The Unspoken Words I Story By Aavya, 14, New Delhi

The Unspoken Words

There was a time when parents lifted their eyelids and the children very well comprehended the meaning of their unspoken words.

One fine day, a father was waiting for his cup of tea at around 10 a.m. The son was in the bathroom bathing and was in a hurry to reach the office. He came rushing out of the bathroom, put on his clothes, kept the tea pan on the stove, and assembled his belongings for the office. The father kept asking for tea, tea, tea, but the son, more into his life, kept ignoring him many times, until finally, at 11, he gave his father the ‘long-awaited tea’ and rushed out of the house to his office in his car. The father recalled from the past that when his boy needed milk before his school, his father would first give him milk and then do the rest of the things. The father, though sad, could do nothing but tolerate it. 

The mother died when giving birth to the boy, so the father took care of the boy all by himself. During an accident, while coming from his office, he got his legs fractured and since then he has been in a wheelchair. The father even had lung cancer, which has the lowest survival rate. He was a chain smoker in his youth. His son, who was still single, did his father’s work and aided him, but now he hardly ever can take out time for his dad.

Years passed on like this and the duo was still not close. Whenever the father asked his son to prepare his tea, his son would raise his eyelids and his father had to lower his eyes and had to stop demanding his tea. The son’s birthday was on the 24th of October. His son was talking to his friend regarding the gifts he would want to receive. His son asked for a bike as a present, as he did not always want to ride in a car, but his friend declined the bike. His father overheard the conversation and he called up a person and made an arrangement for the same.

One week later, on the 24th of October, his father was admitted to the hospital and he received a huge gift parked outside his house. It was a brand new bike, which was expensive and was a new model released at that time. There was a note on the key of the bike: ‘Beta, this is the gift I wanted to give you. I overheard your conversation with your friend. Beta, I could only afford this gift. Have fun, beta!’ His son was really happy and went to see his father in the hospital. The doctor asked for the treatment money and if it was not received and if treatment was not done, he would die. His son rushed back home and went to see the savings bank, where 2 lakhs were saved, which was all spent. His son remembered that the bike must have been this costly and the money must have been spent in the present. His father, during this period, died as the ventilator was now empty and the oxygen was all consumed. 

His son bellowed and wept and cried at the top of his voice and could never pay his father’s favors and was repenting for all his sins done.

Story by Aavya Shrivastava

***

Photo Credit – Copyright Free, Royalty Free images from Pexels