Leo, The Dragon

“Riddhi!” Akash called. He was kneeling before a chest of drawers with his hand stretched underneath them. “You might want to see this!”

When Riddhi did not reply, Akash standing in the bedroom doorway drew in a big breath. He was ready to yell for all his worth when he saw Riddhi walking towards him; her eyebrows scrunched together and lips drawn in a thin line.

“What!” she called annoyed. Her hands were on her hips and Akash realized what it meant. She was frustrated, which meant, he would be blamed for everything from leaving the lights on to convincing her to clean their house.

“Bring a stick, curtain rod or something along with you.” Then, for good measure, he added “please”.

Before Riddhi could respond, however, Leo, their dog, heard ‘stick’ and gave a joyous woof. They heard loud crashes and items tumbling on the floor before Leo appeared in the hallway. In his jaw, he carried a curtain rod. Riddhi stepped aside, allowing Leo to pass. She then peeked into the master bedroom to assess the damage. It wasn’t much- just a few candle holders and a footstool knocked over, adding to the general chaos of the room. She sighed, rubbing her temples and muttering ‘There goes my Sunday’ under her breath.

“Good boy,” Akash said as Leo walked up to him. “Give me that” and Leo promptly dropped the rod. More precisely, on Akash’s toe. He winced in pain just as Riddhi stepped into the room, snorting as Akash hopped on one leg while holding the injured toe in his hand.

“What is it?”, Riddhi asked when Akash had finished hopping. He gave Leo a side eye, at which the dog promptly rolled his eyes.

“Allow me to show you.” Akash picked up the rod and once more gave his reverence to the drawers.

He slid the rod in from one end, carefully maneuvering to the other. Behind him, Riddhi stood with her hands on her hips while Leo tilted his head curiously.

And then the first object emerged from the bowels of the drawer; a dinosaur came roaring to the floor. One by one similar stuffed animals followed suit along with a chew toy and half a dozen balls.

“How did this all get here?” Riddhi asked kneeling on the floor beside Akash. Carefully she inspected them while Leo curled himself away from them.

She did not remember buying any of these toys. And it was she who spoiled their furry child with toys while Akash got him those dog costumes.

“Did you buy all these?” she asked holding the shattered limbs of a teddy and penguin.

Akash shook his head.

“I thought you did.”

For just a second they doubted whether the other was lying. But years of trust quickly dismissed that doubt. Apart from them, there were only two people, Akash’s mother and Riddhi’s sister, who continued to spoil him. But it had been two months since both the women had dropped by for a visit. Who had then bought the toys?

They had adopted Leo when he was only a few months old. The shelter had all but praises for him.

‘He’s a sweet boy’, the worker said, ‘But he steals toys from the other animals and hides them around the play area.’ Now, remembering it, they heard it in the same raspy, high-pitched voice of the worker. And slowly, the realization dawned on them. Their eyes met; baffled and bewildered as they cried ‘Leo!’ together.

The poor German Shepherd looked up from the foot of the ottoman. He gave a low whine as Akash and Riddhi approached him.

Leo kept his eyes on the floor; a clear admission of guilt.

For a dog, Leo was remarkably perceptive to the emotions of his family. He turned his puppy eyes on and looked up at his humans. Try as they might, they couldn’t stay mad for long.

Akash ruffled his fur as Riddhi sank beside him.

She held the dinosaur in her hand. “Where did you get this, Leo?”, she asked with patience and affection as fit for a mother.

“I think he brings it from around the neighborhood during his afternoon visits.”

Riddhi shrugged.

“Should we follow him one of these afternoons?”, he asked and immediately regretted as he saw Riddhi consider the idea.

Riddhi looked at Leo and repeated her question.

This time, the dog pricked up his ears. After repeating the question two more times Riddhi sighed loudly.

“I give up. I don’t think he gets it,” she said to Akash who was inspecting the toys for a name tag.

However, at that very moment, Leo did get it. He picked up the toy Riddhi had dropped and bolted.

Riddhi and Akash stood glued to their spots. Then Riddhi followed, running after Leo who was headed towards the kitchen. Groaning, Akash followed last.

Leo reached the kitchen door. Riddhi and Akash watched in surprise as Leo stood up on his hind legs and moved the door handle down, opening the door.

“What the!”

They followed Leo out in the backyard. Their property had only a low fence and in the months since their move, the couple had failed to contact a contractor. Their only line of safety on that front was the trees that lined the road beyond their house. This road ran parallel between two rows of houses. And it was in this direction that Leo ran. After some effort and apprehension, they were able to emerge on the road, but Leo, by then, had disappeared.

“Leo!” Akash yelled.

The little mischievous fellow appeared from behind some trees.

“Woof” he barked as if to say ‘I’m here’.

“Come on boy, let’s go.” Akash hoped Leo would turn back but instead, the dog took off in another direction.

“Do you have any idea where he is going? Is there a park nearby? Is he stealing from other dogs?…Or kids?” He added with some horror.

Riddhi shook her head. “There’s no park here. Don’t you know that?” However, she was not surprised at her husband’s lack of direction. Akash stumbled and bumped through locations and directions. That’s why Riddhi was always in charge of the maps. As to the latter part, Riddhi was just as clueless.

“All the same, he has to get them somewhere.”

For a few minutes, they followed Leo around until they reached yet another fence. There was a gap in the fence and Leo promptly crawled through it and waited patiently on the other side.

“Where are we?” Akash asked.

“Well, it is the shopping complex”, Riddhi said looking around.

“Is it? How can you tell?” There was a faint hint of admiration in his voice.

“Well….if we turn left from our home and then continue walking until the road forks, then take another left, we will just find ourselves at the shopping complex. Even though we walked parallel to the row of houses, we walked in the left direction. So that, plus the size of this structure is enough to venture a guess.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Look”, Riddhi pointed straight ahead, where they could see loading docks “and look up there.”

And sure enough, Akash read, ‘Beach side shopping center.”

“So going through the entrance would take more time. Right?”

Riddhi nodded.

“What do we do then?” He knelt to inspect the gap in the fence but it was too small for them to crawl through.

“This!” Riddhi said and seconds later feet landed in front of him on the opposite side of the fence, even as he continued to kneel.

“What! How did you?” He asked looking utterly shocked as Leo circled her feet.

“Just climb the fence!” she replied, scratching the dog behind his ear.

Skeptical, Akash looked at the fence uncertainly. Climb the fence! Was she serious? That would be trespassing. And as with many other rules, Akash never broke them.

“It’s okay”, Riddhi encouraged knowing his fears. “Come on. We are not going to steal anything. We can always say we were following our dog.”

Even Leo gave a woof of encouragement. Akash struggled with it; in his mind, he could see the devil on his shoulder as his wife and dog asked him to climb over the fence. And then, them again on the other side looking at him disapprovingly. The Devil of course won, and Akash put one foot in one diamond-shaped crisscrossed gap of the fence and began his ascend. As he struggled, Leo walked toward the complex, prompting Riddhi to call him over and hold him while they waited for Akash to reach the other side

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes! But we return through the main entrance.”

Riddhi chuckled, “As you say, Mr Goody-two shoes.”

Akash shot her a look. He turned to Leo, “Alright, buddy where to now?”

Riddhi let go of him, and buddy ran.

The back of the shopping complex was nothing but a row of shops, each sharing a wall with its neighbour. The back door of all of these shops, opened on a sort of raised platform, each with a ramp that led to it and its area separated from the other. A sort of loading dock, if you will. It was towards of one these loading docks that Leo led them.

Leo ran up the ramp and stood waiting for them to follow.

When Akash and Riddhi followed, they saw heaps of boxes piled about. A peek inside told Riddhi that while a few were empty and filled with trash, a still few had packing peanuts in them.

Leo tried to open the door, as he had done with the kitchen door. But it did not yield and as a consequence, Leo resigned to giving a soft bark and scratching the door.

“It’s a toy store”, she declared, peeping through the door’s porthole. “Sorry buddy”, she knelt in front of him and cupped his face in her hands. “It’s locked.”

Leo whined, disappointed.

“Come on, we should go now”, Akash said who was growing uncomfortable by the moment. In his nervousness and hurry to leave, he knocked over a nearby rod. It came crashing down in a clank that echoed in the small place.

“Who’s there?”

A voice called. Then a man’s face appeared in the porthole. It was old with wiry gray hairs and composed entirely of wrinkles. The door opened and the man stepped out.

In the few seconds that elapsed between the man appearing at the porthole and the door opening, Leo’s mood saw a considerable change. He had barred his teeth first, and then relaxed but stood alert as the man appeared.

“I’m sorry”, Riddhi said to the man with frizzy gray hair. He was dressed in corduroy pants and a white t-shirt with a magenta vest. It had a name tag that read Roy.

“I’m sorry, sir”, Riddhi continued “our dog led us here. We will be on our way now. Again, we are sorry.”

The man did not reply; instead, he looked at the dog in question.

“Come on Leo”, Riddhi insisted moving away from the door. But Leo didn’t steer. He kept looking beyond Roy into the shop.

“Leo! Come on! Let’s go boy!” she tried again but to the same results.

Helpless, she turned towards Akash. He walked up to Leo, squatted and began to lift the dog away. But Leo refused, struggling and squirming like a fish out of water.

It was then that Roy spoke.

“Why doesn’t he want to leave? Is he yours?”

“Yes,” Akash grunted. Dejected, he gave up. “Leo!”, he said disapprovingly and the poor pub lowered to the floor and whined, eyes still looking into the shop.

“What does he want?” Akash asked his wife who who was just as clueless as he.

“Why did he bring you here?” Roy questioned.

And so Riddhi explained the circumstances that led them there. Throughout the narrations, Roy’s expressions continue to change. Skepticism turned to amazement until he burst out laughing and just like that his face was transformed. All the lines and the wrinkles met at his eyes and hid them as he laughed.

“So you are the little thief!”, Roy smiled as he petted Leo who happily wagged his tail.

Akash and Riddhi looked at each other, their worst realization having come true.

“Come on in”, he said stepping out of the way.

Immediately Leo ran inside. The three followed him and watched as Leo walked around the rows of stuffed toys, sniffing at them until he picked up a small caterpillar. The three stood watching in amazement, as Leo brought the caterpillar towards them. He dropped it by Riddhi’s feet and then curled up around it.

“This is where he has been stealing from?” And it was just as much a question as a bewilderment.

Akash knelt in front of Leo in an attempt to rescue the caterpillar from him. He, of course, did not succeed.

“Let him have it”, said Roy before they could begin to apologize. “Since last few weeks, I have seen some of the toys from the bottom shelves missing. I assumed I had forgotten about the sales. Little did I know I had a thief.”

He groaned a little as he knelt to pet Leo who licked his hand.

“My granddaughter kept suggesting putting cameras on the door. We’ll have a jolly laugh together when I tell this story.”

“We are, again, very sorry”, Riddhi said.

“Yes”, Akash added, “We both need a lock on our doors.”

“Nah!”, waved the old man.

“Let us pay for all the toys”, Riddhi offered and Akash agreed.

But the old man firmly declined.

“Let that be my tribute”, he said, “to our dragon.” His smile reached his eyes. “A tribute to Leo, hoarder of stuffed toys.”

And he did a little bow to which Leo sat up attentively as if accepting the title bestowed on him. And then cocked his head to one side as the three humans roared with laughter.

And thus, ‘Leo, the pup’, came to be known as, ‘Leo, the Dragon’.