Summer. Almost two decades ago. That was when my story began.
I was born on a farm I never saw. Of my father, I knew nothing of. It was only slightly later that I found out my mum had passed away during labor. According to the kind old lady who bottle-fed me, my mum had one child too many and the exhaustion of it all finally killed her. It’s funny though, I never met my siblings. No one even mentioned them.
Not that I care, really.
As I grew older, I comprehended that I was even lucky to be alive in the first place. I was so fragile at birth. Without a mother to care for me, it was a marvel to some that I survived long enough to be found. If it had been winter when I entered this World, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience what I’ve come to call “Life”. Guess Fate was smiling upon me that very night when I emerged. But that smile might have been a twisted one – for I was born with a missing limb… with one leg missing, to be precise.
I never let that handicap dampen my spirit though. I learnt to use my remaining limbs well. I was perfectly healthy, albeit a little too scrawny.
For a few years, the kind old lady was the only family I knew.
Till she passed on to the realms beyond.
I might have felt sorrow then. I might have mourned. I don’t remember.
All I remember was feeling confused when they lowered the box into the ground – the very box where she lay. I was young back then. I didn’t know what Death was. I was thinking that she must have been playing a joke on me, pretending that she was asleep and that she couldn’t hear me. But she didn’t wake up. Earth covered the box and soon I could no longer see her.
For a period of time, I wandered around the place where she lay. No one paid me much attention. Not that there were many people visiting the area to begin with. I learnt to capture small rodents for food, but mostly I survived on the scraps I could salvage from anywhere.
Time passed.
Then one day, I was just lazing beneath one of the willow trees when I heard this car pull up beside me. A sleek black metal creature. From one of the doors, out stepped the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen my entire Life.
Her.
[To be continued...]
