Rainbow

“Paron, your papers! Excuse me Paron!” was yelling a young man running after him.
Mr. Khachikyan was startled when someone touched his elbow. Walking on Tumanyan Street with his head down, he hadn't been aware that he'd dropped his file under his arm. He tried to lip-read what the man was telling him. He took the papers and nodded his head in gratitude.

Once a well known and respected professor of Physics at Yerevan State University, is now just a regular old man walking alone. He had lost his hearing almost entirely.
He would have never imagined himself to feel this alone. His house was always cheerful and full of fellow professors and students. His wife would always be prepared to have guests at their house on any day. That is why he avoided staying at home. He felt lonely and gloomy. All his days were the same. The routine was killing him slowly. And since he had started losing his hearing, he felt life to be colorless and tasteless.
He didn’t have any place to go, he was just walking aimlessly. The streets of Yerevan had become his only sanctuary, where he felt comfortable and familiar. Consumed in his own world, Mr. Khachikyan was remembering his children who had all left Armenia. They didn’t telephone him anymore, but he got letters from them now and then with pictures of his grandchildren. He refused to leave the country and go live with any of them. The “pink city of Yerevan” has always been his home.
It started to rain heavily. Not having an umbrella, he stood at the gate of a building to be sheltered. He felt something was pulling at his trousers. He looked down to see a stray puppy. it was looking directly into his eyes as if it knew him.
He bent over, neglecting the pain in his knees, to pet the puppy. “Hey little fella, are you also alone?”

The puppy seemed to enjoy being petted; it rolled over on his back and let Mr. Khachikyan scratch its tummy. Standing up, the professor had a big smile on his face.
“Let’s get you something to drink,” he said and walked into a grocery store.
Wagging his tail in joy, the puppy waited for him at the entrance. As if he knew that the old man was going to feed him. When it stopped raining, Mr. Khachikyan was getting ready to go his way. But the puppy had already made up his mind; he was walking playfully next to him.
Without a second thought, Mr. Khachikyan took the puppy into his arms mumbling something into its ear.
As he was walking home, the colors became brighter although the sun was hiding behind the clouds.
"I know, I'll call you Rainbow!"