Funday Times

Jimmy's Sixth Sense
By Lakshika Weragoda
December, 2004, the villagers in Samanala Gama were in a festive mood. There were lots of people who celebrated Christmas and were waiting to celebrate the dawn of another new year. It is the time of year Sri Lankans living abroad come to their homeland on holidays.

Samanala Gama is a very beautiful village, which is full of natural beauty such as paddy fields like a green carpet, evergreen forests, lovely rivers, streams and waterfalls. In the village, there were mostly poor people who lived with great difficulty to earn money for their living. Many of the men did farming and worked as carpenters and also their women were self-employed, like in weaving mats with reeds and making handicrafts with the materials collected from their own village.

But there were some rich people too in the village. They do not live in the village most of the time, but in cities like Colombo and even abroad. During their stay at various places their holiday homes in the village are looked after by a caretaker, also a person from the same village.

In the village, in a large house, there was a family consisting of a husband and wife but unfortunately they had no children. The husband was
Mr. Wickramarachchi, who was a rich businessman. He was the owner of many companies and garment factories in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries, like India, Maldives and Singapore. His wife Anula always accompanied him wherever he went on his business occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Wick- ramarachchi usually spend the December vacation in their motherland with their parents, relatives and friends. So, this December vacation also they came to Sri Lanka and from the airport, straight away they went to their village Samanala Gama to enjoy the natural beauty and relax in the beautiful environment.

On their way, suddenly Anula told him of getting a small puppy to remove their loneliness. Mr. Wickramar- achchi also liked the suggestion because then they could love the puppy as one of their own children. When they got to their holiday home, Anula called Siripala, the man who looked after their home when they were away. He usually wears a sarong and has a little bit long cloth like an old towel but no shirt. His three children lived from the money their father and mother earn. When Anula called him, Siripala thought that his master would give him money for looking after their house for the last so many months. So he rain to his master.

"Mahattaya, did you call me?"
"Ah! Yes, Siripala. I want to know whether you can help us".
"Help! From me, amazing! What's the help Mahattaya?"
"Siripala, I want to get a small puppy to this home, but it should be well bred. Can you find such a puppy?"

"Ah, I can do it very easily, Mahattaya. Tomorrow, I'll bring a puppy. We have three puppies in our hut but with our children it's difficult to feed all of them these days".

Thereafter, he was also given Rs. 10,000 for the services he had done during the last few months. He was very happy to receive such a large amount of money. So he went back to his home thinking about the things he could do with the money.

As Siripala promised, he brought the puppy to his master's house on the next day. Mr. Wickramarachchi and Anula were very happy to see such a lovely puppy who was brown and white in colour. When Anula took it into her hands the little doggy tried to lick her fingers. So when Siripala got ready to go back, again the master gave him
Rs. 1,000 for giving them a lovely puppy.

They treated their little puppy very well, giving him food and care. They cuddled and petted the puppy like a child. They didn't want to tie up the dog or put it in a kennel because they thought the doggy's freedom would be lost. So they decided to keep the dog with them inside the house. They cleaned the dog well so that small insects like ticks won't lie on his body. After sometime, they decided to call the doggy 'Jimmy'. Jimmy was like their child and was very faithful to them. When someone unfamiliar came, he would bark and bark till his master saw the visitor.

Mr. Wickramarachchi and Anula promised to visit during Christmas, their closest friend Nimali who lives in Galle. On December 26, at about 8 a.m., when they got ready to visit Nimali, Jimmy showed an unfamiliar behaviour and made an unusual noise as if he was in pain, which they hadn't seen or heard before. They were worried and did not want to leave their pet in that state. They decided to take the dog to the vet nearby in the next town and postpone departure to Galle.

They soon put Jimmy into their van and in about half an hour they were at the vet. When they got their turn, they showed Jimmy to the doctor and told him about the unfamiliar behaviour. The doctor examined Jimmy thoroughly but he said that there was no problem with the dog. So they paid him the fees and were happy to know their Jimmy was alright. But they were very upset that their visit to Nimali's was delayed. When they returned home, and opened the door, they heard the telephone ringing. Anula soon ran to the telephone and talked about something miserable. Then, after some minutes, she kept the receiver down. Mr. Wickramarachchi noticed this and walked towards her. Jimmy was also with him.
"Why Anula, what's the matter? Who phoned?, he asked.
"It was Nimali, our friend".
"Ah! What did she say? Is she angry with us?"
"No, no, Wickram, massive tidal waves have devastated the coastal areas of Sri Lanka, including Galle."

"What? Tidal waves!"
"Yes, Nimali phoned to see whether we're okay She thought that we have left home and were on our way to Galle".
"So has anything happened to Nimali and the rest?"
"No, they are okay but most of their friends were caught in it".
"It's good that their house is not by the sea".

"Wickram, it's because of Jimmy that we were saved. If Jimmy didn't show a strange behaviour, I can't even think what would have happened to us".
"You are correct Anu. I have heard that animals have a sixth sense or instinct by which they have often saved lives of men. Because Jimmy is very faithful to us and we love him so much, it had done this".
Just after he said it, Jimmy looked at them and gave a low, sweet murmur.

Then both
Mr. Wickramarachchi and Anula hugged their little doggy to give their thanks.
When they switched on the TV, they saw how the tidal waves, - later they were called 'tsunami' - have destroyed a large number of people and their property. They saw how the people shouted in the water asking to save them. They were very, very sad to see these unfortunate incidents. December 26, 2004 and their little doggy, Jimmy will be unforgettable in their lives.

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