The forest fire

Foxes are supposed to be cunning, damn cunning. But Kish was far from it. It wasn't that he was not clever or smart, he was all that and not cunning. This goodness in many ways made him a black sheep of the family. His dad pitied his youngest son for his naivety and thought of him as rather stupid. When he was a little fox, his dad hoped that come 18 and his son would be better-knowing of the dirty ways of this world. But 18 did come to Kish and he failed to pick up the dirty ways. Even at 26 today, his eyes shine with a tender innocent glow. You must meet him to know what am talking about.
Chou the hippo, took after her mother like the page below the carbon sheet takes on the contents of the page above the carbon sheet! She was a bluer version of her mommy. Short, fat and cute, that was Chou for you. She had a pretty face, so says Kish. But when I looked at her face, I was so struck by the pendulous lips that it blinded me totally from the rest of her features and I couldn't totally agree with him. She was gentle, so says Kish. Here I could agree with him because despite being a hippo, whenever she walked past me, all I heard was the jingles at her feet. She was lovable, again so says Kish. Off course, here Kish didn't mind me differing with him since he wanted to love her like noone else. He did a damn good job of that too.
Getting drunk on her laughter was his favourite pasttime and it came at a minimal investment from his side, all he had to do was launch on his huge collection of never-failing-to-get-a-laughter jokes. Running his fingers through her hair and making pony tails out of them, he found exciting. Talking of endless nothings to her, atop the tree house was all he did every afternoon. She sang him melodious numbers from her land, rather the slush and he in turn got her garlands of jasmine from his garden. Happiness and love seemed abound and forever.
Then it happened, the forest fire. Though it was checked real soon by the forest officials, it ate into a portion of the thick bamboo growth, where the tree house was. Kish and Chou were to meet there that afternoon as usual. What was unusual was that Chou came but no Kish. Kish, who was grounded at home when the news of the fire spread, did his best to explain to his dad why he had to be where the fire was. But dad would not let go of his son, trusting his frustration to be stupid again. When at long last he did make a sneak-out and reach the bamboos, the tree top remained only in its charred form. Kish hoped fervently that Chou was grounded similarly too. He raced to her slush, but it seemed there they had not even heard of the fire. He raced back to the bamboos, no signs of Chou. He couldnot hold himself anymore. He slumped down and cried aloud, unabashed. You have heard foxes cry haven't you? If you haven't, what happens is that when one fox cries, all of them cry too. But this was so doleful that everyone in the forest felt like crying too. I remember I cried and cried until I fell asleep, all along thinking that they should at once remove this concept of love and feeling from the world and then giving in to accepting it like another law of nature, like gravity, hoping instead that Kish would meet Chou soon. The poor dear is still crying about in the jungle...

PS : The last time princess Duck went to the London zoo, she says she heard a Hippo snort at her and when she looked at her, she stared at her endlessly, like begging to be recognised. Maybe we'll go back to the zoo, all of us together and ask her about her home and friends. Maybe, just maybe...