Family Short Story – Awaiting Miracle Chapter No 1.
Photo credit: anitapeppers from morguefile.com
Asim and his younger brother Abbas were returning from a grocery store from where they had bought few things, with the money they were given by a kind friend of their father to run their house. Time was tough and there was not enough money to be spent. Asim was dropped out of college because he could not afford to pay the fee.
On the way back home Allen was drowned in his thoughts, broken and grieved with thousand questions unanswered. Lost in his thoughts he was thinking about his mother who had always suffered but never complained, about his elder brother Jawad who was forced in an early age to work hard to earn living for the family, about his sister Naveen who could not wear new clothes and had to wear old clothes given by others and about the youngest of all siblings who even did not know about what was going on around. “Innocence is a real blessing sometime”
Abbas the youngest of them was in 6th grade thanks to the bounty of their foster grand mother who was paying for his school.
Who was to be blamed for all those sufferings, the head of the family Akhtar who was father of four children but was unable to take care of them, her wife Naz who could witness all the injustices and misdeeds by her husband but could not stop him, the harsh realities of life or God, the mighty one who could see every thing but did not help. Asim was in great pain and felt like his head is going to explode when suddenly Abbas interrupted and said ” Get up brother we have reached”.
There he was standing outside his home when the warming and comforting voice of his mother called out “who is there”
he replied “its me mom Asim” .
The door opened and there stood a woman in her late fifties withered and rusted by many storms she was passed through but still with a smile on her face. The warmth in her words relieved his pains and he felt like he was in a sanctuary away from the all the harsh realities of life.
She asked “how was the day son”
He concealed his sadness behind the mask of smile and replied “it was great”.
Naz picked up the things, they had brought and headed towards kitchen to prepare lunch for her children.
(To be continue)
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