"Doddy! Doddy! Where are you? Come on out! I am not mad at
you! Come on, crawl from under there! I won't hurt you
Doddy!"
Said the elderly figure, with its gray hair, wrinkles and
thick glasses covering most of his pain bearing face. He
bent down, struggling with the pain in his limbs refusing to
bend low. The frame of his glasses touched gently the rugged
carpet glancing under the sofa, looking for little Doddy. As
he bent down he was met with two little lights gleaming red,
glancing right at him from the darkness. A sickly cough
burst out of the old man's chest, caused by the dust
gathered inside the carpet.
"See what you've done! You naughty creature! An old boy like
me is not meant to be bending like this! Get out you
stinking rodent! No better than a damn rat."
The pair of red eyes looked assaulted, they grew closer and
slowly the lengthy figure of Doddy crawled up to the leaning
face of his master rubbing his bleak fur on the master's
cheek.
"Guilty?"
Asked the old man.
"Don't worry. Just don't make me crawl like this again,
willya?"
He stood up slowly, picking up the reluctant ferret and
placing the animal on the sofa.
"Now wait."
He said and trotted away to the balcony coming back with a
broom. The floor was covered with small pieces of coloured
glass scattered all over the cozy room. The old man started
sweeping the floor. Slowly gathering all the pieces of the
broken vase to one pile of arranged scatter of colour
shades. The ferret, watching his master working to clean the
mess squealed slightly to show his remorse and deep regret
on breaking the glass memoir.
"Don't worry Doddy" said the old man with a sigh.
"Its nothing. I was about to get rid of this damn vase
sooner or later anyway. It used to belong to Martha you
know. She was a fine lady, Martha. Never liked animals much
though. She said they make too much fuss for her own good."
The ferret's sneaky eyes followed the tired figure walking
around the room, rolling himself into a furry ball of shame
on the big sofa.
"She was right you know."
Said the old man sitting himself in the armchair.
"Fuss. That's all I get from you."
Doddy made a clicking sound and crawled to the floor jumping
to the elder's lap, curling back to a ball, enjoying the
touch of the familiar hand, waiting and keeping the man
company. The hand stopped petting a while later, completing
the calm and tender sleep of the old man.