An Unfortunate Evening

It was 5 o’clock of the orange evening, fall was just ahead.

In such an evening wouldn’t it be best for an old man to spend the evening in the park and relax on a bench minding his own business, forgetting all the depressing things which have taken away my entire day overthinking and overreacting. It was just the time when I want to relax in peace and harmony with mother nature.

But sometimes, it’s so much relaxing that you think about what you have done so great that the world is letting you have such a wonderful evening, but for the time being let it be what it is, not overthink it.

It was only half an hour of that evening and now I think I might have jinxed myself by saying, “such a wonderful evening,” when I encounter such an abomination, one that truly brings disaster wherever it walks.

You may think what may give me such cold feet, and there is only one such thing, which could do this to me and that is a hyperactive toddler full of hope, energy, and curiosity; asking a lot of questions, even if he understands nothing. Despite that, he wants to know it all. Which will bring an end to my peaceful evening?

Thus, here it is this child about 11–13 years of age with a cute little Great Dane (dog), sitting next to me and staring at me with sparkling eyes and a hopeful smile as if I am someone, he knows for a long time of which I do not know about and I will give him a treasure.

Or, maybe, he might not be such an outrageous thing, and it just could be that I am getting too old for thinking about him as a terrorist to my peace, as my hairs are mostly white to be called an old grumpy man, living with no interference of others in my isolated life.

To avoid any further interaction, I ignored him, but that little Dane took me to his liking and started licking my feet as if he is tasting bones in those sandals, but the puppy is not half wrong as I am an old man after all; but how can I say no to such a cute creature?

After seeing this, the kid replied to his little Dane action, “his name is Cthulhu.”

This was a surprise to hear such a name, but how could such a little boy know about ‘Cthulhu’ one of the fictional creatures, created by H. P. Lovecraft, and I unconsciously asked him, “why such a weird name?” Thinking about how could such a kid know about Cthulhu.

To which kid replied, “how could one not know about Cthulhu, a monster of the deep, one with the octopus head and a giant body, waiting for his rise.”

After knowing this, I thought there might be some hope for this generation who are engaged in old-generation culture and are being fascinated by the works; after this, I indirectly asked him what made him name the puppy Cthulhu.

“Cthulhu always start licking the people he likes and makes everything disastrous until no one stops him doing so.” He said.

“Isn’t Cthulhu, a monster of the deep who will rise someday and bring the end of all creation?” I said.

“My Dada says that even if that Cthulhu was the bringer of death, that doesn’t make him necessary evil; just think about the day our little Cthulhu was born; cute little octopus boy with little tentacle mustaches dreaming to become a huge, powerful monster who all fears, but is now sleeping in depths not interested in any creation’s destruction. Cthulhu is not what he made of himself, it is what we made of him.”

“And same will become of my little Cthulhu, everyone will fear him when he is all grown up,” he replied me with sparkling eyes with hopes and dreams as if his dog is going to roam and bring terror to everyone who crosses his path and he will be his master.

After seeing such sparkling eyes, I could only say one thing, “sure your dad is a man of culture to inspire you in such a way.”

After this, there was a sudden silence in the air as if I can still enjoy my peace, even if he is sitting next to me and the little Cthulhu is playing around attacking heaps of dry leaf, but suddenly the boy asked me, “do you think Cthulhu exist and one day he will awake and destroy us?” with a soft voice as if he fears it even if he knows it is a fictional being.

To which I replied to him with a question, “What do you think? He is huge, strong and evil, what will he do to us?” to what is that he fears.

He replied, “I don’t know, he might eat me for his breakfast, my Dada for lunch and you for dinner.” With little terror in his voice.

“So, this old man is going to be the dinner of the great Cthulhu.” saying this I was about to laugh but I controlled myself as I cannot laugh at that feared eye. It is surely fun for me to imagine myself as a dinner for Cthulhu.

But, no matter what he says or knows of the terrors of the world he is still a kid who still has a long way to understand real terror that are destroying our world, which want us to forget about our adult problems and be kids again and ignore those things and be happy in the reality’s ignorance.

After thinking for a while, I replied to him with a little smile on my face which I can manage, “Isn’t that Cthulhu would be lonely by now and want someone to hang with and travel around the world and destroy some cities with him: Wouldn’t your little Cthulhu going to become a big Cthulhu (dog) by that time?”

There was a little spark in his eyes which showed me I am going all right, so I continued, “you could make him your friend and teach him, how to have fun without eating others if you are brave enough; and then you could make your little Cthulhu friends with big Cthulhu.”

“I sure will make him my friend and we will walk altogether and terrorize everyone; you will be the first person I will make him meet after he wakes up from his sleep.” After saying this, the kid laughed as if he is a villain from comics.

Sometimes it is good to forget and laugh at it all, as worrying for the future can make us miss the small moments which we could cherish.

As we were laughing about it, the time passed without consciousness, and the sun reached its horizon. Now it’s time to take a walk toward the home. The boy notices someone is calling him from far.

“Okay, then goodnight, Grandpa! See you next time.” saying this he ran towards his father who was standing on the other side of the park. His father bowed at me as a thanks or a vote of thanks for looking after his son, and I waved them goodbye.

Thus, the wonderful evening was already over, and that peace came along with the kid is going along with him. When I come to think about it, I forgot to ask his name, maybe next time, as he also reminds me of my granddaughter, she might be of the same age as him. A puppy could make a suitable gift for her for our long-time reunion, and the puppy will also bring a smile to her face.

…………………………………………………………………………. DK.