>COUNTDOWN
Repaying a kindness
I plunged my body down on the scorching concrete tiles and made a tiny jump before retiring my restless limps. I squinted my eyes like tattered shades on working rollers and looked up to the sun in excruciating pain.
Where should I put up today, I ranted. Having to be driven out of the flat 3 days ago, I was given no food, except only that I had just grubbed carelessly discarded food from the bin in the playing field couple of hours ago. Digestive juices gnawed my stomach, which generated a rather long protesting growl and brought agony to life.
Dread soon overshadowed starvation as no animal on two feet, like the one who had taken care of me, was in sight. I endeavored to keep my bleary shades unlatched as I scrutinized for my next master. My level of confidence pretty much sunk two hours later as I eventually clung onto only a tinge of hope. Like hallucination, I fell deep asleep while my stomach rumbled.
I had felt myself to be ascended from the ground and was tightly held onto but took no actions as nothing was as crucial as adequate sleep and to break away from the brink of intolerable hunger. The guy might give me some food, I thought.
The painful glare of the artificial lights awoke me as I gently split open my eyes and lumbered on my fours. Visual disability first overtook me as my eyes struggled to accommodate with the blinding lights. I rubbed my eyes vigorously as I was eager to find out where I was. Finding myself to be in a basket lined with soft and woolly sheets, curiosity began to ooze out like the leakage of a broken tap and I stepped out of my boundary. The room was relatively spacious and a teen had settled in a bulky armchair. On his lap, a screen no thicker than a book blinked furiously as he tapped on the device. The pages zoomed past like rockets as the teen glued his eye on the monitor. Boy, that disloyal brat who had chased me out surely did not have this, I thought.
I examined the area meticulously and was wary to totter across the room on tiptoes. An old-fashioned looking coffee table took a place before the television, and it was surrounded by contrasting taste of sleek modern convertible couch, which was eventually ruined by a handful of garbage on it. The balcony was decorated with cheerful velvety curtains with soft, silky----
With a swift move, my new master scooped me into his arms. I become petrified as I scuffled for emancipation helplessly. He stroked my fur gently and caressed my sensitive ears. Longed for that, I advocated tender patting and nerves-calming massages on the ear. I winced blissfully as I was pampered by delicate fingers. Instanteously, I liked him. Deprived misery finally ended when my master served me a spread of dog food and some milk. After that, he gave me a clean scrub.
In accompaniment by my new acquaintance, we shared our deepest sorrows and so were our joy. I was named after his favourite basketball player, Shaggy. Being language-challenged, I secretively named him after my idolized basketball player, Paul the great. Paul was like any fantastic international basketball player you could spot on television in those days and had passed on to me a couple of ball techniques.
Like what all mutual friends do, I always gave a listening ear whenever Paul divulged his part of miserable sadness and he fondled my ears when it was my turn. At night, we often slept in each other’s embrace until the breakthrough of the hateful daylight.
One day, I was caught in a tragic car accident when picking up Paul’s favourite basketball. The car skidded and had crashed into me before the driver could react to halt his vehicle.
The last words of Paul still kicked vividly in my mind: “Shaggy! Look out for the ----“Before he could even finish his sentence, I was thrown about 5 feet away. My vision and hearing sensitivity blurred as my heart burnt unbearably. My body engulfed with wounds and blood. I gave out howls of pain as I heard heavy imminent footsteps. Paul looked at me anxiously with torrents of tear smearing his face.
Images of our memories instantly flashed across my mind like a soundless short film…
He had brought me up ever since I was abandoned and had ever since lavished me with care. We shared the joy of closest intimacy by sharing the same bed, secrets and human food. My life was his the moment he picked me up from the streets, and my destiny descended upon his responsibility the moment I was taken in. For me, he fought against his mother just to keep an unwanted dog. For me, he set aside precious time to minimize my loneliness. For him, I was willing to sacrifice my life. For him, I was prepared to guide him through his life until the day I ceased…
I gasped for more breath and I clung on to the intolerable pain. The pain in my leg throbbed so agonizingly that I was almost brought to tears. He wrapped his arms carefully around my body without touching my cuts and lifted me up cautiously. In comfort of Paul, I attempted to kick forcefully to display obvious signs that I was still alive but it only aggravated my wound. I concentrated on breathing properly instead.
One, two, three. Two, two, three…
Head under water,
And they tell me to breathe easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder, even I know that.
You made room for me but it’s too
soon to see,
If I’m happy in your hands.
I’m unusually hard to hold on to.
Blank stares at blank pages.
No easy way to say this.
You mean well, but you make this hard
on me.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write
you a love song today.
Today.
I learned the hard way,
That they all say things you want to hear
My heavy heart sinks deep down under you
And your twisted words, your help
just hurts
You are not what I thought you were.
Hello to high and dry.
Convinced me to please you.
Made me think that I need this too.
I’m trying to let you hear me as I am.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write you
a love song today.
Promise me you'll leave the light on,
To help me see with daylight, my guide,
gone
'Cause I believe there's a way you can love
me because I say,
I won't write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking
this.
Is that why you wanted a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I’m not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking
this.
If you’re on your way,
I’m not gonna write you to stay.
If your heart is nowhere in it,
I don’t want it for a minute.
Babe, I’ll walk the seven seas when I
believe that there's a reason to,
Write you a love song today.
Today.
The box it up technique!
does it work?
BLAHBLAH this is just plain probing!
it better work
raw