Whiteness slowly drifted above the shaking reeds of the river side. It was the owl whose soft, broad wings appeared as if a plane about to land at an unknown destination. Shadows lifted from waters and moved up the trunk of the trees. The wind was blowing northwardly which made the stars dance in the sky.
The mist was rising, grey and silent like a ghost. The owl had spotted some movements on the broken trunk and flew towards it. Twilight over sand and water, the moon shining above, the heron slowly parching on the glittering waters. A cloud like a rabbit drifted across the moon. The tree lay black over the glimmering river. One rainy night, when salmon and trout kept swimming against the gushing water, the tree had groaned and rocked whole night. At last it fell into the river when sun was rising. Now, a small mouse kept moving up and down the broken tree-trunk. The white light of the moon reflected on its brown furry body.
The riverside looked deserted. It was now in peace. The residue of morning terror of the zoo-break had now vanished. Suddenly the owl gave a hearkening cry, which frightened the mouse. It stood still in terror while the owl clutched it in a foot and flew away towards the moon.
The song of the river murmured and dissolved few distance away. The water kept flowing, carrying the broken twigs and worn out leaves till it bend and dropped into the sea. A layer of foam created by the spill floated atop. Clouds hung low perhaps meeting the endless water at horizon. From where the moon’s reflection fell on the sea, a wooden raft danced on the water ripples as it moved forward.
On it rested an otter, a North Pole sea otter to be more specific, tired and wet, drifting towards an unknown journey.
-Excerpt from ' THE ZOO-BREAK ADVENTURES '
' THE ZOO-BREAK ADVENTURES' by Saptarshi Basu has been officially accepted by TOONZ ANIMATION , a leading animation company for Developing the novel into an Animated Television Series...
