A Dog Named Assassin

The golden taxi was travelling on and on, seemingly without any effort. Kismet and Priya were on their way to Pietermaritzburg. He was about to meet her family for the first time.
Sitting in the back seat was Sushmita. When she had heard that the two were planning to go to Pietermaritzburg for the weekend, she had insisted on coming along.

Priya had it made quite clear, on several occasions, to her family that Kismet was just a friend and not a suitor. She had tried to tell her mother that he was on a journey of self-discovery and needed time to find himself. Her mother had been nonplussed.
"Self-discovery? What is that? Why doesn't he discover some girl? What is the matter with him?"
"Mama, it's very simple. He has had some trouble in the UK. He's now trying to forget all about it."
"Then let him come here. When he eats our cooking and becomes part of our family he'll forget everything. Some people will come over and make music. When he leaves here, he will have forgotten all of his English problems."
Her words were somewhat prophetic. When Kismet eventually went back to Durban, after that weekend, his whole life had changed forever.

The taxi had been steadily purring on while they covered mile after mile without incident. Then, without warning, the engine coughed once or twice and then went silent. Kismet looked aghast at the fuel indicator.
"Priya! I simply cannot believe it. The tank is empty. I forgot to fill it as I had planned to do. I'm so sorry! What an idiot I am."
"It's okay, Kismet. Luckily we're on a long downhill. We'll find a place. This isn't the middle of nowhere, you know."
"You're quite right. We'll find a suitable place soon and buy some fuel."
After coasting down the long slope for a while, Kismet suddenly spoke excitedly.
"This is terrible. We're already getting to the end of this downhill and we haven't seen a filling station yet. Well, do you see that farm gate over there? I think that we should stop there. It seems to be a well-to-do place. Anyway, it's really our last hope."
The he began to steer the car off the highway towards the gate.

They were able to unlatch the gates and to push one of them wide enough open to pass through. They carefully closed the gates again behind them. While they were walking along the sand road towards the farmhouse, they began to hear in the distance the faint but frightening rhythmic grunting of a large beast loping towards them.
As they came around a bend, they suddenly saw a huge dog with fiery red eyes blazing at them. Saliva was drooling out of its open mouth. It looked more like a wild predatory animal than a dog. It seemed to have the name "killer" written across its furrowed brow.
It immediately began to approach them to the accompaniment of a low but fearsome growling. Priya and Sushmita quickly ran and stood behind Kismet. He softly whispered to her: "I thought that it is wrong to stand behind someone like I did in the Maharani. Now you're doing the same thing."
"Stop that, Kismet. There's no time for that kind of talk. Look at that monster. Do something. You're the man, after all. Didn't they teach you self-defence at Oxford?"
"Wait a minute, I did learn something over there. It was in a movie house. Watch this, don't move please. I need to concentrate."

He took a step forward and then knelt down on one knee. Slowly he extended his left hand out towards the animal. His hand was clenched except for his index and little fingers. They were stretched out and pointing towards the dog. What happened then was a strange and surrealistic event. Time seemed to stand still. Not a single leaf, nor a blade of grass moved. Nothing existed but the man and beast. It was a cosmic confrontation.
What happened in the next minute or two mesmerised the two women. The animal, seeing the hand gesture, had immediately stopped dead still in its tracks and had begun to tilt its head to one side. It had developed a quizzical frown on its forehead.
The dog had become incredibly quiet and had then even begun to whimper. It lowered its body to the ground and submissively crawled up to Kismet. With its now rather sad looking eyes, it appeared to be pleading with Kismet to stroke its head. When Kismet actually touched the dog's forehead with his two still extended fingers, the dog's eyes softened and began to reflect total love and devotion.
Kismet turned around to look at Priya. Her mouth was open in astonishment. She held a hand to each side of her face. Sushmita was just as surprised.
"Come, you two, it seems to be okay now. Let's walk on, but don't do anything unusual, please."
Priya looked at him and the dog in great disbelief. With some suspicion she and Sushmita walked next to Kismet but on the side opposite to the dog.

Eventually they reached the farmhouse and knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall, well built and sun-tanned man. He looked at them first and then all around. To his surprise he could not see their car. He looked at them and then at the dog. He was obviously deeply confused.
"How did you get here?"
"Sir, we walked to here from the main gate. You see, we ran out of fuel."
"And this is my dog? Is this my killer watchdog? His name is ‘Assassin', by the way. Look at him, he's ignoring me and looking at you with those big adoring eyes."
"We didn't do much, Sir. I can assure you that."
"Oh, come on. I can see that you're Indian. Did you use some guru magic? Did someone who sleeps on a bed of nails give you a magic potion? You can tell me, you know."
"Well, it was nothing like that at all. This is all that I did."

He demonstrated how he had extended the two outer fingers towards the dog. As he did so, Assassin whimpered in sublime delight and rolled over onto its back waiting to have his stomach scratched.
"Man, where did you learn that trick? Somewhere in the East? In Nepal or Tibet?"
"No, Sir. I saw it in a movie called Crocodile Dundee."
The man stared unbelievingly at Kismet and then at the two women. Then he burst out laughing. He put his arm around Kismet's shoulder.
"Man! That's the best story that I've heard for a long time. There is my Assassin, my Ninja dog, lying there with his chin on your foot! It's incredible... but I'm afraid his watchdog career is over. I can see all so clearly. He'll never ever be vicious again. His hormones have evaporated."
"Anyhow, come inside and have some tea. It's not your fault."

After tea and some happy conversation it became time for the trio to move on.
"Well, I've lost a great watchdog, but I've enjoyed your company."
"May I ask you something? When you come again, please don't get out of your car at the gate. Wait for me. I'll come and fetch you there. I can't afford to lose another watchdog!"
He gave them a five-litre can full of fuel and took them in his 4x4 to the farm gate. After a final round of joking, laughing and greetings, he bade them farewell and soon the orange taxi was once again on its way to Pietermaritzburg.