wanted to eat some fruit, and sometimes he would sit on the veranda looking sulky and bored as he stared at the Sunset at Marina beach- the real view, not the painting lying forlorn in one corner, ruined by streaks of hardening papaya. Zigzag never spoke to anyone, though everyone tried several times, and in several languages, to speak to him kindly. He only slept. And snored.
On the seventh day, Dr.Somu’s e-mail arrived. It was, as Dr.Krishnan predicted, ridiculously simple. It read: Love, Somu. P.S.
If you’re finding it difficult, ask my cook Visu to keep Zigzag. I’ve never heard Zigzag snore. In fact, Zigzag hardly ever sleeps. ‘That does it,’ said Mrs.Krishnan.
‘Find Visu! I will not keep Zigzag here another minute!’ ‘Calm down, dear, I’m leaving for my clinic now. Can’t it wait till…’ ‘No, it’s now!’ Mrs.Krishnan was adamant. ‘I’ve invited some friends and are experts to come home and choose my paintings for the exhibition.
This feathered, snoring monster will drive us all mad!’ ‘Come on then, Zigzag,’ called Dr.Krishnan nervously, wondering how he would locate Somu’s cook, Visu. ‘Er, why don’t you wait in the car, Zigzag?’ he suggested. When they reached his clinic, his heart sinking at the thought of Zigzag’s ear-shatteringly loud snore adding to the din of the sobs and shrieks produced by the tiny patients waiting for him. But Ziggy-Zagga-King-of-the-Tonga was not accustomed to being kept waiting and was already making his way to the clinic where he perched himself on the nurse’s reception table.
‘Don’t you dare sleep!’ Dr.Krishnan warned Zigzag fiercely as he went towards his room. He had hardly walked through the swinging half-door that separated his clinic from the waiting room when he heard a strange voice say, ‘You there in the blue T-shirt, don’t jump on the sofa. And you in the red dress, don’t swing on the curtain.’ It was Zigzag’s voice, clear and commanding. There was pin-drop silence in the room as everyone waited, open- mouthed, for Zigzag’s next sentence.
Dr.Krishnan was amazed! Gone was Zigzag’s bored and grumpy expression. Instead the bird