Moosy or the Tiger

The title of this post reminds me of a story we had in 8th std. It was titled Lady or the Tiger and it had a semi-barbaric princess in it, as my good friend Ashwini reminds me often. But, this tale has nothing barbaric about it. It is about two of my stuffed dolls, Moosy the Moose and Jaga the Tiger.
Jaga the Tiger was pretty much in the dumps when my mother found him. He was sitting sadly waiting for someone to take him home. My mother, the kind soul that she was, did just that. I was struck with him, the first time I saw him, all furry and innocent looking. I was compelled to take him home with me, that he was a lucky charm being none of the least important reasons. This last was proved by the fact that whenever my mother had him in her lap, she beat me at rummy.
So Jaga came to University of Michigan, all stuffed up with importance. Since then he has developed quite a character. His eyes seem to take on all kinds of expressions, from naughty to smiling to disapproving to angry to even smirking. Pretty mischievous he is too. Keeps trying to open my laptop to drool at the cat that comes on Microsoft Word. Oftentimes, he keeps staring at her and she goes off to sleep hanging upside down. One would say, she wasn't head over heels in love with anybody. But poor Jaga, waits impatiently for me to turn on my computer. Reminds me of the lines from You've got mail. For Jaga it would be, "I turn on my computer. Wait impatiently as Microsoft Word loads and my breath catches in my throat when I see my little cat jump in from infinity." Poor Jaga....
Meanwhile my birthday came by and a darling little person gave me this darling little moose for a present. I unimaginatively named him Moosy. Although, some creative soul can make a poem about him thus,
Little Mister Moosy
Sat on a Kangaroosy
And rode all the way to the world's end
Along came a boy
Made Moosy a toy
And gave it to his girl best friend

Now Moosy has this nasty habit of repeating whatever is told to him. He has a ear named record and mouth named play and wickedly funny things go in and out. He started out fine, singing "Happy Birthday to you" to me. But before the end of the day, he was calling my friend a donkey. That it was mostly true is besides the point. To prevent him getting ripped off by an angry friend, I brought him to my room and hoped that things would be calmer now. That's where I was wrong.

It was war at first sight. Jaga and Moosy each decided to try and kill the other. Considering the fact that neither of them was alive, this proved to be a bit difficult. They then took to scaring each other. Moosy won this round since, Jaga has had a sheltered and protected life. He is afraid of everything from computer mice to blinking lights to sleeping in the closet. Jaga decided to make the next round a roaring competition which he was confident of winning, but Moosy played a trick on him. Very politely made him roar first, recorded it and played it back . I never saw a Tiger get so scared. Now Jaga is convinced that Moosy ate a tiger and he (Jaga) is going to be next. He lives in constant fear whenever he is awake, which means never since nothing can stop him from sleeping soundly. Moosy, of course, has a solution to that. He has lately taken to sneaking up behind Jaga and biting him hard in the tail. Poor Jaga, gets a nasty shock. It was only after my threats of taking out his battery that Moosy agreed to "play nice". A kind of armed peace has reigned ever since. Let's see how long the cold war lasts.