The Dead Mother
- Part 2 -

By Dr. Konsam Suken Singh *

29th November (Way back)

Tom came back, as usual, from the kitchen-shopping with a handful bag of vegetables and other kitchen items. The moment Ton kept the bag on the kitchen table and went to washroom before he arranged the different items in their respective places in the kitchen rack, his mom started opening the bag with her weak shaky hands to try arranging the different kitchen items in their respective places as Ton usually did.

Ton (from inside the washroom) – "No...no..mom, please leave it..I will do it myself;..otherwise, you would drop them on the floor and I would find harder time to pick them up and arranging them again."

In spite of Ton's pity request, his mom lifted the polythene bag containing the one kilogram of sugar which Ton bought amongst the other kitchen items from the handful bag and tried to pour the sugar in the sugar jar in the kitchen rack. No sooner did she open the lid of the sugar jar than the polythene bag containing the sugar got slipped from her weakly gripped hands and fell on the floor dispersing widely each grain of the sugar on the floor. Then, came the instant annoyed relief from Ton with a reflexive spontaneous shouting,

Ton – " What is this, mom ! I told you always not to get meshed up with me like this...now you are doubling my exhaustion rather than helping me out of it."

With these words, Ton started busying himself picking up each grain of the sugar from the floor.

Mom (slowly) – " I want to help you son,..but this old age makes the hell out of me all the time."

Ton - " I know,..its time to take rest for you now,..that is why I told you to leave those things to me;..anyway, it is ok,..please go and take rest on the bed, I will wake you up when the dinner is ready."

On these words, his mom went quietly to her bed which is next to the kitchen with her slowly stepping gait. Ton just looked up from the floor and lost in himself wondering pitily - 'HOW' his aged mother would have felt in her mind in this situation of her old and weak age because he knew that at a time she was such a hard working lady that everyone in the area had talked about and imitated her hard work and sincerity. 'And now, just imagine, she can't even walk in her normal pace!!!'

With these thoughts wondering in his mind, Ton finished cooking dinner with the usual 2-3 daily dinner items. As usual again, Ton finished having his dinner much before his mother though both of them started together because his mother had to take very slowly; and while his mother was still on her meals, he had to start cleaning the utensils so that by the time his mother finished her dinner he could round up with the chores.

Ton – "Now, please take your medicines before you go to bed,..and here is your hot water bag. "

Holding the hot water bag, his old mother went slowly to her bed quietly without uttering a single word and put off the room light silently. Ton knew the reason why his mother kept quite, ...she felt bad and sorry of herself for not able to help him (Ton) in the household chores at least a bit also and at the same she was helpless because of her weak old age. Ton came to his room and continued with his pending office works on his laptop.

It was just about 30 minutes later since the clock on the wall had struck 11 PM. A cool breeze suddenly blew over his sleepy eyes through the half opened windows of his bedroom. Suddenly, some remorse feelings swept over his mind and heart, Ton could not understand 'how and why !!' He slowly got up from the chair leaving behind his work on his laptop and went to his mother's bedroom which was just next to his bedroom. The door was only partially opened (as usual) from inside, so he further opened it little more very slowly not to disturb his sleeping mother and went directly to his mother's bed. His old mother was sleeping like an innocent kid with the blanket widely scattered around her body. When Ton pulled the blanket up to her neck, he suddenly saw a dried track of tears on her mother's left cheek. The remorse feeling in Ton grew stronger when he saw it that he could no more help himself but to shed a silent tear out of his control. The next moment, he silently crippled down beside his mother's bed and gently rubbed dry the tear on his mother's cheek with his own fingers and lost himself in his own thoughts for a while sitting in the silent darkness of the room beside his mother's bed....

             '...oh mom, whatever and however old you are...you know, I love you,

             ...today you can't even walk to the normal pace,..but I know at a time you used to run energetically here and there with the same legs in search for a living for all of us,

             ...today you can't even lift a small thing with your weak shaky hands,..but I know it was the same hand which hold my finger when I first learnt to walk,

             ...today you can't even look up straight with your weak neck,..but I know it was the same neck which carried heavy loads on your head to struggle for life,

             ...today you can't even bend your back properly,..but I know it was the same back on which you carried me up and down to my school when I was a kid,

             So, why you shed tears today when I am here for you. At times, I get angry with you, I shout at you, I quarrel with you,..but that does not mean that I don't love you or I lose respect for you just because you depend on me today; ...rather, it is just because I want you to take rest and comply with what I request to you because I love you.



Authors' Note:
" We often come across and read about many 'science fictions' which blends science with human beings and thereby reproducing an imaginable possibility to the human lives. This short story is not a science fiction in its real sense but a sort of something in that line - a 'spiritual fiction', which connects the Spirits of our Souls and our human lives. It is just an imaginary theme from the thoughts of the writer, nothing more than that."



Authors' Note:
" We often come across and read about many 'science fictions' which blends science with human beings and thereby reproducing an imaginable possibility to the human lives. This short story is not a science fiction in its real sense but a sort of something in that line - a 'spiritual fiction', which connects the Spirits of our Souls and our human lives. It is just an imaginary theme from the thoughts of the writer, nothing more than that."

To be continued...