THAT PUPPY IS A LION

The heat was oppressive as the sun raced through a cloudless steel-blue sky. Pwinga walked through Ndema forest, the Remington hunting rifle stuck on his body like a third arm. He had spent the whole day hunting but didn’t kill any animal. Rounding a thick shrub he heard a startling sound shake the afternoon silence. It forced him to glare with big round eyeballs. His mouth flew open drawing an ugly O, his heart was gripped by a terrible premonition of danger. Holding his breath like a swimmer; he walked slowly towards the sound until he was just a meter away from what looked like a well-defended cave.

The sight sent his heart galloping with the pulse of a woman giving birth. “This is a beautiful puppy, but where is the mother?” he wondered as he looked at a small-month-old puppy that had clawed out of the cave; tears were streaming down its sad face. It was hungry. He resolved not to leave it; after all, he badly needed a dog.

Throwing his rifle on his shoulder, Pwinga threw an anxious glance left and right as he bent down to pick the puppy. Every minute he expected its mother to appear suddenly.

A hundred yards away from its lair, Pwinga sat down to feed the puppy with milk from a flask. But as it drunk the milk, it let out a hungry growl from its mouth. That growl pierced the pores on Pwinga’s skin reaching the bone marrow, he trembled in terrible dread. He was a seasoned hunter but he had never heard such a dreadful roar. Wondering how that tiny puppy could raise so much fear, he fought hard to subdue the debilitating doubts that seemed to warn him of danger from the puppy. Reassuring himself that no harm could come from such a small puppy, he started walking back home, it was already getting late.

As his fingers combed the puppy’s fur lovingly, another thought bobbed up in Pwinga’s mind, raising more uncomfortable doubts. It was an afterthought. What type of dog can keep its puppies almost twenty kilometers from the nearest human habitation? Could this be a wild dog or even a lion? But again a look at the beautiful fur, the innocent face, and even its vulnerability convinced him to eject that thought from his mind as well. He consoled himself by saying it was his luck the bitch lacked elementary common sense on where to hide puppies.

But as if to confuse him, the puppy roared again. The sound injected the same dreadful fear into his heart. He almost dropped it in fear, but something barely helped him to suppress the fear.

Upon reaching home, Pwinga’s children were surprised to see him carrying a puppy instead of the delicious meat they had anticipated for supper. Unable to hide her disappointment, his wife Matilda immediately went ballistic with castigations.

“Are we cooking a puppy for our supper today, Baushi Dina?”

“Luck was not with me today, Bina Dina,” Pwinga tried to exculpate himself. “I didn’t kill anything…”

“Don’t talk about being lucky,” Matilda came roughly. “It is obvious even to a fool that instead of hunting you spent the whole day flirting with that stupid puppy, didn’t you?” She was hoping to break the monotony of eating boiled pumpkin leaves, also called ‘sholo’ as a relish. It was a kind of relish that required real effort to eat. Someone could only subsist on this relish when faced with a severe shortage of alternatives. The fresh pumpkin leaves were boiled without either cooking oil or tomatoes, salt and water were the only ingredients. When swallowing, the little spikes would scratch the throat painfully; making one wince in disgust.”Drink more water to push it down,” mothers would often encourage their children when eating.

Just then, the little puppy let out a roar that sent all the children fleeing in fear. Two-year-old Glenda sprinted too hurriedly and ended up dashing her toe on a stump. The additional problem made her howl even more.

“What type of a puppy is this, Baushi Dina?”Matilda was trembling like a reed in a strong gale. She had also fled but came back when she realized her husband was not joining in the flight.

“Just like any other puppy, can’t you see?” Pwinga answered. Deep down his heart, the earlier fears resurfaced and swamped him like a roaring bush fire. But the puppy’s irresistibly attractive coat and his own desperate desire to have a dog somehow prevailed.

“Yes I can see, but I have never heard a dog growl like that,” Matilda said. “Look, even your children are fleeing away instead of welcoming it. They have never fled from any of your other dogs, why should they flee from this small one?”

“If I were you, as a good wife, I would make myself busy warming water for my husband's bath,” Pwinga tried to cut the debate short.

Just then Dina shouted from the house; “Daddy please, take that dog away, I don’t want it.”

The way her voice trembled worried her mother very much. Matilda rushed to console her daughter. She found her tucked deep in the blankets with all the windows shut off. Her young sister Glenda was no different. She was shaking like a malaria case under her mother’s blankets. That night Matilda had to sleep with the girls because they were overcome with the fear of Pwinga’s puppy.

However, as the wrath of time stretched days into weeks and weeks into months, Pwinga’s family slowly got used to the terrible roar of that small dog. He even named it “Fear” because it had caused a lot of fear in the family. He hoped it would improve the security around the home against jackals that were terrorizing his chickens. He was wrong.

Everyone was surprised that even with this dog guarding the home; Pwinga’s chickens kept on disappearing one after another. This worsened as Fear grew in size. Every two days piles of feathers would turn up next to where it slept.

Fear grew into a huge dog, but so did the shock concerning its strange behavior? Fear was never heard barking to warn away intruders. The dreadful roar was its only sound.

Fear had a knack of scaring away bigger dogs. He mauled one dog that dared to fight him sending the whole village into angry denunciations. Pwinga became so uncomfortable that he stopped taking Fear on his trips.

A year later, Pwinga’s father, Mr. Hikakuta visited the family.

"Hodi!Hodi! My children," the big man breezed into the compound. That same night, at twenty-three hours, when everyone was fast asleep, Mr. Hikakuta felt his tummy start rumbling with hot gases fighting to escape. When he allowed one shot of gas to escape, he felt the rectum getting hot. “This may be diarrhea, let me hurry to the bush,” he whispered to himself. The house had no built-in toilets; in fact, the whole village had no toilets. All issues to do with toilets were resolved by visiting the nearby bush.

The old man hurriedly walked out of the house and came to granary storage where he picked a cob to use as tissue. He then entered a small path going into the nearby bush. After walking for about ten yards, he left the path and entered the bush. About five yards from the path he lifted his trousers and hurriedly squatted down to defecate. The roar of gases escaping from his belly was followed by the onrush of cylindrical chops chasing each other like in a competition. These chops did not come out quietly. They were accompanied by a ratatatatat sound of someone tearing a shirt. This didn’t bother the old man, his motive was relieving himself. The visit to the bush was going on well until an unforgivable intrusion struck.

 Suddenly, a beast roared angrily. The sound catapulted Mr. Hikakuta into action. He immediately abandoned his mission with a chop still halfway out and stood up to start running. The chop's position was not equivalent to the danger carried by the roar. The way he started the race would make Ulsan Bolt click his tongue with envy, only that the dash would lead nowhere.

The pair of trousers, which was still halfway down, somewhere on the knees trapped his legs into immobility. Trying to jump out of the trousers failed, he crushed to the ground almost instantly. With a grim face, he hauled himself to his full height again, tried to push one leg forward, and was trying to do the same with the other one, but the khaki trousers held on. The big man dived to the ground for the second time. In his struggle, he made no progress but was just rolling like a giant anaconda snake. The cob he had picked to use as tissue stuck in his hands. Why he couldn’t throw it away to free his hands to hold the trousers was beyond logic. The roar had permeated his skin to the bones, crippling his decision-making process. He struggled to stand up and continue running but all was in vain because the pair of trousers was now acting like a chain. It held him back. He crushed again at the second attempt.

When he heard the beast roar a second time, the old man smelled death approaching. Death was coming and would find him helpless. He could no longer hold his peace; his mouth broke the night silence wailing for help. But the fear was so great that his voice was just a wheeze peal barely audible ten yards away, like a dying cow.

“Maweeeeeee!” “Maweeeeeee!” he groaned like a cow that has been struck with a spear.

Pwinga was in a deep sleep when he heard the groans of a dying cow. His kraal only had four cows and any thought of even one death was the worst disaster he could imagine. Jumping into Bermuda trousers hurriedly he stood up and started running towards the kraal. Upon reaching the kraal he realized the sound was coming from somewhere in the bush.

He preened his ears to get the sound properly. A phenomenal shock spread on his face when he identified his father’s voice. Summoning his athletic abilities he raced to the spot where he found his father rolling on the ground like a mad man.

Panic gripped him, fearing that maybe the old man was beaten by a snake. Pwinga tried to grab a hand, but the terrible smell was choking his nose. Nevertheless, he endured the stench for the sake of family after all they say a father’s love cannot be blown away by a fart. This time Mr. Hikakuta’s voiced start coming out clearly, he was yelping like a woman in labor.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”Pwinga screamed. The third time Mr. Hikakuta heard his son calling. He stopped crying and struggled to get to his feet. His hands flailing like sails of a windmill in a vain attempt at grabbing the shoulder of his son.

“The roaring lio….!. The roaring lio….!” he tried to talk but Pwinga cut him in midsentence.

“There is no lion, daddy,” he said, “That is my dog, Fear.”

“No my son,” Mr. Hikakuta tumbled the words out like a paralytic. But after a little persuasion, he accepted his son's explanation of the events and tried to suppress the raging turmoil in his heart. Clinging to his son’s hand he struggled to raise the trousers.

Looking at his father, Pwinga realized that the old man had not finished the ‘business’ that brought him into the bush.

“Daddy, just finish what you were doing,” he tried to help the old man. “I will wait for you there.”

“No! No! My son,” Mr. Hikakuta groaned like a maniac, his stomach was still grumbling with gases still fighting to come out. “I can’t remain alone in this bush any longer, please.”

 “But clean up with that cob,’ Pwinga tried to sound helpful while enduring the bombardment of a terrible smell.

“Clean what?” Mr. Hikakuta glared at his son with asking eyes. His body was shaking like guitar strings, his teeth clattered lie caterpillar chains as he pushed himself towards his son for support.

“But what is the use of that cob in your hand?”

“Oh! What a fool I am!” he growled as one hand tried to tissue his bottom while the other hand clung to the son to prevent him from going away.

Pwinga watched helplessly. His nostrils battled to repel a breeze of smelly gases.

“I have finished my son, take me to my bed,” the old man said completely oblivious to the condition of his trousers.

 It was a difficult situation because the old man’s trousers were messed up. Even his body needed a thorough clean up if he was not going to spoil the blankets. Pwinga was just about to suggest that they go to the nearby stream for a wash-up when another complication arose.

Matilda had also woken up; she was now standing at the veranda with a brightly lit tiller lamp. Pwinga panicked; “she must not see my father in this condition. The whole village must not know about this disaster, my God!” How is Pwinga to divide himself; part to send Matilda back to bed and part to remain with the frightened big man?

And horror of horrors, she started walking towards them, all the time calling her husband’s name.

“Go back to sleep,” he shouted back at his wife, a bit more violently due to the nerves.

“Is he hurt,” Matilda asked. She was now fifteen yards and her lamp was now bathing the faces of the two men. Pwinga’s panic worsened.

“What do you want?” he was now frantic. “I said go back into the house.”

“That is my dad also, what will the people say if they hear that I shut my door when he was crying outside?” Matilda was now ten yards. When she raised her hand to her nose Pwinga’s agitation worsened. “She has smelled the ….”

“Matilda, won’t you warm some water for tea?” Pwinga tried some psychology when brute force failed to get results. “Dad is shivering too much.”

Early the next morning, Mr. Hikakuta bid the family farewell refusing to stay another day.

It is now a week after. Kapaya has come to visit her brother Pwinga. Somehow her fiancé colonel Chigaya was also in the same home for a mission.

As she threw away dishwashing water in the pit, Kapaya saw Fear eating a chicken behind the kitchen. Thinking Fear could be disciplined like other dogs, she hit it very hard with a stick to save the chickens. How lucky she was that the school athletics had trained her very well on sprints.

Fear growled angrily as he launched an attack. Kapaya was so scared that immediately she took to her heels screaming all the way. After running about thirty yards, Kapaya could sense the beast gaining on her. It was just a meter behind priming itself to spring. She screamed harder as the shadow of the beast loomed over her shoulder. Suddenly her vocal cords froze and even her legs turned into jelly as her stamina limped to an end. And then the worst horror struck, she was tripped down by mosquito netting. Her fear was great, she fainted.

As Fear closed the distance, it twisted its head to one side in preparation to break the girl’s neck. Closing its eyes, it leaped with the forelegs stretched forward. The claws were itching to tear flesh as they stood out. However, as it landed, it couldn’t believe that its claws had scratched empty airwaves. Missing at that range? It scratched the ground and came back to search for the girl. 

Fear started tearing off the mosquito netting searching for his quarry. It saw her down but the net had stuck in the teeth. It was fighting to remove the mesh when the voice of a man broke its concentration. It spat the net and stood at full height to deal with the new nuisance.

 Colonel Chigaya heard Kapaya’s scream, a nerve-wracking peal that triggered every instinct of war in him. He did not have any weapon, but he ran madly towards the screaming girl only to find her fallen down helplessly. A beast was clawing inches from her. Walking hurriedly, he instinctively picked an iron bar and shouted to draw the beast towards him. It did. The two looked at each other with eyes filled with hate. Colonel Chigaya recognized the dog as a young lion. He steeled his nerves for the greatest fight between man and beast over a girl.

Fear roared in anger. It was a roar to remember, going deep into Colonel Chigaya’s skin like an ice-cold shower. The colonel shivered both in body and resolve. Should I save the girl and probably die fighting that beast or abandon the girl to her fate?

He was also worried about the verdict of history. An army colonel watched gleefully as a girl was devoured by a beast. The decision didn’t wait an eternity; it must be instant. Instantly the Colonel made a decision, he advanced.

Fear was the first to launch an attack. Three yards from the colonel, it flew with all the forelegs stretched out with claws showing. It turned the head at an angle and opened its mouth to show the terrible canines. To add confusion it was making horror sounds that would melt any heart into a dreadful panic. Lions use such sounds to confuse the prey. The young lion even closed its eyes, after all, it was just a few yards, and most preys fail to survive at that distance.

Meanwhile, colonel Chigaya saw the lion coming. The iron bar in his hands did not match the level of violence coming up. The time came to a standstill as he watched the beast sailing in the air. He waited for it to close his eyes. When the beast leaped in a final attack, he moved an inch away from the killer claws and hit the nearest paw with the iron bar as it passed over him. The blow crippled the lion; it lay down groaning in pain.

Pwinga was very angry, “Chigaya, why have you killed my dog?”

“That is not a dog, Pwinga” Colonel Chigaya tried to explain.”That is a lion.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Pwinga said as he threw a punch which the Zambia army colonel parried easily. “That is my puppy.”

Just then Kapaya revived; she started screaming again; "Maweeeeeee! Maweeeeeeeee! A lion..."

"It almost killed your sister," Colonel Chigaya said as he rushed to hold the girl. “Can’t you feel sorry for her?”

"Nothing," Pwinga shouted, as he tried to throw a stone this time. "You just like my sister. Besides she upset it, what did you expect?"

Even before he finished speaking, Matilda came out of the house with her girls, "I am going back to my parents. There is no way I can live with a killer."

Pwinga dropped his head in shame, "I am sorry......” The stone clattered to the ground.