it?"

"I needed to get strong for Simon, didn't I? He would not last long if I went, and he says he is not old enough to call it a day right now."

"You are playing 'Simon Says' again, Grandpa!" I cried happily, as I thrust a packet into his lap and he opened a chewy for Simon. As far as I was concerned, that was the best game in the world!

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SHORT STORIES FOR CHILDREN kids : Simon Says |