Short Story: Dogs And The Mayor

• Birendra Chand

The newly elected Mayor of the city was brushing his teeth after dinner at his own home. It was almost middle of the night and he had been used to taking his dinner very late. He moved his toothbrush up and down gazing in the big mirror. Nothing was being played in his mind but the events of the day. It was as if he was not looking in the mirror but watching the scenes on a large screen. He didn’t know how long he had been brushing his teeth when suddenly a new idea struck in his mind. He washed himself up, rinsed his mouth, dried himself off with a towel and went to bed. Now what happened in the bed, that’s not the part of the story!

During the day, there was an intense discussion among the local authorities on the problems created by the street dogs. The city was greatly crowded with these dogs and Animal Department was not successful to control this number. Sterilization has not been so much easy, both in theories and practices. Mayor was listening all of these problems, but was not able to propose any kind of solution. The talk had ended without any conclusion. However, late at night, the Mayor’s mind was activated with this idea of checking the number of street dogs and he was rather excited to implement it as soon as possible.

Next day the Mayor stepped into his office with full excitement. Officials were coming in for the meeting just on time. It was well known to everybody that the Mayor was always in time for every kind of schedules. Once the assembly started, he proposed his solution. According to him, the dogs should be captured and thrown into the tiger’s enclosure. Officials were flabbergasted listening to his words. The silence prevailed awhile. The Mayor clarified that this kind of act would reduce the number of street dogs and on the other hand, the tiger could enjoy the pleasure of hunting. It was like killing two birds with one bullet. The Mayor was determined to implement this proposal because no intellectual had come up with any sort of effective solution. At the same time, the problem of street dogs had become so harsh that a solution was a must. He convinced the officials that this would be done in secret. During the daytime, the zoo was visited by thousands of visitors so the evening time would be the best for this. One dog should be thrown inside at one time. A dog should be made ready as the prey and no sooner had the zoo been closed for the visitors than the tiger’s enclosure should be opened to let the dog in. It was a sensational idea. The officials could not object because they knew that the Mayor was far more determined to implement it. The assembly ended with the conclusion of capturing the street dogs.

Department of Zoo was informed about the sanction of the Mayor. They made the provisions for the supply of the dogs. A team of young men was nominated in order to catch the dogs. They had to collect the dogs from various streets in the city and deliver them to the zoo. The zoo keeper had to keep the dogs very safely. A new committee was made to look after the dogs those were brought in the zoo. The dogs would then be handed to the in charge of the tiger’s cage. In the evening, one dog had to be thrown inside the cage. Everything had to be done secretly. The mechanism for this kind of performance was made ready. After everything was readied, the Mayor was now waiting to hear the report of the day of hunting.

On the day of hunting, everything went well. The young cadres collected few dogs and delivered them to the zoo. The dogs were injected with some kind of drugs in order to avoid them from barking. After the zoo was closed, one dog was left inside the tiger’s cage. It was getting dark and the tiger was tired of human smell the whole day. When it saw a dog intruding his place, its whiskers began to furl. It raised its head and stirred a bit from its original position. The dog was already petrified and the tiger’s sight made it even frailer. It began to bark madly and run around. The sound produced by the dog was too much abnormal that the zoo keepers were shocked to hear it. The tiger then stared at the stranger and felt a gasp to find a live prey in the cage. It approached the dog for which there was no place to run. Playfully, it moved its paws and expressed a kind of smile around its whiskers. The dog was desperate and within a second the tiger was seen on its top. It was a sight to see. The tiger then caught the dog on its neck and carried away. Everybody watching the scene reported that the hunting was successful. The Mayor was pleased to hear it all and he couldn’t stop being proud of his own idea.

The hunting became an exciting event and the Mayor himself appeared before the cage to watch it on the third day. He strongly commanded the officials to perform it secretly and continue this till the number of dogs would decrease remarkably. The killing of dogs continued for a few weeks but the problem began to rise when it became difficult to keep it a secret. The tiger seemed bored of hunting the same prey and one evening it didn’t bother to kill its prey. The dog remained right there in the middle of the tiger’s cage till the next day. When the visitors saw a dog and a tiger inside the same enclosure, the news spread like a storm. People in the city criticized the insensitivity of the zoo officials. The Mayor had to call an emergency meeting to deal with the situation. He published one public announcement telling the truth about his strategy to control the number of street dogs. He also requested the locals to have patience and wait for the good result. The sounds of both approval and disapproval were heard. Despite all these facts, the Mayor decided to remain still on his decision of killing the dogs.

The dogs were continuously brought to the zoo and thrown inside the tiger’s cage. The hunting had now become a normal process. Sometimes it would occur during day and sometimes after the interval of a long time. Many people have criticized this crazy idea; however the authority did not stop murdering the dogs.

After few more weeks the strangest things began to happen inside the cage. The tiger seemed indifferent to the dog and did not show any sign of killing it. The dog had a brilliant chance to save its life so it hid somewhere. The in charge thought that the dog is killed and he threw another dog. In this way, there were about four dogs inside the cage. The in charge did not realize this until there were six dogs inside it. Now the tiger’s enclosure became like a circus cage crowded with the pack of dogs. The dogs were pretty much afraid of the tiger in the beginning but once they found their company, they became confident and began to mock the tiger. They would surround the tiger and would go near it time and again. The tiger expressed its ignorance most of the times and behaved them like the cubs. Gradually, the dogs befriended with the tiger. During the daytime, the visitors could see the pack of dogs fooling around with the tiger. The dogs looked more playful and they would sometime jump on the top of the tiger. It was the scene never seen before. The Mayor was accused of turning a zoo into a circus. It was a rumor that the in charge of tiger’s enclosure had left his job. Now, everyone was waiting for what could or might happen next in there?

The confusion among the officials was whether to serve them the flesh or not. However, they decided not to serve any flesh to them. As a result, the hunger increased and the ferocious struggle was observed at length. There were six dogs and a tiger. It was an evening when they seemed like playing with each other and the tiger suddenly grabbed a dog and shook it. Other dogs were enraged and hauled the tiger. The frightening sounds were heard. It was hard to decipher whose sound was that exactly. All the dogs hurried for their lives but very quickly attacked the tiger back. The tiger was tiger but it was not free and wild as in the jungle. After a long period of dodging and nudging, the dogs crippled the tiger. The hunting was reversed. The dogs were hunting the tiger now. The tiger became helpless and finally it gave up to the dogs. All the dogs feasted on tiger and nobody dared to stop them. Nobody had seen this happen ever in the history of wildlife so they could not think of anything.

After this incident, the Mayor felt guilty about the death of the tiger. He had never imagined that the dogs could turn like this. He apologized publicly for implementing such an unreliable action. He just wanted to forget this chapter of dogs from his life, but would that be possible?