A Drowning Rat
One day, Rony the Rat was happily loitering around the river bank. Accidentally, he slipped from the rock and fell into the river.
It was a freefall. His back was facing the water and his mouth was wide open. Wind was knocked out of his lungs. His legs were stretched out in front of him as if to embrace the receding sky. He surrendered himself completely to nature, awaiting his fate as it comes.
Rony somersaulted multiple times as he fell into the river. The soft plopping noise melted into the burbles of the water playing a symphony on its own.
He slowly sank into its depths with his eyes closed. Suddenly, there was a loud rush of water bubbles in his ears. With a jerk, he opened his eyes. Focused, he got hold of his shape, and kicked the water with all his might to push himself up. He rose to the surface bursting from the water with a gasp.
From the next moment he started swimming to keep himself afloat. He could see the wall of the river at a short distance. He tried hard to swim in that direction. But, the current was pushing him in the opposite direction.
Rony tried again and again. Every time he moved an inch closer, the current pushed him back. But he kept trying for several minutes.
The water was too strong and deep for Rony’s tiny frame. It was getting darker as the sun was about to set. Rony’seyes teared as a cry for help, but nobody was around to hear his silent plea. His head was spinning faster by the second and hope was fading like the setting sun.
He tried to put his head out of water, but to no avail. His limbs were getting stiff. The water appeared to him ice cold, and he was going numb inside and out.
Exhausted, Rony finally gave up. “I am going to die,” he thought. His life flashed before his eyes: the images of his mother, the cozy burrows, blackberries, and he playing with his brother Tony in lush green fields.
He made peace with his situation and let himself be swept away by the current.
After a few seconds, his felt being tossed onto a hard substance, a floating log had suddenly appeared near him.
“My, my, look at this!” Rony had the biggest surprise of life as he came to terms with the reality.
All the while Rony had not seen this log floating behind him as he was trying to push himself forward, and had never looked at behind.
Rony hopped onto the log. He could not believe that he had survived. He was drenched to the bone. But had no energy to even shake himself. He just patiently balanced on the log till it reached the opposite bank.
As Rony jumped onto the rock to safety, he learnt the very important lesson of life: ‘Opportunity might come from the direction which you least expect .’
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