Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Two mud balls from tsunami
By Chandrani Fernando
Lassie and its offspring little Laddie got caught in the tidal wave. They were carried away by the tsunami waves while Kumudini shouted helplessly. “Are you going to get killed because of two dogs?” a man shouted at Kumudini. The man was watching her from the top of a water tank. Kumudini felt sorry for her two pets. The faithful mother and son drifted down the lane. Tears came in to her eyes. She was soaked in water too. But she could not help crying for her pets. Holding a pillar of the portico of her house she watched her dogs fighting for their lives. She wanted to run and save them. But she could not do so as she was also fighting a battle between life and death.

Blackish waters tried to take her away. She murmured her religious stanzas; getting ready to face the inevitable if all her attempts to survive fail. But luckily for her the waves were calm. Gradually her fear also subsided. But she kept still at the pillar, which she held. Her sister-in-law, Sudharma, must be looking for her now. Kumudini had wanted to accompany Sudharma, but she got delayed because of her two pets. Now with her pets gone with the waves, she could not move. She looked at the water slowly recede. She waited for another fifteen minutes. Some three wheelers were drifting down in water; a few bicycles also followed it. “What a gush of water!” Kumudini thought. She had no fear about her sister and brother as they were on a pilgrimage to Mahiyangana. For her relief even Dinuka her nephew had gone with them. Sudharma had left their Alsatian dog in a room upstairs before going away. But it was howling at a rate.

“What sheer bad luck. If my pets were here even they would have yelled,” Kumudini thought. Slowly she started to move. She cuddled her handbag with both her hands. When she went to the entrance of the temple closeby she heard her sister-in-law’s voice. “Akka why did you get late to come? I was waiting for you,” Sudharma said. The temple was a centre for refugees. “How to stay here?” Kumudini asked herself. “Let’s go to Podi Akka’s sister-in-law’s house at Malamulla,” Kumudini suggested to Sudharma. The two of them wanted to get in to a three-wheeler. But what three-wheelers? Most of them were gone with the waves. Even buses were not on the road. So, the two sisters-in-law made their courageous journey to Malamulla. They walked along the old road fearing another wave.

They reached Malamulla within an hour. To their amazement, an unexpected crowd was at their relative’s place. Those people were also helpless like them. Kumudini was sorry when she saw a little Pomeranian with one of the refugees. “If only Lassie and Laddie were saved,” she lamented. “What bad luck.” Sudharma joined her sister-in-law in her hour of sorrow. They spent the night at their relatives. But they could not sleep as they were recalling their own ordeals.

The following day Kumudini and Sudharma went straight to their home to feed the Alsatian dog which was put inside a room upstairs. While Sudharma went upstairs Kumudini saw an opened door which she had locked before leaving home. She peeped inside to find two lumps of black mud balls on her bed. She moved closer. Her mosquito net was torn open. The two mud balls fast asleep all this time jumped at her in glee. Lassie and Laddie had survived !!

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