The path before me was straight and linear, where thousands of men and women, throughout the ages, walked and marched, forging a line and a trail by crushing the grass, the mud, the sand, and the stone that was in their way. My mind and body, heavily gripped by the dark and worrisome thoughts of my younger brother, marched forward on this same path, where equally split on either side of the forged path were the carts, whose vendors came from each corner of the valley to sell their day's labour. With each passage of breath the crowd upon this trail were increasing, as every household wished to buy their essentials before the sun would reach above their heads. And my legs, with the pace of a tortoise, following along this line for twenty-three paces, dismissing each vendor on either side of me, continued to marched forward, hoping to exit this street.

  But as usual, barely had my legs advanced another pace, something soft began to hobble and wobble from the opposite end. And seeing that creature and its struggle, with the satchel kept beside my left leg, my eyes gazed at the brown pup whose last leg and paw twisted in mid-air, saliva leaked through its caramel canine teeth, broken eyes similar to my own, gazing back at me, advanced itself towards me.

  Instantaneously following that action, my body lowering itself on one knee. While my left freed palm slowly caressed the creature, wiping away the dust from its skin. My right, plucking the creature, raised its form before my eyes.

  Strangely enough, after our gazes met, without uttering a single understandable word between us, the worthy and noblier creature before me, closed its eyes. And that was sufficient, because lord and lady time is always cruel to the noblest of creatures. And this creature, that was gripped by my fingers is the most nobliest and holiest out of all the men and women I know, so as both of us stared at each other, amidst the hustle and bustle of the valley, fully engulfed in our own world, and in our own universe, we began to truly live and understand one another.

  But as usual, one cannot deny the natural order of things, because lord and lady time always requests its due, so we stared at each other till the eyelids of the creature slowly blinked, drawing us back to our reality.

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  And our reality is harsh. It is sometimes borderline brutal, so after my palm dropped the creature to the ground, and as the creature stood on its own three legs once again. Exhaling a breath once, lifting my palm from the creature, my fingers tore the piece of meat from the satchel, and placed it before the creature. Barely did an instant pass, gripping the meat with its small canines, the creature before me, turning its back to me and the market, scurried away into the hole that it just came from.

  Seeing its departure, part of me was glad, but a deeper part of me began to heavily concern itself, because its gaze told me that it too was on the verge of losing its noble strength. But as usual there was nothing that could be done about it, because such is the natural order of things, so accepting such harsh reality is the only way forward for me. Thus, inhaling a breath, my left arm plucking the satchel of the meat from the ground, rose.

  But this did not end their, as this was far from over, because the instant that my body had risen itself, there was another tragedy waiting for me, because glued to the big wooden pole facing me was a poster.

  After gazing this poster, barely could the meaning behind this poster could be processed, without any warning, my right fingers gripped itself into a tightened fist, my jaw clenched tighter, and deadlier, making my body rise and fell, my chest and shoulder even more so, as sweat leaked through my back my arms and my neck, my right fist began to unclench and clench itself, as anger surged through me.

  White hot anger. Stronger than a poison. Fiercer than a sword. Powerful than a hammer. Sharper than a knife and a dagger. Invincible and impenetrable beast of an anger, that pumped through my heart. Consuming all. Devouring all. And neutralizing all that was within me. Resulting in the blood within me to boil, and rattle the cage where it was deeply chained, all the while, veins slightly leaked through my arms.

  Because seeing that image of my younger brother glued to the pole brought forth within me such cataclysmic anger that if I were not so in a public space. And if I were not so in a public domain, I would have torn my tunic, beaten my chest, screamed and screamed, howling to my heart's content.

  Such was the presence of this anger that flooded within me.

  Like a hydra, it draws forth from my wounded pain and resurrects itself-again and again, and again. And this time, too, was not an exception, as it was moments away from tearing my composure to shreds. And it would have succeeded in doing so, if a voice purer and nobler than that of the sunflower seeds did not disturb and disrupt my consciousness.

  "That's the fourth one this year. And this time, it's your little brother."