I was still angry with Ammi but afraid for Coco. What if Coco was chased by that big angry dog from down the street? I remember how that nasty dog once hurt Coco so badly that my dog walked with a limp for a whole month. Coco was a city-dog, he wouldn’t be able to manage on his own.

I went to look for him under the bridge which was our favourite place to sit and relax after a long day of playing. Coco and I would sit there and watch the sky change colours - sometimes the colours of the sindoor that Mrs. Apeksha wore, then to the pink of butterflies in the park and to startling purple, the colour of dark grapes eventually turning a somber black. We knew the black meant that we had to head home. Everything seemed black now without Coco.

I searched for my dog for what I felt like hours. I felt so tired that I just sat down beside the road. I noticed then that I was sitting near the statue in front of our street. The stone statue was layered by hundreds of vermillion tikkas and looked as if it had been here for hundreds of years. Mumma always came here to talk to the statues about the things happening around us. She once took me along and I heard her tell the statue-god about the unkind things that the neighbours said about us. And after telling him about all our troubles, Mumma seemed happier and on the way home she even bought me some ice-cream - a sure sign that things were going to be okay. I decided to talk to the statue-god about Shiro too, maybe he could solve our problems.

“Coco could have gotten lost and maybe he is asking for my help from wherever he is”, I told the statue. “Please bring him back, I’m willing to do anything. I won’t eat ice creams for months. I’ll do all my homework on time, I’ll listen to Mumma and Ammi even when they scold me and Coco for not coming home on time.” I went on and on and promised to give up all my bad habits and become the best boy like the ones in the books Ammi reads to me.

I kept my eyes closed for a long time. And hoped that when I opened them, I would see Coc running towards me out of the darkness like a shooting star. He would jump on me and lick my face. And I would scold him for being gone for so long.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw only Mumma standing in front of me. She did hug me and ask me where I had been and that they were all so worried. I did feel bad for worrying Mumma and Ammi but I missed Coco. Why hadn’t the statue-god brought him back?