A Man among Wolves

Chapter 1

The puppy let out a guttural sound.

Selva patted her tiny head reassuringly and touched her leg. She shot an apprehensive glance at him as he gently cradled it in his palm, feeling for the bone. The swelling had reduced considerably. The bandage had a dirty, yellowish tinge to it indicating that it needed a change. He would have to make another visit to the veterinary doctor tomorrow. It was too late at the moment.

Wagging her tail, she gave a couple of licks to his finger. Her tail slapped against the cement floor.

Selva investigated the other wound on her body, just beside the thigh bone of her hind leg. It was healing as fast as her broken leg but still had a worrisome look to it.

He grabbed the ointment at his side and began applying it on the wound.

There was a noise at the door and Selva looked up just in time to see his neighbour walk in with two tightly wrapped parcels in his hand.

"How is she?" Anbu asked in his severely nasal voice as he sat down on the floor, placing the parcels on the floor before him, while adjusting his lungi with the other hand. They were haphazardly wrapped. As if they could tear open any moment and spill the contents outside.

Selva applied a tad more of the ointment as he replied. "Better. I have to take her to the doctor tomorrow again to know for sure."

"Where? The Government hospital beside the Post Office?"

"Yes."

"Ha! Do they even have Doctors there?" Anbu asked with a scorn as he began tugging at the threads of the parcel. "Every time I go through that street, I see just a small building with no human presence inside. I assumed that the Doctors were too busy in their private clinics to even think of popping in from time to time."

"There is always one when I go there. At the bare minimum, there is always a nurse on duty when I visit. What have you got there?"

"The usual! Parottas!"

Sure enough, Anbu unwrapped both the parcels to reveal warm parottas inside. There were atleast eight of them, four in each parcel. He also revealed two parcels of kurma which Selva hadn't noticed in his hands earlier. The smell wafting from them was enough to make Selva realise how hungry he was. Even the puppy lying before him sniffed the air briskly and swivelled her head to look at the food just inches away from her. She began wagging her tail again, more energetically this time, looking at Anbu with eager eyes.

"Can she eat this?" Anbu asked, looking at the animal with doubtful eyes. He wasn't as keen on animals as his friend was and rarely even touched the ones he brought home. He warily kept his distance from them, irrespective of their size or age.

Selva tore a minuscule piece off a parotta. It was warm enough to be eaten. (The colder they became, the harder to eat!) He handed it to the puppy. Although not yet an adult dog, she was old enough to have teeth that were capable of chewing a warm parotta.

And just as he thought, she bit the piece and began chewing on it earnestly. Selva tore the full parotta into tiny pieces and laid it all out before the puppy on the floor, before moving aside and starting to eat one for himself. He took a bite of the kurma soaked parotta with his large front teeth as he watched the puppy working hard on her food laid out before her.

He glanced at Anbu and noticed that he had gone into a reverie, staring off into the distant dark corner of the room.

Anbu lived next door to Selva and he was the only person who Selva regularly talked to in his neighbourhood. They had made their acquaintance when Selva moved into this house three years ago and had taken an instant liking to each other. With no parents or relatives in his life, Selva had only had the comfort of loneliness and nursing injured stray dogs/cats for many years. On the other hand, Anbu had everyone, including a newly married wife with whom he shared a heavy mutual dislike.