…up in his bedroom, he had his head buried in a mystery book he found at the junk shop — for over three hours straight. That’s when Mum called out from downstairs and asked him to feed their dog, Sala, a bowl of boiled chicken in rice from the kitchen. Enthralled by the story, Oddy absentmindedly ran down to the kitchen, took out the tray of corned beef from the oven instead and fed it to his dog before rushing back to his room to carry on with his reading. Sala lapped the food up and went off to her…

By Malcolm Fernandes