Chapter 8

Chapter Eight : The ₹500 Robbery

By this point, we already knew that Topsy was capable of turning the smallest thing into a full family event.

But one day, he went a little too far.

Or perhaps, according to Topsy, he simply found himself a new toy.

A ₹500 note.

It was Nani's money.

She had left it on the bed for a moment, completely unaware that someone else had already noticed it.

Topsy was nearby.

He looked at the note.

The note lay there peacefully.

Topsy looked at it again.

And then—

GRAB!

Before anyone could react, he picked it up in his mouth and ran.

For one second, nobody understood what had happened.

Then Nani saw him.

“Topsy!”

And that was the beginning of the robbery.

Topsy took off around the house like a rocket.

The ₹500 note was hanging from his mouth, and his little legs were moving as fast as they could.

Nani immediately started shouting,

“Stop him! He has taken my five hundred!”

We all started chasing him.

But Topsy?

He was having the time of his life.

He ran around the house as if we had suddenly organized a race especially for him.

Someone would almost catch him—

and he would turn.

Someone would block one side—

and he would change direction.

The more we chased him, the faster he seemed to become.

And the funniest part was his face.

He didn't look frightened.

He didn't look guilty.

He looked happy.

As if he had just won the greatest prize in the history of dogs.

Meanwhile, Nani was getting more and more desperate.

“Topsy! Give it back!”

But Topsy wasn't interested in negotiations.

He had apparently entered his criminal era.

The ₹500 note belonged to Nani, but for those few minutes, Topsy had decided it belonged to him.

We kept running after him until, finally, we managed to catch the little thief.

Then came the difficult part.

Getting the money back.

We carefully took the note from his mouth.

And there it was.

Nani's ₹500.

Safe.

A little chewed, perhaps, but rescued.

Nani was furious.

She scolded Topsy properly.

And Topsy stood there listening.

At least, he appeared to be listening.

But there was absolutely no dramatic sadness on his face.

No regret.

No I'm sorry, Nani.

Nothing.

He just stood there looking at everyone as if he couldn't understand why his little adventure had suddenly ended.

Honestly, it was almost impossible not to laugh.

Here was this tiny dog who had just stolen money, started a chase around the entire house, caused Nani to shout at everyone to catch him, and now stood there looking completely innocent.

That was Topsy.

He could create chaos and then look at you as though you were the one making the situation unnecessarily complicated.

And somehow, this wasn't even the funniest part.

Nani was one of his favourite people.

She was the person he loved going on walks with.

Whenever we took him outside and Nani was walking behind us, Topsy would keep turning around to check where she was.

Sometimes he would even stop and wait for her.

If we handed the leash to Nani, he seemed perfectly happy.

He wanted her there.

He wanted to walk with her.

He wanted her company.

And yet, on this particular day, he had chosen to repay all that love by stealing her ₹500.

That was their relationship.

She scolded him.

He annoyed her.

She complained about him.

He followed her.

And underneath all of it was a love neither of them needed to explain.

Nani never showed her affection toward Topsy very openly.

She would often scold him because he was so naughty.

But Topsy didn't seem to mind.

He knew.

Somehow, he always knew.

And perhaps that's why, even after being caught with her money, he didn't seem worried that Nani would stop loving him.

He had probably already decided that tomorrow would be another day.

Another walk.

Another adventure.

Another opportunity to make everyone chase him.

And knowing Topsy, another opportunity to steal something that definitely wasn't his.

Looking back, I don't think he understood money at all.

To him, that ₹500 note wasn't valuable.

It wasn't even really a “note.”

It was simply something interesting that he could pick up and run away with.

And that was the magic of having Topsy around.

He could take something completely ordinary—

a piece of paper,

a walk,

a flower pot,

a ball of wool—

and somehow turn it into a memory that stayed with us.

That day, Topsy wasn't just a naughty dog.

For a few unforgettable minutes, he was the smallest, fastest, most shameless little robber our family had ever seen.

And Nani?

She never forgot that ₹500 robbery.