I WAS a little boy when we came into the 24/3 "Haunt". It was called so as.... you know what that story is overrated. I'll just continue with mine.
When I was in High school, I would use the backdoor of the Haunt to sneak into the forest behind the house. On one such day I went into the backyard to find a corpse of a wolf in the back. But there was something that just didn't make sense. The wolf seemed to be propped upon something. I called the butlers and eventually the police. As they approached the thing from beneath something, a cub it later dawned upon me ran from beneath into the greens. Just on a climb of 10 steps, he looked back upon its guardian atleast twice
I deferred from using the back entry for months or so. But one day, as I did I saw the cub, now developed and grown was sleeping or maybe mourning on the dreaded patch.
Scared as I was, I couldn't just move. I gathered some courage and pity and moved towards the cub. As if he needed a shoulder to cry upon he pounced on my feet. I don't like to admit I'm a coward but I did call for help at that time.
Generally, another cub would not have even returned to the place. However he wasn't a cub. And, he had returned. Every single evening upon dusk until the sun arrived.
Along came the day when my father was transferred to another place. It was years since the wolf was found and every day the cub would land on the backyard. I do not know why I liked to call him a cub. However, Cub was there even on the evening of our departure from the Haunt.
A thought came to my mind and I ran to the backyard with a sketch pad and my brushes. I sat there, perhaps for the first time in years. Cub did not budge a bit. For hours we shared the backyard by the moonlight.
My family had been looking for me for hours when I returned to the house. I entered the house, packed the canvas and slept like a baby.
It has been a year since that evening/night. The painting "Cub by the moonlight" was sold for 50,000 $. I still push my head backwards and ask for apologies for exploiting Cub's sorrow and wonder if he still stands guard to this day.