A Second Chance: Short Story

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This story was first published in the May 2021 issue of Potato Soup Journal, a platform that brings storytellers and readers together. You can read it here.

The rhythm and movement of the truck in which they had put my cage made it difficult for me to read the headlines of the newspaper lying outside. I tried hard to concentrate and finally read it.

“Leopard spotted in apartment complex,” it said, and it had my photo next to it. I had appeared in the papers. It was news from one week back. I gave a roar on reading it, happy to see myself get famous. The security guard sitting next to my cage woke up. I neglected him.

“A leopard in the city always makes news,” I mused remembering my past. “Tomorrow’s headlines will be ‘Leopard captured and released in forest’,” I remarked.

The security guard glared at me. I wondered if he could hear me. I roared back at him with all the ferocity I could gather in my eyes. He did not get perturbed. This was the first human I had seen who did not move back on hearing my roar. I looked at him closely and then looked away.

“I got a week here before they got me. Next time, I will do my work only in the night, so that I get more time here,” I spoke to myself, seeing the newspaper. “Well, better luck to me next time, keep trying,” I wished myself with a roar and decided to take a nap till the truck reached the forest.

“What work do you do only in the night?” I heard back just as I closed my eyes. It was the security guard outside my cage speaking. It took me a while to realise it.

I was startled. I had never spoken to another human. At least for the last two years.

“What work do you do in the night?” he asked again. I was sure it was he who was speaking now.

“I can.. umm.. hear you. Eh.. can you hear me?” I roared in my most humane, least ferocious voice.

“Yes, I very much can. I can hear you and I can understand you clearly,” he confirmed. I was elated.

That is how I chanced upon my friend. An unexpected human who became friends with an unexpected leopard in the city. We could hear each other and talk to each other, and in that journey from the city to the forest, our lives got a second chance.

This is my story. Rather, this is our story.

**

“So you really can hear me?” I doubly reconfirmed. I did not want to end up tricked. I knew humans were capable of doing that. Who better than I would know that?

“Yes, I can. Speak up. What work do you do?” the security guard asked again. For a moment, I hesitated fearing that he won’t believe me. I feared that it would give me needless heartache. But given that someone could hear me, I had no choice but to trust him. I decided to take a chance. I went ahead with my feline instincts which told me I had nothing to lose.

“Well, before you understand what work I do, you should know who I am,” I said. I stepped back to give him some background. I knew he won’t believe my story unless I gave ample proof.

“I can see who you are. You are a leopard. Not a cheetah, not a jaguar, but a true-blue spotted leopard. I know the difference in the species,” the security guard said.

I decided to clarify that this was not about identifying my exact species in the cat family.

“Well, don’t go by looks. Looks are deceptive. In my case, they truly are. Because though I look like a leopard, I was not always a leopard,” I said, pausing to assess his reaction. He seemed fairly stable, so I continued. “Three years back I was a human,” I revealed.

The security guard might have felt I was on drugs, if leopards can be. But I knew I wasn’t. What I said was true. He stood up from his chair and walked around. I thought he was checking me out. I had four legs and a tail and everything else that a leopard has. My spots were real, I felt like telling him.

“A human being?” he asked. “As in, you were a man?” he repeated with an overwhelming expression of surprise. His eyeballs looked like they were falling out of their sockets. At the same time, he looked glad to have known my secret, as he had this mixed expression of shock and awe.

“Yes, I was a man. A full grown, married man,” I confirmed. As if that weren’t proof enough, I gave him more information that could convince him that I was indeed one. “I had bought a flat in this very apartment complex,” I told him.

The security guard stood up again from his chair. “You had bought a flat too in this complex? In the one in whose CCTV I spotted you? The one where I work?” he asked, still overawed perhaps.

“Yes, that very one. I used to be a proud owner there,” I said. “A spacious three-bedroom hall kitchen apartment on the eighth floor with a pool-facing balcony. It also had three bathrooms and a separate washing area. I booked it at a good price too, when it was under construction,” I told him all the details of my acquired possession.

With all these details, he was now convinced that I must have been human. He knew that a leopard in the forest, who was only a leopard all his life wouldn’t know such meaningless details, generally useless to leopards. Moreover, I would not be gloating over them like I did if I had not lived a human life earlier. That was well and truly proof for him that I was originally human.

“So then, what happened? How did you end up like this?” the security guard asked in all eagerness.

My mind went back to that fateful week in my life, two years back.

“Well, it so happened that like many humans, our family had a religious guru. He told my parents that for the house-warming ceremony he needed some fruit that was only available in the forest. In fact, he insisted that without that fruit, the ceremony was meaningless,” I told him.

“A special fruit?” he asked. I wondered why it was so surprising for him, despite being human.

“Yes, apparently it was an auspicious fruit. I am sorry to say but only humans can believe this kind of stuff,” I said. He nodded in delight, agreeing with me about the fallacies of his own species.

“I realised that all fruits are the same only after becoming a leopard. You know I was a vegetarian when human, so for a few days, I found it difficult to eat when I became a leopard. I survived on fruits even as a leopard till I realised it was not good for my digestion,” I said, remembering my forced conversion to non-vegetarian food after taking up a leopard’s body.

“Oh, that’s really sad to know. Food really matters, you know,” he said, feeling sorry for my predicament. “So what about that special, auspicious fruit?” the security guard quickly guided me out of my rambling back to the topic.

“Well, yes – the fruit, the root of my problems. Well, I was human and so I believed the guru and took up his request seriously,” I said, going back to my story.

“So then, did you get the fruit?” he asked.

“Hmm.. The problem was that while the forest was close to this apartment, there was a man-eating leopard in that forest,” I continued with my narration.

“Ahaa.. A man-eating leopard?” the security guard asked, with almost a sneer.

“Yes.. he was a famous one, rather a notorious one, on the edge of the forest. And so, me and my wife didn’t want to go. By the way, both of us were supposed to go, as per the custom,” I informed the security guard.

“So, why did you go?” he asked.

“Well, there was a solution that the religious guru had for that too,” I continued with a twinkle in my eye and a smile if ever there was something like that a leopard might be capable of.

“A solution? What kind of solution?” he asked, in all earnest, eager to know.

“He gave us two types of powders in two small boxes,” I began.

“He said if I saw the leopard, I should eat the first powder and I will become a bigger leopard myself. Then I could fight with the maneater and finish him off. After that, it was simple. I just had to eat the second powder and get back to being a human,” I explained.

Now, saying I was a human who became a leopard was one thing. But saying that some magical powder was responsible for this conversion business was another. The security guard’s forehead widened by twelve inches and his eyebrows took over the remaining part of his head.

“Two types of powders? To convert you to a leopard and back? Is there anything like this? Sounds like he was pulling a fast one,” he said.

Well, I don’t blame him. No one in his right senses would have believed this. And even if it were true, how should I tell him that I now realise that I was foolish to take a chance with it?

“So you actually believed that he had two such powders and went ahead?” he asked.

“Well, I initially refused. But everyone was so keen that we get the fruit that we had no other option. They wouldn’t let us enter our flat till we got the fruit,” I explained, remembering that fateful week.

“So you went?” he asked again, eager to know what happened next.

“Yes, I did. In fact, we did. Me and my wife went to the forest and got the fruit. But as luck would have it, that was the last I saw of her,” I said, with tears in my eyes, recollecting that fateful day.

“Oh, so sorry to… umm.. hear about your loss. Sad.. But what.. err.. exactly happened? Why did you lose her?” the security guard asked.

My mind went back to that evening as I remembered the exact happenings.

“We knew the way to that fruit tree and walked there. We reached the tree, but lo and behold, I saw the man-eating leopard right in front of us,” the human in me shuddered at the recollection.

“I told my wife to give me the first box of powder and hold on to the second. On eating it, I became a leopard instantly as the guru had promised. The man-eater was surprised with another leopard cropping out of nowhere. I had a fierce fight with him. It lasted for a gruelling thirty minutes in which I came up trumps and he went away, probably giving up. I never saw him after that,” I explained, triumphantly banging my fist on the cage grill.

The security guard was glued on to my story, listening with a rare focus till then. He shifted in his seat. His face turned sad hearing my tragic story. He got up and encircled my cage again to let some steam, perhaps. He didn’t ask me anything further and kept listening. I continued with my story.

“That leopard ran away injured, and I returned to my wife. I thought the job was done. I had plucked the fruit too. I was happy. It was just a matter of taking the second powder now,” I said.

“Oh, okay, so didn’t you return?” the security guard asked me.

“Sadly, no. On seeing me coming back, my wife was so petrified that she started running away. She thought the man-eater was back. She couldn’t make out that it was me. I kept shouting that this is me, your husband, and not the other leopard, but she didn’t hear any of that.”

“Eventually, she started running, but sadly, little did she realise that she had no chance racing with a leopard. I tried to catch up with her, to hold her back. Sadly, little did I realise that I wasn’t a human anymore. I was a leopard,” I welled up at that memory taking a pause and a deep breath.

“Oh, so then didn’t you catch up with her?” the security guard asked wistfully.

“Well, I caught up in a jiffy. But in the heat of the moment, my paws, claws, jaws, and teeth landed on her neck and clutched her tight,” I said. My voice choked. “She died on the spot. By mistake I had killed her.” I went silent remembering the saddest day of my life and broke down.

The security guard put his hand on my head through the grills of my cage and tried to calm me down. When I looked up at him, for the first time, I saw genuine affection in the eyes of a human being for a leopard.

“I am so sorry to hear that,” he said. “What happened after that?” he asked.

“Well, as if losing her wasn’t enough, I couldn’t find the second powder,” I continued narrating my tragic tale. “It had probably spilled in the run and the tussle. I searched for it everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. So I lost my wife and my human form on the same day,” I said.

“Oh, I see,” the security guard’s tone and expression changed a wee bit. But I continued.

“I left my wife’s body as I couldn’t bear to see her like that. I realised I couldn’t go to the city, and so went back to the forest. Since then, I have been searching for that powder,” I told the security guard.

“Oh..ho! So that’s why you came to the city? To this apartment? To get the second powder? That’s the work in the night you do?” he asked me, connecting the dots in a flash. Someone had realised at last why I came to the city.

“Yes, I looked for my family, and that religious guru, who gave us the powders. But I haven’t found him, nor I have I found anyone else,” I opened up my heart to my new friend.

“Oh, everything is clear to me now. I get it,” my friend jumped up in joy. “I will search for that guru too, for your sake, when you are away in the forest this time,” he assured me.

“Thank you dear friend,” I gave my heartfelt thanks to my human friend who had listened to my story. “I know no one will believe my story, but it is one hundred percent true,” I reassured him.

But he didn’t need any reassurance. I got a sense that he didn’t doubt it.

“I believe it. I am certain it is true. In fact, I know that it is true,” he said in a rare conviction that I hadn’t seen in anyone, least of all in humans.

“Thank you sir,” I said with the folded hands of a leopard. “You are the only one who believed me. In fact, you are the only one who can hear me. You are the only one who can help me. Please.. help,” I pleaded. Never before must a leopard have fallen at the feet of a human in this manner.

He held me by my hands and calmed me down. “You don’t worry. I will look for that religious guru from today itself. Helping you is like helping myself,” he said. That left me scratching my head.

“It is like helping yourself? That is gracious. Why do you say so?” I asked him this time.

“Well, that’s because….umm..,” he said with some hesitation. “Err…how do I say this? I am wondering… umm.. if you will like it,” he stuttered.

“Don’t worry. Feel free.. No need to hesitate.. I am fine,” I patted his hand through the cage.

“Well, because… now that you told me your story, some things in my life are also clear to me,” he said. “I have been wondering if I will get a second chance.. You have given me that,” he said emphatically. I couldn’t quite get what he meant.

“I am sorry I didn’t understand,” I said.

“Well, bear with me.. but after you went away from your dead wife, something else happened that you don’t know,” he started. I was all ears. “How should I say this…. I ..umm.. came back.. and.. err.. ate your wife. And now I think, I probably, ate her along with the second powder,” he said.

I got up on all fours on hearing that. “You ate my wife?” I howled in alarm.

“Yes.. I am sorry, but I was the man-eating leopard then,” he confessed apologetically. “All these days, I had been wondering how I became a man after eating a female human. Now I know. I became the human and realised I had no option but to come to the city.”

He looked at me and if I had any hair on my head, I am sure they were standing all ends up.

“I need the first powder now as much as you need the second powder,” he said.

As the quirk of our fates dawned upon me, I was initially disturbed and angry. But once the opportunity of a second chance dawned upon me, I was elated on seeing a true fellow being.

A wave of exuberance filled my heart, despite our acrimonious pasts. I was sure that my days as a leopard were numbered. He was equally sure that his days as a human were limited too.

My currently human friend released me back into the forest. I was certain that pretty soon, our roles would reverse again, and I would do the same to him. I promised him that I would be back in a couple of weeks. Life had given us a second chance.

***