A Four-legged Friendship [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9

"You?" I ask, dumb-founded.

"Yeah."

"You will help me?" I ask stupidly.

"Yeah."

"You will help me with Elsa?" I ask, skeptically.

"You know Al, you can twist and turn and add as many new words as you want in that question but my answer will still remain the same", says Sid, sighing a little.

I look at him suspiciously and doubtfully. "Why would you do that? Why would you help me out of all the people?"

He spreads his arms wide, bends a little on the side, and goes full into Shah Rukh Khan mode before answering, "Because Alia, hum ek baar jeete hain, ek baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai, aur pyaar, woh bhi ek hi baar hota hai." (we live once, we die once, we also get married once, and love, that happens only once too- a very famous dialogue from one of Shah Rukh Khan's movies).

I roll my eyes at him and say, "Just shut up and answer my question."

Sid comes closer to me now, towering over me. He holds hands, looks straight into my eyes and says, "Because Al, I love you."

Two minutes ringing silence in the entire laboratory. Everybody is staring at Sid, who keeps looking at me intently. Meanwhile my jaw has dropped to the floor. I'm trying to feel the nerves in my hands to lift my jaw up and close it before some dirty insect enters it. I'm shocked beyond words.

Then Sid and Tanvi look at each other and they burst out laughing. So does everybody else. I don't find it funny at all. I kick Sid in the shins and he guffaws, laughing all the way, as if I haven't actually hurt him at all. Frustrated, I go back to my desk, wondering why I could do only a little damage to him, and start working in silence. Sid joins me after some time, and I can see him shaking with muted laughter from the corner of my eyes. I ignore him.

"Alia", he says after he has finally stopped laughing.

"Sid."

"I do want to help you."

"Sid, you say another word, and I'll jab this glass stirrer in your eye."

"Tough luck Al, you'll have to penetrate through my thick glasses first."

I give up. "What do you want Sid?"

"I want to help you with Elsa, Alia", he says seriously.

"And why on Earth would you want to do that?" I ask angrily now.

"Because, in case you haven't noticed already, Elsa loves me, she listens to me, she absolutely adores me, and there is no way in hell that she is going to listen to you. Plus I really don't have much to do in the mornings so it'll be a great way to spend time. And I love Elsa a lot. She is awesome", he ends his speech bowing at me.

I look at him for a minute and think. He actually has a point. And what harm would it be, really? We'll have fun. Worst case scenario, if he irritates the hell out of me, I could just push him into Elsa's poop and run away.

"Okay Sid, you are hired!" I say, enthusiastically now.

"Hired? Cool! So how much is the pay?" He laughs.

I roll my eyes and say, "Just shut up and meet me tomorrow at 7 am sharp at my place."

"If you get up", he says slyly.

***
"For the last time, wake up Alia!" screams my mother. "Sid has been waiting for about half an hour for you to get up! God knows how he's so patient", she murmurs.

"I'm getting up!!" I yell back. "Just 2 minutes I'll get dressed."

"Finally", says mom. "Thank God."

I freshen up, put on a track suit, and sports shoes and hurry down to find Sid playing with Elsa.

"Hey look who finally made it Elsa!" He says, jovially. "We are delighted with your presence Miss Alia. If you could just follow us, the schedule for today will be running for a mile, collecting Elsa's poop, walking for two miles, playing with Elsa before starting her basic training. So if you could just get onboard with the plan, we would really appreciate it."

I roll my eyes and groan. "Lets just get this over with." I hand him Elsa's belt and he snorts. "What?" I ask.

"I'm supposed to be helping you Al, not doing your work for you. You are going to hold the belt and take her for a walk, I'm just going to tag along", he says.

I huff and say, "Fine."

I hold Elsa's belt in my palm firmly and tug her along with me. She keeps trying to run ahead of me, which results in me either coming to a stop all of a sudden so that Sid almost falls over me, or me tripping over her and falling down. Its very infuriating.

"Just walk in a straight line woman!" I finally bark at her, losing my patience.

Sid chuckles and says, "Give me that belt. I'll show you how to hold her properly. If you fall down again, I may not be able to control my laughter this time."

I glare at him but hand him her belt wordlessly. He tugs it and brings her to his level and forces her to walk side-by-side with him. She refuses at first, but eventually falls in line with the pattern.

"You have to make your dog realise who her mistress is", says Sid. "A dog walking ahead of you is never a good sign. She should walk either next to you or behind you. Those ahead of you will be dominant and aggressive."

"I agree", I say.

"Now you try", says Sid.

I try and hold her in the position in which Sid had held her. I succeed for a bit but then she almost drags me through some cow-dung on the street and I leave the belt, which results in Elsa running in a haphazard manner and Sid chasing after her. He finally catches hold of her and says, panting, "Lesson number 1. Never let go of the leash of your dog."

We stroll around a near by park, Elsa walking happily, her tail wagging. She still walks in front of me. Not that it bothers me, but Sid is very particular.
We run for a bit, with Elsa trying to chase neighbouring cats and pigeons. But she can never escape from the leash; she is still small and I'm still more powerful than she is. Then finally panting, I decide to sit down when Sid says urgently, "No!! Don't sit..! Look at her! She is going to poop!"

I immediately get up as she finishes her business.

"How do I remove this?" I ask, a disgusted look on my face.

Sid holds out a plastic bag, puts his hand in it, scoops up the potty and inverts the bag and ties it up.

"Euw! Yuck! I'm not doing this", I declare firmly.

Sid frowns and says," Stop being such a baby. I'm not going to be doing this again. This was just a little demonstration. From the next time you have to do it."

I fold my arms and make a face at him before turning around to face Elsa who is blissfully playing in the sand, her ball by her side.

We play with her for a while before heading home. Sid says, "Since we don't have much time today, we'll start training her from tomorrow. Tomorrow, 7 am sharp. Set up an alarm so that you will be able to wake up", he finishes cockily.

"Whatever", I roll my eyes and lead Elsa inside the house, not even bothering to say goodbye or thank you to him.

If this is the first day, I shudder to think what will happen in the days to come.

***