All of a King's Men

The place had all the remnants of a colonial flavor. Yet it was one where the king was never visible much.It was all the king's men if there was movement.

The first time I saw the King's men I was confounded with the pomposity and the array of stars competing with pillars, pillars with all other possible structures.

Initially there were some who would question me like I was some most wanted criminal.

As days sped a stranger's kindness helped my restless head survive the strange din.

And soon my life at the table became like the cartoon role of Mowgli in "The Jungle book".

I spent my time there belonging nowhere and to nobody,  most times lost in savouring food, sometimes watching their ways and curling up my tail if my watching got noticed.

In a sense, all the king's men looked alike--- Trained docile automaton, hierarchy's puppet, order following and giving, taut torso, erect chin ,tilt of head held high and polished like fine eggy selves.

But then observed closer they were all types in their own right.

The first I observed was the stranger. He had a rare sense of kindness and his ways were so gentle that it surprised he was unscathed by such callous training. His eyes held both strength of character and an intense humane self. He seemed a man of commitment, determination and balance.

The second was the man with  a grey wisp. A grey wisp that he concealed at times just as much he concealed mischief in his eyes. He was someone who could smile back a smile even at  a public event that required us to stand serious. He was a man of few words but when he spoke it would be to tease. The stranger and the grey wisp man had warm ways of being nice to new comers.  I knew the name of the man with a grey wisp in full.  I read it forwards and backwards on his apparel till he glared. He answered my queries like I was some nursery student. He refused to give me grown up replies.

Then there was the ship man who was I guess meticulous about dining.He would keep speaking of the rate of sweet desserts, maybe he was responsible for the dined. He would keep judging to the boys the right utensil and the right dish. He was good, not once would he make  me uncomfortable. He just seemed to know the glutton needs to be left at peace. He treated me like I was Mowgli.

Then there were the air plane men. The most friendly of them was the one who ordered an omelet to my plate.He was good.

Then there was silent sage among them mostly in his orange's overalls. He had a ready made smile and a way of keeping quiet even when others chattered away. But he seemed to be silently individualistic.

But then there was also this air plane man who was rather  a terror man. Once I heard him use words like kidnap and almost roar at the boy for fetching him water. Whenever I saw him I would scoot mentally and physically and  gobbled up my food faster than I should.  He was good but then he seemed to be a bully especially when he wore the dark glasses.

Then there was the tank man with a cabbage like nose who made faces when nobody saw.

And then there was musical chair who had eyes that were ever shining for some activity. He was keen on having a chair next to his own breed.

I was most often lost in my own world. And they were all good.In fact they were my only sense of human world through my initial days though we were never properly introduced.

They dined the king's men and let me and my self  have the space and time to live my strange ways.